Prior to Ben McAdoo being introduced as the next head coach of the New York Football Giants, I had never heard him talk. Never. From watching him talk to Tom Coughlin or Eli Manning on the sidelines or talking into his headset during games, I tried to imagine what his voice sounds like, but until Friday, I never really thought about it. So when McAdoo said, “Thank you all for coming today,” it was the first time I had ever heard him talk.

McAdoo did a decent job in his first press conference and his first public setting as a head coach in the NFL. He could have had better opening remarks and could have answered some questions more honestly, and he certainly could have used a suit that fit, but overall it was your average introductory press conference for a head coach.

No one knows what to expect from McAdoo. He’s a mystery. If the Giants had made Steve Spagnuolo the head coach or gone outside the organization with Doug Marrone or Mike Smith or Lovie Smith, we would have some idea as to what to expect from the new Giants head coach. But with McAdoo, any guess or prediction is reasonable. The Giants could finish off the games in 2016 that they shouldn’t have lost in 2015. Or they could be the same postseason-less Giants of the last four years. Or they could be a complete disaster and we’re looking at a new head coach again for 2017. It’s all possible.

Here are four things I took away from McAdoo’s first words as Giants head coach. For not seeing anyone else in this role for the last 12 years, it certainly felt weird, so here’s to not having to do this again for another 12 years.

1. Thank You to You and You and You and You
After McAdoo thanked “you all” for coming today, he then went on to thank every person he has ever come in contact with in his life. His family, the people from his hometown, his former coaches, his former players, the guy who sold him his first bike as a kid, the barber who gave him his first haircut, the owners of the liquor store where he bought his first case of beer and every person who has ever held a door open for him entering a building.

Oddly enough, McAdoo didn’t thank Odell Beckham Jr. Without Beckham (well we saw what the Giants’ offense looks like without Beckham in Week 16 against Minnesota), McAdoo isn’t having this press conference. He’s probably no longer an offensive coordinator in the NFL. He’s probably back to being a quarterbacks coach or having some made up title at some college. Beckham is single-handedly responsible for the success of the Giants’ offense over the last two seasons. He should have thanked him first and maybe only thanked him.

2. The Four Keys
McAdoo talked about the keys to winning and the structure he will instill in the Giants, which were broken down into four categories. They are …

1. Strong leadership
2. Talented men and women
3. A positive working environment
4. Comprehensive structure and function

McAdoo does realize he’s coaching a football team and not serving as the Director of HR for a Fortune 500 company, right? I mean I understand No. 1 and to some extent No. 3, but what is with No. 2 and No. 4? It’s one thing to have “talented men and women” in the organization, but McAdoo won’t be coaching any women because there aren’t any women on the Giants. And “comprehensive structure and function” just sounds like some BS phrase a company uses in their company handbook or on some unnecessary paper you have to sign on your first day. Someone might want to remind McAdoo he is the head coach of the team and not the CEO or president.

3. The Coaching Staff
McAdoo dodged every question about who would be on his staff and frequently said the staff is “fluid” as if a group of football coaches were in liquid form. Sure, nothing is set in stone, but at the time of his press conference, there were obviously already decisions made. There was no need to hide any information if deals had already been made with staff members or returning staff members.

When asked if he will continue to call the plays, McAdoo wouldn’t say and cited “a competitive advantage for the opponent” if he were to say. Either McAdoo has no idea if he will call the plays or he thinks the Giants have a game this week because I’m not sure how saying who will call the plays would give any team a competitive advantage for the Giants’ next game which is in eight months. I mean this is about WHO is calling the plays and now WHAT the plays are. I hate to break it you McAdoo, but between now and training camp, he’s going to have make it known, who is calling the plays for the Giants. I just hope that simple fact doesn’t give the rest of the NFC East too much of an advantage.

4. Reloading Not Rebuilding
A main reason I wanted the Giants to make McAdoo the head coach and also why I thought they would is because even though the Giants were a 6-10 team, they could have easily been a 12-4 team if they handled the final minutes of six games differently. Ownership didn’t need to clean house when it came to the roster or staff, and they could have easily kept Tom Coughlin. But the most important thing with this team that could still be playing moving forward is continuity. The Giants are close. McAdoo clearly believes the same thing as he said, “We’re not looking to rebuild, we’re looking to reload and we’re going to start in a couple minutes.”

It must be weird to start a job on a Friday, especially on a Friday before a holiday/three-day weekend, but I respect McAdoo for getting to work right away. The Giants shouldn’t have missed the playoffs this season, their fourth straight season without reaching the postseason and if they miss them again in 2016, we’ll be having this same press conference for a new general manager next January.

I desperately wanted the Giants to get rid of Kevin Gilbride for a long time because I couldn’t stand to watch another third-and-7 draw to the third-string running back for a two-yard gain. I couldn’t take an unnecessary amount of drives created by passing stall in the red zone thanks to an awful running game. So I welcomed the hiring of Ben McAdoo as the Giants’ new offensive coordinator before the 2014 season because I thought change was needed even if Gilbride has been the offensive coordinator for Super Bowl XLII and XLVI.

Eli Manning quickly became a more accurate passer with McAdoo as the offensive coordinator, though the addition of Odell Beckham Jr. could be the reason for that and McAdoo’s entire tenure with the Giants might be one big smoke-and-mirrors act built solely on having the best wide receiver in football on his team. (Let’s hope this isn’t the case.) McAdoo wasn’t exactly the coordinator I thought he would be after being the quarterbacks coach for the Packers and Aaron Rodgers, and, if anything, he was more Gilbride than not.

I have spent the last two seasons wondering why third downs were going through Preston Parker and why Andre Williams was asked to get a critical yard or why a four-man running back rotation became a thing. I made jokes about McAdoo’s facial hair and questioned whether or not he used a four-restaurant chain rotation to eat at every night between T.G.I Friday’s, Applebee’s, Chili’s and Ruby Tuesdays similar to the running back rotation he created with Rashad Jennings, Andre Williams, Shane Vereen and Orleans Darkwa.

The minute Tom Coughlin was fired and it became more and more apparent that McAdoo would be the next Giants head coach, which seemed like the exact plan ownership had instilled when they hired him two years ago, I got sick. The Giants are going to hand over the franchise to a 38-year-old with zero head coaching experience and a goatee that instantly takes away some of his credibility? How did we get here? (Well, I actually I know how we got here and it started in the final minute in Dallas in Week 1.)

The more I thought about it, I actually talked myself into Ben McAdoo being the next head coach of the New York Football Giants. It’s half because I know the Giants are going to make him the next head coach and half because there isn’t a better option out there. There are three reasons ownership is going to pick McAdoo and the rest of these interviews are all for show.

1. Eli Manning
In the two seasons with Ben McAdoo as his offensive coordinator, Eli Manning has thrown for 65 touchdowns and 28 interceptions, completing 62.8 percent of his passes for the best two seasons of his career. Unfortunately, the two seasons were all for nothing thanks to the Giants’ defense.

Eli spent the first 10 seasons of his career under the same offense before Kevin Gilbride “resigned” (the same way Tom Coughlin resigned) and the Giants brought in the Packers’ quarterback coach, McAdoo. Eli struggled through the beginning of the 2014 season under the new offense before the debut of Odell Beckham Jr. mainly because he was the only player on the offense who seemed to fully grasp the complexities of the new system and the intricate hand signals. Last week, Eli told Mike Francesa on WFAN that he could see McAdoo being the next head coach and has enjoyed playing in his system. Now I don’t expect Eli to say on the biggest sports radio program in the country that he doesn’t like McAdoo if he really doesn’t, but I also don’t think he would go out of his way to say the things he did say if he didn’t actually like him. And if Eli didn’t actually like McAdoo, he would have already been fired because the franchise quarterback gets to pick who his coordinator is.

After spending a decade in basically the same offense followed by two years learning a new one, which produced the best two years of his career, there’s no way the front office wants Eli to learn yet another offense at 35 years old having the success he had with McAdoo. If McAdoo is the head coach then he’s like also the offensive coordinator calling the playoffs. If he’s not the coach or Steve Spagnuolo isn’t the coach, then the new coach is going to have the opportunity to pick his own staff and it’s more than likely that McAdoo won’t be part of it. No new head coach is going to want ownership’s Golden Boy on his staff always lurking in the background as a replacement at any time.

2. The Giants’ Family Tree
The Giants aren’t going to hire a head coach that doesn’t have some sort of connection to the Giants. Once upon a time, Tom Coughlin was the Giants’ wide receivers coach (1988-90) and also happened to be the head coach of John Mara’s alma mater (Boston College). Jim Fassel had been the Giants’ quarterbacks’ coach and offensive coordinator (1991-92). Ray Handley had been part of the Giants’ staff, including as offensive coordinator (1984-90). Bill Parcells had been the Giants’ defensive coordinator (1979 and 1981-82). The only exception since the Parcells era, which began in 1983, was Dan Reeves, who was the Giants’ third choice and only hired after the coach they wanted decided to stay with his college team. That coach was Tom Coughlin.

McAdoo has now been part of the Giants’ family for two seasons and that gives him a leg up on any outsiders like Adam Gase (no, thank you), Lovie Smith (please, no) or Mike Smith (NOOOOOOOOOO!). The only person who matches him here is Steve Spagnuolo, but McAdoo is younger (38) than Spagnuolo (56) and Spagnuolo’s stint as Rams head coach and the Giants’ defensive performance this season has to hurt him head-to-head against McAdoo even with McAdoo having no head coaching experience.

3. Continuity
The Giants were 6-10 this season, but could have been 12-4 if they had finished off the Cowboys, Falcons, Saints, Patriots, Jets and Eagles, and even 9-7 if they finish off half of those teams, and that would have given them a postseason berth and Tom Coughlin would still be the head coach. The Giants aren’t as bad as their record suggests (sorry, Bill Parcells) and aren’t in need of a complete overhaul.

The Giants got their out to get rid of Coughlin, but it makes no sense to retain Jerry Reese if they’re then going to risk losing McAdoo and Spagnuolo by going outside the organization for a new head coach. The Giants were in playoff contention until Week 16 and should have been a playoff team. They will return the core of their offense in 2016, will get back injured players on defense and have a lot of salary cap space to fix some holes through free agency. The Giants are going to be a contender again in 2016 and there’s no way the front office wants to push the team in a completely new direction.

Tom Coughlin should still be the Giants’ head coach. Unfortunately, he’s not. But just because ownership wanted him out doesn’t mean they want what to destroy what they built.