I want to believe the Giants got it right this time. I want to believe the team found its head coach for the foreseeable future. But it’s really, really, really hard to put any faith into a decision made by Giants ownership.
I want to believe the Giants got it right this time. I really do. I want to believe the team found its head coach for the foreseeable future and didn’t strike out on the third swing-and-miss in four years. But it’s really, really, really hard to put any faith into a decision made by Giants ownership at this point, especially since Dave Gettleman is still part of the team and involved in decisions.
No one knows how Joe Judge is going to be as a head coach because he’s never done it before. This isn’t Ben McAdoo — a puzzling choice from the moment he was forced on to Tom Coughlin’s staff — showing up to his introductory press conference swimming in an oversized suit with zero career experience as a head coach anywhere. And this isn’t Pat Shurmur getting hired despite a 10-23 record in the league, simply because he worked wonders with Case Keenum, even if it was the Vikings defense which deserved credit for the team’s run to the NFC Championship Game. This is a 38-year-old wide receivers coach, who has never so much as been a coordinator in the NFL, let alone a head coach, being thrust into the biggest media market there is to run what is, or at least was, one of the most prestigious jobs in the sport, before ownership allowed its reputation to be ruined by McAdoo and Shurmur.
I have no idea if Judge is going to stop the Giants from fully becoming the Browns because no one does. Whenever someone is hired as a head coach without any head coaching experience, people think they know how it will turn out, but no one knows. No one has any clue what type of coach Judge will be. Being mentored by Nick Saban and Bill Belichick is meaningless given the track record of their coaching trees. It’s not Saban or Belichick coaching the Giants. It’s someone who worked for them and working for greatness doesn’t make someone great.
The best thing Judge has going to for him is that he doesn’t have a track record. He doesn’t have a ledger. He’s an unknown with a clean slate being asked to prevent the Giants from falling any farther than they have over the last seven years with one winning season, 42 wins in 112 regular-season games and one disastrous playoff game in that time. McAdoo failed to right the ship as it started to sink at the end of the Coughlin era, unable to last even two full seasons, and Shurmur failed to do anything other than cement himself as one of the worst head coaches in the history of the NFL with a now 19-46 record to his name.
If the Giants are right, they will find have found their guy, three tries after regrettably parting ways with Coughlin. If they’re wrong, I’ll be writing these same words about someone else two years from now.
I don’t have any confidence the Giants got this hire right given every personnel, roster, draft and trade decision they have made over the last seven years. But I want them to be right. I want to have a Giants season last past September. I need them to be right.
In what is becoming a recurring theme, the Giants aren’t going to win the Super Bowl this year since they once again didn’t reach the playoffs. Now I need to figure out which teams to root for this postseason.
Someone will win Super Bowl LIV, but it won’t be the Giants. Unfortunately, this blog is becoming an annual thing because of the Giants’ inability to reach the postseason.
Here’s the list of playoff teams in order of who I want to see win the Super Bowl to who I don’t want to see win the Super Bowl.
1. Vikings Do I want Kirk Cousins to be a champion? No. But I do want my wife to be happy and since her Dodgers aren’t going to win the World Series anytime soon now that the Yankees have the best rotation and bullpen in baseball, she should at least have her football team win a championship. Unfortunately, the Vikings’ inability to win within their division cost them the NFC North title and a home playoff game, and they will open the postseason in New Orleans in the Superdome, which has once again become the worst place for any opposing team to play. Sorry, Brittni, but your NFL postseason is going to last one week.
2. Titans The Titans only getting five points in a playoff game in New England is ridiculous. This isn’t Patrick Mahomes or Lamar Jackson playing outside in the cold in January. It’s Ryan Tannehill. I don’t care about what he’s done this season in taking over the starting job from Marcus Mariota or him finally realizing his potential as a former franchise quarterback. Hey, I want nothing more than for the Titans to upset the Patriots and knock them out of the playoffs as quickly as possible, but I’m a realist, and it’s going to take an actual miracle for that to happen.
3. Bills I think the Bills can win this weekend in Houston. But then they will have to win at either Baltimore or Kansas City and then most likely at whichever of those two teams they don’t play in the divisional round. The Bills are a nice story, and easy to root for, but trying to win three road games just to get to the Super Bowl is way too much to ask of this Bills team.
4. Texans The Texans aren’t going to win the Super Bowl. To me, it’s the Texans and the Bills who have the lowest odds of winning a championship, even if the Vikings have the hardest first-round matchup. If the Texans beat the Bills, they’re most likely going to have to go to Kansas City, and if they were to win there, they would win then most likely have to win at either Baltimore or New England. That’s not happening.
5. Chiefs If the Chiefs win the Super Bowl, it means the Patriots didn’t.
6. Ravens Last postseason, I bet on the Ravens to beat the Chargers. I still have no idea how John Harbaugh sat there and let a winnable postseason game fade away as Joe Flacco stood on the sideline while Lamar Jackson couldn’t register a first down. I also have no idea Jackson went from the quarterback in that game to the one who is now the league MVP. But as has always been the case with the Ravens, unless they are playing the Patriots, I don’t want to see them win.
7. Packers Until the Patriots are eliminated, I need NFC teams in the playoffs that can beat them should they reach the Super Bowl. The Packers needed a time-expiring field goal to beat the David Blough Lions with a first-round bye on the line in Week 17, and needed a time-expiring field goal to beat the Lions in their first game of the season. I don’t care what the Packers’ record is, if the Patriots do their usual playoff thing, I can’t have the Packers as the last line of defense to prevent another Patriots championship.
8. Saints Last season, in this blog, I wrote this about the Saints:
I will be rooting for the Saints on Super Bowl Sunday when they play the Patriots in Atlanta. I don’t want to root for Drew Brees to win another championship after he single-handedly depleted my bank account over the last few weeks, but I’m going to have to. The Superdome Saints aren’t going to lose in the NFC playoffs and then it’s off to Atlanta, another dome for the Saints to hopefully prevent the Patriots from winning another championship.
After blowing an early 13-0 lead in the NFC Championship Game, the Saints got screwed over on the non-pass interference call which changed league rules and then lost in overtime on a Drew Brees interception. The Saints’ loss cost me a two-team parlay with the Patriots that day and the Saints’ loss gave the Patriots a sixth Super Bowl win after getting to play the inferior Rams. The only reason the Saints aren’t lower on this list is because there are much worse options to win the Super Bowl.
9. 49ers When the Falcons blew a 28-3 third-quarter lead to the Patriots in Super Bowl LI, it was 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan calling the playoffs that led to turnovers and three-and-outs as the Falcons completely abandoned the run. Had the Falcons just run the ball for no gain and then punted on fourth down with the 25-point lead, they would have won the game. Shanahan deserves to never experience a Super Bowl win as a head coach after that.
10. Seahawks I will never get over what Pete Carroll did in Super Bowl XLIX. Never. I will also never root for him unless I absolutely have to because of it. And the only way I will have to is if there’s a Super Bowl XLIX rematch.
11. Eagles I never thought I would root for the Eagles, let alone with a Super Bowl on the line, but playing the Patriots will do that. But one championship is enough for the Eagles and their fans. There’s only way I’m rooting for the Eagles, and it’s if there’s a Super Bowl LII rematch.
12. Patriots My hatred for the Patriots forced me to root for the Giants’ No. 1 rival in the Eagles in the Super Bowl. If I’m willing to root for the Eagles to win a championship, I’m willing to root for anyone other than the Patriots to win the Super Bowl.
I didn’t know how to feel watching Monday night’s Giants game. After spending the last six weeks rooting heavily against the Giants, I found myself unsure of how to act with Eli Manning starting.
I didn’t know how to feel watching Monday night’s Giants game. After spending the last six weeks rooting heavily against the Giants in order to enhance their draft position and end the Pat Shurmur era, I found myself unsure of how to act with Eli Manning starting.
I was against the team’s decision to use the No. 6 pick in the draft on a quarterback, especially Daniel Jones, after already bringing Manning and his salary back for the 2019 season. Once Manning was removed from the starting role following the Week 2 loss, I accepted that I had seen No. 10 play for the last time as a Giant, and had moved on to the Jones era and what would hopefully be the final season of watching and listening to the loser that Shurmur is. Following back-to-back losses in Weeks 5 and 6 to fall to 2-4, the Giants’ season was effectively over, and I spent the last nearly two months rooting against Big Blue, and it was a fun-filled and satisfying six weeks. I got a glimpse into the life of football fans who root and bet against the Giants, and let me tell you, it was a lot easier than rooting or betting in favor of the Giants. It felt as though the outcomes were predetermined as losing comes way too easy for this roster and this coach, and even in the few games in which the Giants had the lead or the score was close in the second half, they still easily managed to lose.
Monday presented a dilemma. I wanted the Giants to win under Manning to prove to the front office they had made the wrong decision in moving on from him both before the season by drafting Jones and during the season after only two games. In a year in which the NFC East champion might have a .500-or-worse record, had the Giants stuck with Manning, they could have been playing for the division title this month instead of figuring out who they will draft at No. 2 or possibly even No. 1.
If the Giants were to win on Monday, it would make Manning look better and Dave Gettleman and Shurmur look like fools, and would also move Manning’s career record back over .500. But a win would potentially go to helping Shurmur get a third season as Giants head coach (though no amount of wins for the rest of the season should help him keep his job). A Giants win would also greatly improve the hated Cowboys’ chances at winning the division and reaching the postseason. If the Giants were to lose, it would help justify Gettleman and Shurmur’s plan to move on from Manning, help the rival Eagles stay alive in the division race and decrease the Cowboys’ chances of reaching the postseason, which would decrease Jason Garrett’s chances of being the head coach of the Cowboys in 2020, which could lead to him becoming the head coach of the Giants, which would be the slightest upgrade over the organization’s last two head coaches. Because of the toss-up for what result would better serve the Giants, I decided to root for the Giants to win for Manning and no other reason.
The Giants didn’t win, losing another game they should have won. A game they led 17-3 at halftime and lost 23-17 in overtime as they were shut out after the first half. The Giants tried to play it safe in the second half with running plays and short passes, completely abandoning the deep passes which gave them their two-score lead, and their safe play allowed the Eagles’ defense to eventually solve the easy-to-solve Giants defense and come back to win.
The Giants did have their chances to win the game in the final minutes. They took over with 1:53 left, but a quick three-and-out gave the Eagles a chance to set up a game-wining field goal attempt, which is the way most Giants-Eagles games seem to end. For the first time in what feels like forever, the Giants’ defense actually prevented a last-minute score from losing them a game, but then Shurmur’s inability to doing anything right made its weekly appearance. With the Eagles facing a fourth-and-1 on their side of the field with more than 40 seconds left, the Giants had two timeouts. The Giants could use a timeout to stop the clock, receive a punt and have around 40 seconds and one timeout to move the ball in position for their own last-second field-goal attempt. Instead, scared the Eagles might go for it yet again on fourth-and-1 on their side of the field, Shurmur waited and waited and then waited some more to see what Doug Pederson might do, and it wasn’t until there was only 19 seconds left that Shurmur finally used a timeout. Shurmur had wasted nearly 30 seconds of clock standing there thinking about what to do a the clock continued to run and then all his offense could do was kneel the ball and hope to win the coin toss in overtime.
The Eagles won the toss, received the balls and minutes later, the game was over. The Giants never got a chance to either match or beat the Eagles in overtime as the defense arrived just in time to lose the team another game.
If that was the last time Manning ever plays for the Giants or in an NFL game, he went out playing well, throwing for two touchdowns and displaying his signature sideline deep balls that hopefully one day Jones will be able to throw to his own team.
The Giants were more than likely never going to the playoffs in 2019 no matter who was their quarterback, but a two-win season couldn’t have been expected, not with their schedule and not in this division. All that’s left for the Giants now is to continue this losing streak for the next three weeks, finish the season with 12 straight losses, pick second or possibly even first in the draft, and pack up Shurmur’s office, and potentially Gettleman’s office as well.
The regular season is more than halfway over and there’s not a lot of time to get the picks back on track. This week is all about simplifying things.
When I look back at my picks at the end of each week, I have no idea why I picked the way I did on multiple games. It’s a tradition like no other. No matter how much I try to simplify things, I’m still left questioning myself each week.
I shouldn’t have picked the 49ers to cover 10 on a short week on the road.
I should have listened to myself and my lack of trust for Kirk Cousins even if the Vikings were facing a backup quarterback.
I should have known the Jets would lose to Ryan Fitzpatrick and the winless Dolphins.
I should have recognized the Browns facing a rookie quarterback making his first NFL start wouldn’t suddenly make them not the Browns.
I should have followed my belief that the Chargers aren’t as bad their record and are the same team that went to the divisional round last year, especially at home.
I should have followed the easy storyline that the Patriots always struggle against the Ravens.
These were very avoidable mistakes, but they were mistakes nonetheless, and instead of starting to dig myself out of my under-.500 hole I dug further in the wrong direction. This week is about simplifying things. I need to treat each NFL week as the one-week season it should be treated as. I need to get back to the basics and put together a winning week. It’s already Week 10 and time is running is out to get back to respectability.
(Home team in caps)
Los Angeles -1 over OAKLAND I don’t think the Raiders are any good, no matter how many times they have screwed me this season. I do think the Chargers are good, no matter how many times they have screwed me this season. If the Chargers are going to return to the playoffs, they have to win this game. If they lose, they will be three games back in the loss column to the Chiefs for the division and three games back in the loss column for the second wild-card spot.
CHICAGO -2.5 over Detroit The Bears don’t deserve to make the playoffs, and they won’t. But it wouldn’t be a Bears season if they didn’t provide their fan base with an abundance of heartache. The four straight losses, 3-5 start and current last-place standing in the NFC North isn’t the type of heartache I’m talking about. I’m talking about doing enough to get back into the postseason picture in the NFC and then fall short in the final weeks of the season.
Baltimore -10 over CINCINNATI The Dolphins foolishly beating the Jets and going from having the first overall pick to the fourth at the end of the game led to a sideline celebration in Miami and Brian Flores getting drenched in Gatorade. But the real celebration was happening in Cincinnati where I like to think the Bengals front office was dumping Gatorade on each other following the Dolphins’ win. The Bengals are now the only remaining winless team in the league and control their own destiny to securing the first overall pick in the draft and having a chance to draft Tua Tagovailoa and change the future of their franchise. Let’s see how the Bengals handle their chance with the No. 1 pick.
Buffalo +2.5 over CLEVELAND The Browns are favored. The 2-6 Browns are favored to beat the 6-2 Bills. I had to check the line three times to make sure I was reading it right, and I am. The Browns are the favorites. It’s been very enjoyable watching the Browns be every bit as bad as the Giants and watching Odell Beckham once again be part of a losing team in a lost season. Beckham has become an afterthought in Cleveland with 575 yards and one touchdown through eight games. And while he might still eclipse the 1,000-yard mark, 1,000 yards for him was always a given. Like a band that once sold out stadiums and areanas and has been resigned to playing college campuses and small clubs, Beckham is no longer who he was a Giant. The non-performance stories like him wearing a watch during games or needing to change his cleats at halftime are now all anyone talks about with him because there’s no on-field performance or moments worth talking about.
NEW ORLEANS -12.5 over Atlanta There’s going to be a lot of cardboard boxes being packed in the Falcons’ offices in a few weeks. It should have happened the second the team blew the 25-point, second-half lead in the Super Bowl, and because it didn’t, it’s hard to feel sorry for the Falcons for their performance these last three seasons.
New York Giants -2 over NEW YORK JETS The Embarrassment Bowl. If the Giants win, they improve to 3-7 and the Jets fall to 1-8. If the Jets win, they improve to 2-7 and the Giants fall to 2-8. Even though there’s going to be a winner (though a tie would be a perfect result for this game), there’s no winner in this team. Both teams are losers, led by losers.
TAMPA BAY -4 over Arizona The Buccaneers are the best 2-6 team in the league. I don’t know that a 2-6 team can be the best anything, but I do feel like the Buccaneers are better than their record, even if Bill Parcells would disagree. The Cardinals franchise is historically bad when it leaves its time zone and dome and has to play on the East Coast and outside, even if that outside is in sunny Florida. This logic led me to pick against the Cardinals when they played at MetLife against the Giants even though it didn’t work out. Bruce Arians isn’t Shurmur and it will work out in this instance.
Kansas City -5.5 over TENNESSEE I’m picking the Chiefs under the assumption that Patrick Mahomes is going to play. If Mahomes weren’t going to play, I would still pick the Chiefs.
INDIANAPOLIS -10.5 over Miami The Dolphins did everyone who wants to tease the Colts this week a favor by beating the Jets last week. Had the Dolphins lost again, this line would have probably been at least two touchdowns. Instead, it’s a reasonable six- or seven-point tease.
Carolina +5 over GREEN BAY I think the quarterback controversy in Carolina was over before there ever got to be one. Cam Newton seems to be done for the season, and even if he he weren’t, how could the Panthers start him over Kyle Allen? Newton has most certainly played his final game for the Panthers, and that idea will become more and more real if the Panthers keep on winning.
Los Angeles Rams -3.5 over PITTSBURGH The Rams have gotten back on track after their unexpected three-game losing streak. Even if they got back on track at the expense against a bad Falcons team and a league-worst Bengals team, they still got back on track. With a congested NFC playoff picture, the Rams can’t afford another letdown against a truly inferior opponent like the one they had against the Buccaneers, and I don’t think they will have another one.
Minnesota +3 over DALLAS There isn’t a combination of two “good” teams I trust less. The only “good” win either of these teams has is over the Eagles and that’s not saying much given how the Eagles have performed in the first half of the season. I fully expect Kirk Cousins to screw this game up the way he screws up nearly every game for the Vikings, but the Vikings are the better, more complete team in this matchup and when the better, more complete team is getting three points, you take them.
Seattle +6 over SAN FRANCISCO It’s the head coach who OK’d a pass on the goal line in the Super Bowl despite having the best running back in the league on his team against the now-head coach who was the offensive coordinator for a 25-point blown lead in the Super Bowl. If only Dan Quinn could somehow be part of this game. He probably will have the chance to be next season when he’s looking for a coordinator job after he’s finally fired by the Falcons. Six points in a divisional matchup with the division essentially on the line is way too many.
The Giants might not have the right head coach to lead them in the future, but they have the right head coach for this season. They have the right head coach to lose and keep losing.
I didn’t think the Giants would beat the Cowboys on Monday night. My opinion didn’t change when Dak Prescott was intercepted on the first play of the game. It didn’t change when the Giants took a 3-0 lead. It didn’t change when Brett Maher missed a go-ahead field goal. It didn’t change when Randall Cobb fumbled. It didn’t change when the Giants took a 9-3 lead and then a 12-3 lead. It didn’t change when the Cowboys screwed up, which they did a lot of, because I knew the Giants would screw up more in the end, and they did, and they lost 37-18.
The moment the Giants couldn’t take advantage of a first-and-Goal situation from the 7 after the Prescott interception to start the game, the result was inevitable. The Giants turned two Cowboys turnovers into a combined six points as they couldn’t cash in in the red zone, Aldrick Rosas missed another extra point, Daniel Jones had three more turnovers and Pat Shurmur lost another unwinnable challenge. It was the New York Football Giants’ weekly superfecta as the game had every ingredient for a recipe for another Giants loss.
The Cowboys aren’t good. Four of their five wins are against the Giants (twice), Dolphins and Redskins, and they are the same team that lost to the Jets three weeks ago. They played as sloppy and undisciplined of a game imaginable and still came away with a 19-point win because of how much worse the Giants were and are. Had the Cowboys put together that kind of effort against the league’s better teams they would have been the team losing by three scores.
The Giants need to play near-perfect football like they did against the Redskins or be gifted a win like they were against the Buccaneers to do anything other than lose at this stage of their rebuild. Jones is nowhere near ready to lead a competitive team, the offensive line is nowhere near ready to being competitive, the defense can’t put together a complete-game effort and is mostly lost and the head coach is about as qualified for his job as Bradley Jackson is for hers on The Morning Show.
Another week, another game, another expected loss for the Giants which resulted in a loss. The same story keeps getting told each week for a team that has lost 30 of its last 40 games, with another loss in the postseason, and is 40-65 since 2013. The team is now 7-17 under Shurmur, and while any successful coach would be discouraged by a .500 record, Shurmur can only dream of such an accomplishment.
If there are any Shurmur fans or supporters out there … why? How can you support and root for a guy who does nothing but lose an NFL head coach? Not just with the Giants, but anywhere. A head coach who can’t seem to design plays or a plan to properly utilize the most dynamic offensive player in the sport. A head coach who continues to make the same mistakes, place blame and not accept responsibility for what is another lost Giants season.
The only bright spot from the Giants’ performance in yet another loss to the Cowboys is that they continue to improve their draft status and make it harder for Shurmur to retain his job for 2020. I have no idea how ownership can even think for a second about bringing Shurmur back next season. Like Brian Cashman said about Sonny Gray before trading him, “I don’t feel like we can go through the same exercise and expect different results,” there’s no way the Giants can think Shurmur is magically going to find ability as a head coach next season. The front office let Shurmur ruin two seasons too many and they can’t allow him to ruin a third straight.
All there’s left for the Giants to do this season is to lose and keep losing. Get Jones and the young defense game experience along the way, and most importantly, keep on losing. The Giants might not have the right head coach to lead them in the future, but they have the right head coach for this season. They have the right head coach to lose and keep losing.
