The Giants are as dysfunctional right now as any team in the league, and that includes the Jets. The only difference between them and the Jets is that the Giants have a quarterback, at least if they can keep the quarterback in one piece. In fact, the Giants are as dysfunctional as they were coming out of the 1970s before Commissioner Pete Rozelle basically hired George Young to be their general manager.
The Giants fire another coach now, the fourth fulltime coach they have fired since Tom Coughlin (Steve Spagnuolo was let go after being an interim). Brian Daboll goes because it had become obvious – and untenable – that he could stay after everything that has happened over the past month, all the way through the fourth quarter in Chicago on Sunday. There was no question at that point that Daboll was gone.
The only question now is why the general manager, Joe Schoen, isn’t. As the Giants continue to play whack-a-mole with one coach after another – Ben McAdoo and Pat Shurmur and the immortal Joe Judge and now Daboll – they are now game-planning themselves right into another disaster if they even consider letting a lame-duck, thin-ice general manager like Schoen pick the next coach.
Nobody could defend Daboll’s record since making the playoffs his rookie season, winning a playoff game against the Vikings, being named Coach of the Year. After going 9-7-1 the Giants have been 11-33 since. Does it help that Daniel Jones — who turned into a complete failure on Daboll’s watch after their first season together — has gone to the Colts and become one of the best quarterbacks in the league? Not even a little bit. That goes on Daboll’s permanent record, too, now 21-41-1 if you count the playoffs.
Now the Giants are 2-8 and Jaxson Dart – who looked as if he might save Daboll – ran the ball one too many times in Chicago and got concussed. In that moment, it wasn’t just the Dart who had been hit. It was the whole team, including guys on defense who couldn’t stop the Bears in the fourth quarter the same way they couldn’t stop the Broncos in the fourth quarter; the way that defense got rolled by the 49ers and rolled even worse by the Cowboys before Dart got the ball.
And the question that has to be asked at this point, now that the Giants have given their fans what they want and given Daboll his walking papers, is this:
Did this team assemble itself?
Joe Schoen, three-and-a-half years into this, is the guy who has constructed one of the worst rosters in the league. Now the Giants have the same record as the Jets. And unless the guys on defense really did pick themselves – the defense that has only stopped anybody for a quarter or two at a time this season – then you tell me in what world Schoen should get to hire the next Giants coach. Schoen: Who at this point in his Giants career looks like a scout who wasn’t ready to sit in the big chair.
Did he draft Malik Nabers? He did. You know who else could have done that? You and me. And for as much talent as Abdul Carter has, and as much he was the heart’s desire for a lot of teams before the last draft – please get back to me when he turns into the next Lawrence Taylor. The inspired choice that Schoen has made – again, for now – is Jaxson Dart. We’ll see how that works out over the long haul if the Giants don’t break the kid.
Do the Giants need a new coach, and a new vision from that coach? What do you think? If quarterback is the most important position in the modern NFL, the next most important is coach. But why do the Giants think that Schoen is the guy to pick right one after what he has done in this roster? It takes the right guy to find the right guy. It did take time for George Young to find his way to Parcells. Now the men who own the Giants have convinced themselves that Schoen can do the same. For now, it’s all the coach’s fault.
The Giants were 3-14 last season. They are 2-8 now. It means they are 5-22 over their past 27 games. If the Jets had become a complete joke before winning a couple of games, then what does that make the Giants right now? By the way? You know who thought Russell Wilson could still play? The general manager did. How can Jameis Winston possibly be worse?
No one wants to see what the Giants have become. No one wants this for John Mara, who has announced earlier this year that he is undergoing treatment for cancer. These are the Giants, with four Super Bowl victories in the books and another Super Bowl appearance. These are the Giants: Who kept the Patriots from going 19-0 that time; who finally beat Belichick and Brady in Glendale, Ariz. when Eli threw it to Plaxico and the Giants had produced, in John Mara’s words that night, the greatest victory in the history of the franchise.
Now they do not just share MetLife Stadium with the Jets, they share a 2-8 record. And, unless Mike Kafka’s time as interim coach becomes a completed Hail Mary, they will once again be looking for the right coach. After McAdo and Shumur. After Judge and Daboll. They were all hired to be the next Coughlin, or the next Bill Parcells.
Nothing could save Brian Daboll in the end. Somehow Joe Schoen did get saved. Or saved himself by getting into the lifeboat. For now. But this isn’t just on Daboll, even if the Giants can win some games now. This isn’t just on the defensive coordinator, Shane Bowen. It’s on the general manager as much as anybody. No kidding, who chose up these sides?
