How Can Mara Sell Another Season of This?

BY LESLIE MONTEIRO

(Photo credit: Bill Streicher — USA Today Sports)

On Sunday morning, ESPN’s Adam Schefter tweeted the Giants plan to bring back Giants head coach Joe Judge and Giants quarterback Daniel Jones. There was no news about Giants general manager Dave Gettleman.

The Giants followed this up with an uninspiring 34-10 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday afternoon at Lincoln Financial Field.

This loss makes it a bad look for the beleaguered Giants owner John Mara after he announced plans of bringing back Judge and Jones for next season and not providing clarity on Gettleman’s status.

After a loss like this and after another horrible season, how could Mara sell Judge, Jones and Gettleman to a frustrated fanbase that has grown disillusioned with the Giants each passing season? This was the season for the team to grow leaps and bounds in the standings. Instead, this team is worse off now than they were when they fired Ben McAdoo and Jerry Reese during an awful 2017 season.

Here are the sorry numbers: Judge is 10-21 as Giants head coach, Gettleman is 19-44 in his four forgettable seasons as Giants general manager and Jones is 12-25 as the Giants starting quarterback.

You know the saying about the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results? This is what Mara is instilling here. He apparently believes his three hires can do great things, and he wants to see this go through. In his mind, all three have been a victim of circumstances such as injuries and a bad offensive line.

We can make all the excuses we want for those three, but as Bill Parcells would say, you are what your record says you are. There’s no defending the record of these three men. This record is a reflection of these men.

Once again, the Giants failed to compete on Sunday. Yes, they tied the Eagles at 3 at halftime, but it was hard to believe the Giants could sustain this defensive effort when their quarterback gives them nothing. They just rolled over and just let the Eagles impose their will in the second half. The Eagles had the ball more than their counterpart in that half. At one point, the Eagles scored three possessions in a row in that half. It was as bad as it got.

The Giants players might as well wore KICK ME signs in the back of their uniforms in that second half.

When Judge was hired, he promised the Giants would play hard and punch everyone in the mouth. We are still waiting for that. It’s hard to take him seriously about changing the culture when the team won four games this season and not finishing the season strong. No one can take him seriously as a head coach when his team constantly rolls over every Sunday.

I can’t come up with anything that is good about Judge. He doesn’t develop players. It’s doubtful players even respect him as the performances speak for themselves.

Again, how does he make a case to be back as head coach next year? And please spare me about Tom Coughlin and Bill Parcells starting off badly in their first two years. That’s just an argument to make one’s case for Judge to look good. The Giants have not shown a sign of progress under Judge in his two listless seasons.

You want to know who is a great coach? Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni. He has gotten a lot out of what is an underwhelming roster, and he has them in a position to make the playoffs. He has gotten results out of Jalen Hurts. Judge comes nowhere close to Sirianni, and that’s one reason why he should be gone as a head coach. He is not a head coach material.

And one more thing about Judge. He needs to stop gaslighting Giants fans about progress and seeing good things out there. Who does he think he is fooling?

As for Gettleman, what’s there to be said? The record speaks for itself. His two signature draft picks in Saquan Barkley and Jones turned out to be a bust. Barkley failed to be healthy and make an impact on the Giants offense, and Jones has not played like an NFL quarterback.

Drafting both of them was questionable, to begin with. You never draft a running back high in the first round, and no one ever thought Jones was an NFL-caliber quarterback. Yet, Gettleman decided to go against conventional wisdom just to prove a point that he is the smartest GM in the room, and now it has hurt the Giants. Come to think of it, what draft picks under him were ever successful? His free-agent signings such as Kenny Golladay and Nate Solder have been a bust.

Gettleman’s fingerprints were all over the Giants’ loss to the Eagles on Sunday. With Jones out, they had no one out there that can play quarterback. Mike Glennon and Jake Fromm stunk under center. It was by design by Gettleman. He did not want to bring in a competent quarterback to give Jones competition. He wanted to make sure Jones be in a position to succeed without him worrying about the quarterback. In other words, he handed the quarterback job to Jones without earning it.

It’s been four years of no results for Gettleman. This gets an NFL general manager fired. But apparently, with the Giants, it gives job security it seems.

There are reports Gettleman may be gone, but I will believe when I see it. I do think Mara wants to see Gettleman see this through because this would give him a chance to show he got it right in hiring the Giants general manager.

Jones does not make a case to be back because he has a losing record. Oh, and he can’t take his team to the end zone when it matters. He scores garbage-time touchdowns, and under pressure, the best he can do is have his team kick field goals rather than score touchdowns. Did I mention he is also injury-prone?

Looking at all this, how could Mara even bring all three back? How can he sell these three to a frustrated fanbase that wants changes?

At some point, you can’t keep blaming those three. It’s time to blame the person who hired those three and keep those three around.