Post by stonedinvestor on Nov 25, 2019 7:59:02 GMT -5
Six reasons why Pat Shurmur's job with Giants is still pretty safe-Giants is still pretty safe
Giants owner John Mara doesn't want to fire a third coach in five years
By Ralph Vacchiano | Nov 24 | 6:08PM
Here are a few of the reasons why his seat is only warm, and not quite burning hot ... yet:
- The Giants do not like change. Start with that. They want a stable operation in the front office and the coaches office. The last two times a coach lasted two seasons or fewer it took disasters to get the Giants to make a move. Ben McAdoo had to lose control of his locker room, botch a quarterback transition and pretty much humiliate a franchise icon. And Ray Handley had the locker room and media revolting against him back in 1992. None of that is happening with Shurmur.
REBUTTLE-- We are in an election cycle and Shurmur has been impeached. The Giants don't like change? Then how are they going to ' change' their losing ways. This is a irrelevant point if they can get the Baylor coach it isn't change it's a rebirth.. the Giants do like rebirths...
- This is all about Daniel Jones. This is the key point because the Giants think they have a championship quarterback and want to make sure they have the right coach to lead him there. So they'll ask a simple question: Are they happy with Jones' development? The answer is a resounding yes so far. Could that change over the last five weeks? Sure. But this is a big piece in Shurmur's favor. It there's no doubt that the transition from Eli Manning to Jones will likely buy Shurmur another year.
REBUTTLE-- The Giants do not think they have a championship quarterback, lets stop loading this guy up with unreasonable expectations. The Giants think they have Eli 2.0 a guy who will like a robot do what he is told. They just want a continuation of having one guy be the QB and there be no doubt about that. Be accurate be better with the ball and just execute the game plan with as few mistakes as possible and the idea was give the ball to Barkley a lot. Now with Barkley stinking up the joint here is more pressure on Danny and he is falling apart. No all the way apart but he had his first Real bad game and it was all because of the Bear defense and how they blitz so much.
Barkley is never going to get going if the other team is blitzing a different guy every play in a run blitz that's what happened a safety here a corner there and LB here it was every play guys in the backfield. The way to beat that is more misdirection more of those flips to receivers running end arounds more quick slant and more roll out pockets and throwing the ball deep. If only we had a tight end. With a horrible game plan comes horrible results.
- He has not lost the locker room. It's a young team, and that helps, but it's not like the Giants veterans have stopped playing for him. He is, in every way, the "adult in the room" as Dave Gettleman said when he was hired. He's avoided the chaos and stayed even-keeled and in control The players seem to appreciate that. And they haven't quit. In fact, a lot of the veterans have embraced the role of mentoring the young players under Shurmur's direction.
REBUTTLE:Lets see how the lockererom is after the Green Bay game. Ticking time bomb here.
- Gettleman knows he has work to do. This is not a case of a GM thinking he's given his coach everything he needs. Gettleman knows better. He knows the defense is missing a big-time pass rushers. He understands the defense is loaded with young players that still need to grow. And he absolutely knows the offensive line remains a work-in-progress. They have a lot of cap room and a high pick coming in next year's draft. He knows Shurmur will have a better team next year.
REBUTTAL: What Gettelman knows and what Gettlelman does are two entirely different things. He wants to build from the inside out and give us a great big O line of Hogwash Mollies and center out it's been difficult to watch. There's just no power at all coming from these guys. No push. With a super aggressive D like the Bears you just slant all the blocks and pull the guard the opposite way you get them all moving and then cut back the runs.. we saw none of that I'm assuming because the talent level at the O line is just so bad and the entire game plan was about protecting the QB. Last game there was a problem and now that's fixed! Too bad coach forgot to put some plays in for the receivers...
- Bill Belichick isn't available. The point here is there isn't a slam-dunk candidate waiting in the wings if the Giants fire Shurmur. The candidate pool is roughly what it was two years ago when they hired him. Yes, they have always liked Garrett since he was a valued backup QB on the Giants. Yes, if they had a vacancy and Garrett was available, they'd be interested. But right now, he'd be a hard sell considering he has arguably underachieved with a Cowboys team much more talented than what the Giants currently have.
REBUTTLE- The OC of the VIKES Kevin Stefanski has almost been hired by the Giants before. I think another OC, another round of what if's & who else, that's a tough sell to the NY Giant fans but not necessarily a poor choice. He has good coaching roots.
Matt Rhule is the one it looks like the Giants really want. Who cares about Bill Belichick? This is a very weak argument from Ralph.
- They have an easy scapegoat. If this season continues to go south it will be hard for the Giants to go into 2020 without making any seemingly significant changes. So it seems pretty obvious that defensive coordinator James Bettcher could be used as a sacrificial lamb. His defense has been pretty abysmal at times and cost the Giants quite a few games. It would not be unprecedented for Mara to force a coaching staff change and use that as an excuse to save his coach. It happened with Tom Coughlin multiple times.
REBUTTLE: Guess who chose Bettcher! That was Pat Shurmur, Bettcher and Shurmur are a package they come together and they go together. We are still going to have all these ex Cards on the field, what do we have nine guys who played under Bettcher, you are going to now remove the guy that brought all of them here.. Remember Gettelman is universally hated by these players around the league that have dealt with him, getting players to come play for the NY Giants is NOT easy!!! These free agents are going to tell Mara to take a walk... we need Bettcher for his contacts. Ironically I'm fine with Bettcher staying here as long as we hire a new coach but a new coach usually brings in his people and Rhule would certainly do that...
Jason Garrett-- Yikes I could certainly see that as some sort of eternal pennence upon Giant fans souls...
Of course, none of that makes Shurmur a lock to return in 2020. A big barometer Mara has always used with his coaches is how hard the team plays down the stretch when there's nothing to play for, so if these Giants do quit on Shurmur, Mara could quit on him. Jones' development will be closely watched, too. So far, so good, but that arrow has to stay pointed up.
Regardless of all that, it's always possible the losing will just become too much for ownership to handle - especially with an angry media mob and disgruntled fan base having plenty of platforms to express their dismay. Back in 2009, Mara was so livid and embarrassed after an 8-8 season that he said it "felt a lot more like 2-14 to me."
Well, imagine how livid and embarrassed he'll be if this Giants team actually does go 2-14. So stay tuned on Shurmur's future. Right now, a lot of things are pushing this eventual decision in his direction. But those losses keep piling up, and if that doesn't stop it could easily tilt the scales the other way.
Wishy washy to the extreme...