Some papers are speculating that another terrible ending to a Giants football season could be the end for Tom Coughlin. The scary thing for me is that we don't dismiss the possibility of the Ginats imploding. This team has showed in years past that they are perfectly capable of blowing this season and losing all remaining games even if they do sneak into the playoffs.
You might let Eli Manning off the hook based on all the drops against the Redskins, but then again you might not:
Although the Giants had the pleasure of facing an array of bad or inexperienced quarterbacks (drum roll, please, for Trent Dilfer, Jon Kitna, Tarvaris Jackson, Rex Grossman and Todd Collins) the opposing quarterbacks as a composite have outdone Eli Manning in every pertinent category.At some point you have to stop blaming the coaches and the QB exclusively - the Giants are a mediocre team and there must be more reasons than Tom Coughlin and Eli Manning...
Any ideas?
Posted by James Trotta at December 19, 2007 9:33 PMTwo words. Dropped passes!!!
Posted by: at December 19, 2007 11:46 PMI agree with your assessment. Coughlin is gone at the end of this season and the giants have not played up to their potential. They will probably drop their remaining two games against Buffalo & the Patriots, which means that IF they make the playoffs it will be as the last seed and essentially they will be backing in.
They will lose in the first round and another season will be in the books.
Manning has not progressed like he should have. By now he should be right up there among the qb leaders. It may be the QB coach or maybe its Kevin Gilbride and the offense that he is trying to run, either way, Manning is a bust! Perhaps a new head coach, new offensive coordinator and QB coach is the answer. If not then it is time to end the Manning experiment.
The team in general does not play with a killer instinct. It almost seems like they are all waiting for someone else to step up and make a play. Even after the first two games of the year, when they were blown out by Dallas & Green Bay, Pierce seemed to be joking around and proclaiming that no one is panicked.
It seems that after every loss they do the same thing. Their mantra is "no problem" and "there are other teams that wish they were 9-5".
Posted by: John C. at December 20, 2007 2:14 AMI think it stems back to poor draft day decisions over a poriod of many years. How many times has it come up to the Giants turn to pick in the draft, and we narrow it down to 4 or 5 players that are good picks, and the Giants go off in some bizarre direction and take someone they could get a round later? Sure they come up with some good players like Osi, but in general, they often out-think themselves and come up with mediocre players. Look at all the wide receivers they have drafted in the last 5 years. And high draft picks - none of them had worked out.
So I think it comes down to poor pesonnel decisions in players AND coaches.
Posted by: John Foster at December 20, 2007 10:03 AMIt isn't Coughlin. It IS Manning. He is a total bust. Probably the worst starting quarterback in the NFL. Management doesn't have the guts to admit they made such a huge mistake.
It's not what they traded for him. It's that they drafted a green quarterback when the team was ripe. That's four seasons wasted, and the best of Tiki and Strahan too.
Lessons learned. Never draft a rookie to start at QB unless the team is so young that you would lose anyway.
Never draft a quarterback because of his last name. There are lots of guys named Taylor playing linebacker in college. Lots of guys named Barber playing tailback. Lots of guys with the name of Smith playing tailback too.And probably some guys named Brown.
They have a good team, especially on defense, but you can't win without at least an average QB. Eli isn't that.
Posted by: Peter D. Grudin at December 20, 2007 12:15 PMSpeaking as a tried and true Giants fan there are a few questions I have in regards to the '07-'08 squad. A.) Did you really think you would get further than last year with what you fielded this year? B.) are we already so cap(ped) that we couldn't sign a legitimate replacement for The SS "we" didn't like that much or sign a few more weathered LB's? C.) We lose one LB and we start experimenting w/ The future DE..where's G. Henderson? Where's Tobor? D.) This write up says If/This might be it for Coughlin: When he goes. Reece better come with it in this year's draft. Ross is all he got this year. Ross. Key positions of interest: DT's, LB's!, CB's!, S's!, back-up Qb, Strength coach....did I miss anything? Oh yea. GO BIG BLUE!!
Posted by: W. M. Simms at December 20, 2007 8:21 PMGet rid of Coughin, Eli and Gilbride. Gilbride is crap as a OC. The receiving corps and DB are horrible.
Posted by: Carl at December 23, 2007 8:37 PM