When Pat Shurmur agreed to become the Giants’ new head coach nine months ago and succeed his predecessor, Ben McAdoo, who was fired last December after an unremarkable 13-15 record, the 53-year-old native of Dearborn, Mich., and former offensive lineman at Michigan State knew he was entering the belly of the beast.
Shurmur was presented with one of the most coveted opportunities in sports, head coach for a franchise with a deep championship history, but an organization under intense scrutiny and criticism from fans and media resulting from just a single playoff appearance—a 38-13 first round loss to the Green Bay Packers two seasons ago—since the 2012 campaign.
The heat has indeed been inferno-like as the Giants have remained at rock bottom. They have extended last season’s 3-13 futility entering the midpoint of this season, Week 8, hosting Washington this Sunday at MetLife Stadium, with an abysmal 1-6 record after losing to the Atlanta Falcons 23-20 on the road Monday night. Shurmur’s dubious late game play calling and clock management darkened the cloud that has hung over the franchise for the better part of the past six years. Giants general manager Dave Gettleman has raised a white flag in acknowledging they are going nowhere this season by trading 2016 first-round pick, cornerback Eli Apple, Monday to the New Orleans Saints for a fourth-round pick in 2019 and seventh-round pick in 2020.
Shurmur, who is in his second head coaching job, having previously held that title with the Cleveland Browns from 2011 through 2012, has had to endure not only the losses but also the never-ending saga of the unsettling attention surrounding the Giants’ temperamental and unreserved wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr.
These are circumstances that McAdoo was ill-equipped to handle and will ultimately steel or break Shurmur’s resolve. “My team knows my true personality. For me to rant and rave, or say something that can be written and reported about, and me making it about me, I don’t think that makes you strong and I don’t think that makes anybody think that I care anymore than the players in the locker room,” said Shurmur in the lead-up to facing the Falcons.
He continued, “They know my true feelings, and that’s what I care about. We’ll take it from there. I’m well aware of competition and how this works. I played in the trenches, I was an overachiever. I get that, but I also know that as an adult sometimes, you don’t just do it and say whatever the heck you want. This is about team-building and trying to do this the right way, and along the way we’ve got to win more games and I am aware of that.”
He added, “But I do think any adversity you go through helps you in the long run as long as you find your way through it. That’s what we’re facing right now. That’s real, so we just keep fighting our way through it.”
It will be an arduous struggle. Yet Shurmur is acutely aware that this is what he signed up for.