“It’s a f***ing mess,” Jay, a longtime Giants fan, texted me last Friday, one day after the team for whom he is “ride or die” dropped to 2-10 after losing 27-20 to the Dallas Cowboys on the road. It was fitting and ironic that the defeat officially eliminating the Giants from playoff contention happened on Thanksgiving Day, because they have perennially been beneficial to opponents.
Over the past seven seasons, the Giants are 37-77. Include the 12 games they have played thus fare in this disastrous campaign, and they are 39-87. Jay’s sentiments are felt by a plethora of fans, some who wore paper bags over their heads at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Tex., last Thursday as a show of frustration.
“I hate to say this, man, but they have to blow this thing up again,” moaned Jay, who is 52 and has experienced the joy of the Giants championship years, including Super Bowl wins in 2007 and 2011. “I can see [owners John] Mara and [Steve] Tisch bringing back [head coach Brian] Daboll and [general manager Joe] Schoen, but they need a total reset. Again!”
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The Giants have tried that several times over nearing a full nine-year span, during which they’ve had three general managers and five head coaches. Of those, one — Steve Spagnuolo — was an interim head coach for four games during the 2017-2018 season after Ben McAdoo was fired. The fingers of accountability are pointing firmly at Mara and Tisch for the nearly 10-year period of the repeated overhaul of the front office and coaching staff.
Fans such as Jay are rightfully cynical, though, about whether the Giants will align and produce synergy between the four most critical components of an NFL franchise — ownership, general manager, head coach, and quarterback — soon. There is no recent evidence that gives them hope. Their faith that it will happen, if they have any belief left at all, is blind.
They will watch their team play its final five games, with a Week 12 match-up this Sunday hosting the similarly languishing 4-8 New Orleans Saints at MetLife Stadium, already looking toward next season. On Monday, Giants wide receiver Darius Slayton said there remains a professional obligation to give maximum effort as a collective and strive to win despite their circumstances.
“Regardless of the situation, nobody goes out there and plans to lose or wants to lose,” Slayton stated. “At the end of the day, you prepare and you practice, and you get your mind and body right to win. Regardless of what your current predicament might be, the ultimate goal is to go out there every Sunday and win the game.”