N.Y. Giants: Tom Coughlin Will Return For A 12th Season

From the desk of:  DO IT FOR THE DUKE

Colonel Coughlin Will Return!

NEW YORK GIANTS FOOTBALL: Perry Fewell Leading Candidate To Receive Pink Slip; Tom Quinn May Follow.

The Giants have been to the playoffs five times under Tom Coughlin, but not since 2011.  In fact, this year marked the 6th time they have failed to make the playoffs in Coughlin's 11 years as head coach.

The era is now officially sandwiched by 6-10 records.  In 2004, the Giants launched with a 6-10 record in Coughlin's first season.  With last Sunday's loss to the Eagles, they matched it.

This was also their second straight losing season, and now sport a 22-26 record since winning Super Bowl XLVI.

Was Tom Coughlin the reason for the Giants inconsistent play these last few years?

If Tiki Barber were still around, he'd still be whining how Coughlin repeatedly gets out-coached.   Well, he's not around, and that's really not the Giants case.  That is why Monday morning ownership announced Tom Coughlin will be back next season (coaching in the final season of his contract that is).

For 2015, it's the right move.  The Giants usually get this right, so, we'll cross the 2016 bridge when we get to it.  However, for some of Colonel Coughlin's lieutenants, it may prove a bridge too far.

As defensive coordinator, Perry Fewell's defense routinely ranks towards the bottom of the NFL.   Their run defense should be nicknamed the Alaskan Pass, because of the six months of daylight they provide, while their confusion in the secondary often makes them look like a Keystone Cops casting call.

This season was no different.  Despite injuries, there was enough talent to at least get a more representative showing from week to week.  The real problem lies with Fewell's style itself; it's overly complicated and clearly ineffective.  We've known this for years.

Sure, he earned some credit for limiting Tom Brady and helping win a Super Bowl.  But, Aaron Ross and Corey Webster threw their coach under the bus, admitting things didn't change until Fewell abandoned his failed system in time for the (2011) playoffs.

I'll say this for Perry Fewell, he's been persistent (stubborn) with regards to that dumb layered system no one can figure out.  Alas, he spent his credit..., and now it's time for him to go.

Special teams coach Tom Quinn is also reportedly on the hot seat, and for good reason.  Like Fewell, Quinn's dismissal has been several years in the making.  For at least the last two seasons, his units have either been inconsequential, or guilty of too many questionable performances.  The loss of David Wilson certainly hindered the Giants return game.  And to his credit, Tom Quinn has been here for both Super Bowls.  I'd give him one more season, but then his assistant Larry Izzo must pay the price for him.

Who Else Should Get Big Blue Pink Slips And Who Should Stay:

While I'm still a little ambivalent regarding Ben McAdoo, the organization thinks highly of him, so, he's obviously safe.

I think Danny Langsdorf is Eli Manning's 4th QB coach?  His 3rd at least....  but at this point in Eli's career, that shouldn't matter much.  Eli otherwise actually had a very good season in Ben McAdoo's system, with Langsdorf coaching him on the side.  Danny worked with Drew Brees in his previous gig with New Orleans.  (Drew Brees and the Saints sucked this season.  Just saying....)

I've been rough on guys like Rueben Randle and Preston Parker.  But Wide Receivers coach Sean Ryan still managed to at least get improvement out of Randle.  And, as talented as Odell Beckham Jr. appears to be, a 21-year old rookie still needs a good coach teaching him.  Sean Ryan also oversaw the emergence of the salsa dancer Victor Cruz.  Truth is, Eli Manning has benefited from a quality list of receivers ever since Ryan took over as coach in 2005.  In recent years though, the deeper the Giants dipped into their depth, the more tipped balls and blown routes we witnessed, which also coincided with Eli's escalating rate of interceptions.

Kevin Gilbride Jr. is a harder coach to rate.  The tight ends coach hasn't had much to work with lately.  Second year Larry Donnell hasn't been featured much ever since his hat trick early in the season.  You could say Martellus Bennett had a good season under Gilbride.  Otherwise, there's not much to point at in his 5-year body of work, but nothing much to criticize either.

Pat Flaherty has served as the offensive line coach for all Tom Coughlin's 11 seasons.  In my opinion, he is a fine coach.  Any criticisms regarding the offensive line should be redirected at Jerry Reese; this is his mess to figure out.  And you might as well include running backs coach Craig Johnson into this mess as well.

On the other side of the ball, if Perry Fewell is on the hot seat, then defensive line coach Robert Nunn should be starting to sweat as well.  Over his six years, he's endured the departures of Michael Strahan, Justin Tuck, Osi Umenyiora, Barry Cofield, etc.  But, simply put, this year's defensive line anchored by JPP (who's late season surge doesn't sway me) and Cullen Jenkins played atrociously.   They did so because of poor technique and attention to detail, over-pursuit, failure to contain, and other coaching related issues.  Time has depleted this unit, but this coach brings nothing to the table.

Jim Herrmann is the linebackers coach, and perhaps the most inconsequential coach of the bunch. Jerry Reese's treatment of the position makes this so.  At the same time, Jim Herrmann has largely failed to inspire guys like Michael Boley, Jonathan Goff, Mathias Kiwanuka, Jacquian Williams, Kieth Rivers, Spencer Paysinger, etc., to higher levels of play.  They almost had a keeper with the now defunct Jon Beason, but rookie Devon Kennard actually looks like a real deal linebacker.

Coaches Peter Giunta (corners) and Dave Merritt (safeties) are okay in my book.  Like Pat Flaherty and Sean Ryan, they've been here for both Super Bowl runs.  What issues I have with the secondary largely revolve around Perry Fewell's system.

Coaches that should be given a Big Blue boot:

• Perry Fewell
• Robert Leonard (Defensive Assistant)
• Robert Nunn
• Jim Herrmann
• Larry Izzo (Special Teams Assistant)

UPDATE:  just learned Danny Langsdorf has taken the offensive coordinators job at Nebraska.


Mike

N.Y. Giants: No Running Game Is Kevin Gilbride's Happy Zone

From the desk of:   DO IT FOR THE DUKE

NEW YORK FOOTBALL GIANTS: Offensively Speaking, Everything Is Relative.  This Sunday However, Will Test Coach Kevin Gilbride's Creativity.

I'm not going to jump all over Eli for seven interceptions in two weeks, not when he, Hakeem Nicks and Victor Cruz have been a virtual three man wrecking crew.  Over the last two weeks, the three have been largely responsible for 804 yards of total offense.  Granted, interceptions are just another way of saying the Giants shot themselves in the foot - twice.  But they clearly have major issues that are affecting their greater game.

The more you ask Eli to throw the ball, the greater risk interceptions become.  Why is he being asked the throw this much?  Start with the backfield, of course.  An injury to Andre Brown left the Giants depleted while David Wilson took a major step backwards instead of rushing forward.  And if Brandon Jacobs was woefully ineffective in 2011, there was no reason to expect anything from him in Week Two. 

I spoke about balance heading into Week One.  Although Coach Coughlin imposed the situation after David Wilson's two fumbles, the offensive scales are all off.  In Game One, Eli threw forty-two passes, while the Giants only ran the ball twelve times.  In game Two, Eli threw the ball forty-nine times, while they ran the ball nineteen times.

The foot bone is connected to the ankle bone.  Right?  The running game can't get going because the offensive line has been pedestrian, if not unremarkable.  Due to their performance, or lack there of, the rushing game has been stopped at the point of attack.  I was surprised when the Giants started James Brewer in Week One over Jim Cordle.  As a unit, they allowed Dallas to sack Eli three times, and hit him another five.  On the ground, the O-Line opened up few holes for the beleaguered backfield, which resulted (minus Eli's eight yards)  in only forty-two yards rushing.  In Game Two, center David Baas returned to action, and the running game did even worse.  The running game barely averaged one yard per carry.  They gained twenty-three yards all game.  While pass protecting, Eli was sacked one time, but was hit an additional seven times throughout the game by Denver.

While I still feel David Baas is too small at center, he has good stretches.  Sunday wasn't one of them.  Otherwise, the Giants did manage add some size to the line this season, and can now potentially throw five guys out there who all weigh over 300 pounds.  Overall experience, health and technique are other matters.  Jim Cordle and James Brewer were never starters before.  Veteran David Diehl missed his second week.  Will Beatty is a better pass protector than run blocker.  I have no individual beefs with Chris Snee's or Kevin Boothe's play, and for now, Justin Pugh seems to be going about his business.  Perhaps there is hope for this very average bunch yet, as they have one of the best offensive line coaches in all the NFL - Pat Flaherty.  Once they improve, David Wilson's game will improve as well.

You know me, I love to blame Kevin Gilbride...for anything.  But he currently deserves none of it.  When he has the personnel to get back in offensive balance, I'll get back to criticizing play selection.  Right now, we happen to need Coach Gilbride's aggressive style.  Remember what Bill Parcells once told Phil Simms before a big game, and I paraphrase - If you don't throw two interceptions today, it's because you weren't being aggressive enough.  No one attempts more yardage per pass play than Simon Bar Sinister himself, Kevin Gilbride.  He must feel like a kid in Disney World right now with full run of the place.  The bottom line is, he still needs a viable running game, and after a decade together with Eli, Coach better insure his playbook stays creative enough to keep the league honest.

Moving forward, two people need to relax - David Wilson and Tom Coughlin.  David Wilson went to an extreme against Denver in trying to hold on to the ball.  He just needs to ease-up a bit, and get back to being an athlete instead of a robot.  Coach needs to work with Wilson, not against him, because very simply, Wilson is the only plan the Giants have.  It's fine for Coach to drill him in ball security, but he also needs to keep his inexperienced running back in a positive frame of mind too.  The hope here is three weeks will be all it takes for them to finally find common ground.



Mike.BTB

N.Y. GIANTS ~ End of Season; PART III

NEW YORK FOOTBALL GIANTS

"Finish 2010 Season, TEN and SICK"

THE AUTOPSY:

PART I;

HEAD COACH and The OFFENSIVE COACHES

Tom Coughlin - Kevin Gilbride - Mike Sullivan - Jerald Ingram

PART II;

The DEFENSIVE COACHING and SPECIAL TEAMS COACH

Perry Fewell - Tom Quinn

NOW PLAYING:

THE AUTOPSY; PART III

V - THE OFFENSIVE LINE

1 - OFFENSIVE LINE COACH ~ PAT FLAHERTY

Pat Flaherty just completed his seventh year as the Giants' Offensive Line Coach.  David Diehl, Shaun O'Hara and Chris Snee have all been Pro-Bowlers under Coach Flaherty.  This season, without a doubt, not only was Rich Seubert a GIANT MVP all the way up until his injury, he was arguably one of the best Linemen in all of Football and another sure Pro-Bowler.

Pat Flaherty coached the Starting Five unit of O'Hara, Snee, Diehl, Seubert and McKenzie to 38 consecutive games played together covering 2007 through 2009.

This year the Offensive Line was hard-pressed to stay healthy.  David Diehl missed a month while Shaun O'Hara lost well over half his season to injury.

Because of the trickle down effects of Shaun O'Hara's on going injuries, Coach Flaherty guided David Diehl through a slight rough patch when he was asked to switch positions and managed very well until he was able to return to his natural Tackle spot.  Coach Flaherty also had to position, and re-position Rich Seubert all over the Offensive Line.  Seubert did a masterful job at the Center position filling in for O'Hara.

Pat Flaherty Coached his line through ever depleting depth.  Shawn Andrews was thought to be a great looking acquisition to bolster this year's Offensive Line.  But he too was lost too injury.

Coach Flaherty was still able to utilize yet another casualty, Adam Koets, until he went down leaving young William Beatty and Kevin Boothe to fill major holes.

Pat Flaherty did arguably the best job of all the staff coaches on the Giants.



2 - THE LINEMEN

CENTER ~ SHAUN O'HARA :  33 years old.  He's been a Giant since 2004.  He just endured an injury riddled season with foot problems after starting every game last year.  Despite being injured he was voted-in for his 3rd Pro-Bowl.  He is under contract for next year, but 2011 is the last year of the deal.  He will have off-season surgery.

GUARD ~ CHRIS SNEE :  At 28 years of age, he's the youngest of the five starters..  He was drafted by the Giants in 2004 and is signed through 2014.  He is a three time Pro-Bowl Selection.  For this Brick House, 2010 was another solid season for the under-spoken Guard.

GUARD ~ RICH SEUBERT :  31 years old.  He is signed through 2012.  Undrafted, he's been with the Giants since 2001.  In 2003 he broke his leg in three places and came back in time to partake in the Offensive Line's consecutive games played streak.  2010 may have been his best season to date; playing three different Offensive Line positions and masterfully serving at the team's Center while O'Hara sat out with injury.  But now he's facing another major injury.  The scene of him dislocating his knee against the Redskins was so saddening.  He was having such a great season and truly was one of this team's ultimate MVP's.  He has more surgery and rehabilitation ahead of him now.  It's an awful lot for Jerry Reese to contemplate, but Rich Seubert vowed to come back...AGAIN!

TACKLE ~ DAVID DIEHL :  30 years old.  He was drafted by the Giants in 2003 and is signed through 2014.  He is yet another Pro-Bowl Lineman for the Giants.  He dutifully changed positions for the team, and didn't have premium results.  But he still offered play that was above average.  Now he's back at his natural Tackle spot as he continues to emerge into an elite Lineman.

TACKLE ~ KAREEM McKENZIE :  31 years old.  This Old Jet came to the Giants in 2005.  He signed a 7 year deal in 2005.  He's been nothing short of solid...again.  You never hear anything from him, but earlier in the season when he took big holding and unsportsmanlike penalties, he was front and center at his locker to account for himself.  He with the other four members of this Offensive Line have always been very disciplined and get few penalties called against them.



These boys were designed to stay together for another two more seasons.  Injuries may hamper than plan.  With age, injuries aren't usually far behind.  We're beginning to feel the ramifications of playing so many games in the trenches.  They have played many games together defying Football Odds and keeping the injury bug away.  That's a testament to their personal preparedness and Pat Flaherty's coaching.

There's a sense Shaun O'Hara may turn out fine.  But he represents a really big question at Center and not just because of back and foot problems he's had, but because Rich Seubert did such a good job filling in at Center and O'Hara happens to be the oldest of the group at 33 yrs of age. 

People were actually saying that right up until Seubert got hurt.  And now he represents yet another really, really big question on the Offensive Line going forward.  He's headed for big-time off-season surgery that could prove extremely disruptive to GIANT plans next season.

David Diehl was the third member of this vaunted Line to miss considerable time due to injury. He suffered a partially torn hamstring that was slow to heal.  But he showed no ill affects after his return.

The question - If these guys still had two years left together suddenly got a lot harder to answer.  This is an area Jerry Reese will no doubt have to address in the next Draft.  But in the mean-time, there are three young guys on the squad.

In 2007, Jerry Reese drafted TACKLE ~ ADAM KOETS who is now 26 years old and he drafted TACKLE ~ WILLIAM BEATTY in 2009.  He is 25 years old.

NYC native GUARD ~ KEVIN BOOTHE has been a Giant since 2007.  He was Oakland's starting Right Guard in 2006.

GUARD/TACKLE ~ SHAWN ANDREWS : 28 years old.  Jerry Reese signed him as a free agent from PHILLY to a 6 year deal that takes him through 2016.  It was thought to be, quietly, a great acquisition at the time.  But chronic back problems may force the 3-time Pro-Bowl player to retire.  He missed the 2009 season and could only sustain a handful of playing time this year when called into action, before he was literally forced to go to a hospital for his condition.


And now, JERRY REESE is about to walk a very FINE LINE as he's faced with having to make hard decisions about his Offensive Line situation.  They say TIME heals all wounds but it doesn't seem to want to give Jerry enough of it before August rolls around.  How Jerry manages the next 6 months may determine the following four months after that.

And then some.




Still to come:  JERRY REESE and the PLAYERS.



Mike.BTB

N.Y. Giants ~ Offensive Line Regaining Health (and Greatness).

NEW YORK FOOTBALL GIANTS:
Offensive Line Has Big Blue Surging Forward With Power.

Shaun O'Hara, Rich Seubert, Kareem McKenzie, David Diehl and Chris Snee have been together a long time.  They have long been considered one of the best offensive lines in Football.  Prior to last year when their streak was snapped, they started 38 consecutive games together.

Last year injuries put that streak to rest and also took a heavy toll on the Giants' season.  This year has been no different.  Shaun O'Hara is still a question heading into Sunday's game with Minnesota due to a bum foot that won't let up.  David Diehl however should be back in action this week.  His practices went well and he seems like a go to return from a partially torn hamstring.

It's always been my contention the Giants will live and die with this Offensive Line.  Everything starts and ends with them.  Having said that, the Giants are not only very alive, this patched-up Offensive Line has been doing extremely well.

The whole left side of this line was decimated losing starters Diehl and O'Hara.  Then back-up Adam Koets was lost for the season after the Seattle game.  When it came time for his turn to step in, the unheralded signing of former Pro-Bowler Shawn Andrews in the off-season practically had everyone calling GM Jerry Reese brilliant over the acquisition right up until he went down with a back back of his own that is still barking at him.

If you're not willing to call Jerry Reese brilliant just yet, how about extremely damn good then?  I am an unabashed Reese cheerleader by the way.  But if you remember back to the Jim Fassell days and the first year Coughlin took over, we had a guy named Luke Pettigout on our Offensive Line who was a penalty waiting to happen.  Remember him and all the bad Football he engaged in?  Now remember how Jerry Reese in one of his very first moves as the new Giants GM told Pettigout in a stone-faced manner to Beat It!  That's the moment when this Offensive Line was finally free to become one of the most dominant units in the NFL.  It was all a matter of addition by subtraction.

Fast-forward to this season, and what you have is a GM who somehow supplied this team with more depth on the Line than we all realized.  Will Beatty, drafted by Reese and Kevin Boothe, imported from Oakland have stepped in and contributed mightily filling in for the Big Blue regulars.  No more proof of their effectiveness is needed than the holes they've created that Brandon Jacobs has run through these last two weeks and the fact Eli has stayed very well protected and clean.

Will Beatty was rolling right along Sunday then got caught in a series of bad holding penalties.  Give the kid credit and give Offensive Line Coach Pat Flaherty even more credit for on-the-spot, in-game corrections on his technique. 

Coach Pat Flaherty has been here for seven years now and is regarded as one of the best in the business just like the Giants Offensive Line is considered one of the best in the business.

The Boys who supply the Daylight held things together as the situation became more dire by the week it seemed, and did an outstanding Big Blue job.  Now that health is returning to fortify the Line, the Giants and their Big Blue fan base should move forward with an increasing confidence knowing Giants Football still means Running With Power.



Mike.BTB