By: Marco Imperati | Featured Columnist
Many important topics were brought up and answered this past Tuesday when the owner, general manager and head coach of the New York Giants met the media.
As expected, John Mara struggled with this season just like the fans did. He came across very honest. He called the team “embarrassing” and even admitted that a low point for him was the loss in Jacksonville where he “was ready to fire everyone”. For fans, this was refreshing to hear. Considering the disappointment that has followed this team over the past three seasons, it’s good to hear that no one had more sleepless nights then the man in charge.
Tom Coughlin will be the head coach of this team next season. However only next season was guaranteed by the owner because of the rare circumstance Coach Coughlin is coaching under. Very rarely have the Giants let a coach go into the last year of his contract. Coughlin will and Mara admitted that they would have to rethink that mantra going forward. Everyone, Mara and Coughlin included, would like nothing else then for this team to resurge in the last years of Coughlin’s tenure, as well as Eli Manning’s glory years, and get back to the playoffs.
Jerry Reese, who is very hard to read and says about as little as one could in a 20-minute press conference, did have confidence in the last two draft classes. This team will go as far as Justin Pugh, Jonathan Hankins, Odell Beckham Jr., Weston Richburg and Devon Kennard take them.
Free Agency looms large and Reese is not showing his cards. When asked about Jason Pierre-Paul, Reese was smart enough to give a balanced answer.
“ I think at the beginning of the season, he wasn’t playing like he played at the end of the season. The second half of the season, he came on really strong and played like we thought he should play. The guy has some ability to be a game changer. We didn’t see enough of that in the first half of the season”.
Much of the coaching changes that are perceived to happen revolve around Defensive Coordinator, Perry Fewell. One name that has not been mentioned as much is Special Teams Coordinator, Tom Quinn. That could be an easy change for Giants fans but I’d be eager to see what type of unit he can coach with a healthy roster.
With the secondary and linebackers so beaten up this year, many players Quinn was counting on (Quintin Demps, Zack Bowman, Kennard, Mark Herzlich) were plugged into starting positions which further depleted the Special Teams unit.
Approaching Free Agency, how about this stat that stuck out to me. The Giants have not given out a 2nd contract to a player they’ve drafted since 2008 (Will Beatty). That will change this year with Prince Amukamara and JPP both free agents. But 2008? That’s a staggering statistic that tells you all you need to know about our depth and recent drafts.