BLAME? REESE IS THE WORD
GM says Giant fiasco’s on him, a Big Blueprint for own firing
GM Jerry Reese to Giants co-owners John Mara and Steve Tisch: Fire away, fellas. Reese provided Mara and Tisch with the blueprint to fire him at the end of the season – his fifth in six years without making the playoffs with no playoff victories since Super Bowl XLVI – by claiming to take full responsibility for the Giants’ disastrous 1-6 start in what is perhaps the most disappointing season since they went into business in 1925. “This is the roster that I put together,” Reese said Tuesday. “I’m the reason we’re 1-6. But we do have to play better as a team.” Reese tried to turn himself into a martyr Tuesday ... until he didn’t. By the time he was done making excuses for having the third-worst record behind the winless Browns and 49ers and constructing a poorly conceived and flawed roster, he blamed bloated egos in the locker room who bought into the preseason Super Bowl hype, a defense lacking last year’s hunger, a quarterback who needs to make more plays, and an offense that has failed to close out games, saying all players and coaches share in the accountability. Reese avoided blaming Ben McAdoo and Ereck Flowers, who probably rank Nos. 2 and 3 behind Reese on the Big Blue Nation list of culprits. He raved about McAdoo’s intelligence – he has not impressed me as the next Bill Walsh — and basically said Flowers is no worse than the other bad left tackles in the NFL, so lay off him. But was he blaming McAdoo for not being able to focus the Giants on the challenge instead of the hype? He made a point of saying games are won during the week in practice and preparation and not on Sundays — was that another slap at McAdoo? The Reese dilemma for Mara and Tisch: They crave continuity and Reese does have two Super Bowl championships on his resume. But that was in 2007 and 2011 and was not enough to protect Tom Coughlin when he was fired after the 2015 season. One of the worst kept secrets in the NFL is Coughlin was not only upset at being fired, but he was incensed that Reese, who was responsible for providing him the players, wasn’t fired with him.
Instead, Reese was retained and McAdoo was promoted to head coach. In the absence of a strong run to the finish line with a depleted roster, Mara and Tisch have to decide whether to give Reese one more shot or fire him and hire a GM and force him to keep McAdoo or fire Reese and McAdoo and start over. The presence of Eli Manning, who will be 37 in January with no heir apparent, complicates the decision.
If 1-6 turns into 3-13 and lots of empty seats in December, then Mara/Tisch could decide to clean everybody out. The Giants have three NFC East home games in December. Wellington Mara used to say he would never mind if the fans booed, because that showed they cared, but it’s when they didn’t bother showing up that he knew the indifference dictated a change. Fans booed this season at the first home game against the Lions and last week Seahawks fans dominated the stands at the end of the game.
How many empty seats will there be in six weeks? Remember, in so many ways, Mara is his father’s son. This is what Mara said about Reese after he fired Coughlin: “Jerry knows this is on him.” Reese literally bought himself out of trouble last year when the Giants had an embarrassment of riches in salary cap room at the same time they were burdened with the worst defense in their history in 2015. Reese signed defensive end Olivier Vernon, defensive tackle Snacks Harrison, cornerback Janoris Jenkins – the best free agents at their positions – with $105 million in guaranteed money with contracts totaling $194 million. The Giants won 11 games and the defense was among the best in the NFL, but the Giants lost in Green Bay in the wild-card round.
Reese has won playoff games in only two of his 10 seasons, which were both Super Bowl years. But this job was not a lifetime appointment and Reese’s seat could not be any hotter.
“You’re always on notice,” he said. “I’ve been left for dead a lot of times since I’ve been doing this job and that’s just part of the business. It comes with the territory. It’s a high performance business.” His response to those who believe he should be fired: “That’s up to the owners of the New York Giants,” he said. “You can ask them that if you’d like. I just know that I come to work every day and I know that people come in here and they work their behinds off every day.” What did Reese prove last year? When he had money he knew how to spend it and used free agency to cover up years of botched draft choices. But this season the defense blew fourth quarter leads against the Eagles, Bucs and Chargers – losses three, four and five – and Reese noticed they lacked the passion from last year right from opening night in Dallas.
“I think we bought into some of the hype that this is a good looking football team,” Reese said.
It was Reese’s first comments since the opening days of training camp on July 27 – that’s 89 days of silence as the season skidded into a ditch.
“This is my roster,” he said. “I’m responsible for everybody on the roster. I will take ownership where we are right now.”
Now it’s up to the owners to decide what to do with him. AP