A Giant Step in New Era
THE new voice belonging to the new head coach greets the New York Football Giants for the start of a new era Thursday. This is the day Ben McAdoo long ago saw in his dreams, and the task of following in Tom Coughlin’s footsteps does not scare him in the least.
With a once-proud team and once-proud franchise sick and tired of missing the playoffs, it probably shouldn’t.
The rookie coach inherits a franchise quarterback who can run the offense in his sleep, an electrifying wide receiver who can make one-handed catches with his eyes closed and $200 million worth of free-agent cavalry for a defense that forced Coughlin to ride off before he intended to into the Big Blue sunset.
It is, quite simply, a better team than Coughlin left behind, and for a franchise in which faces change but expectations never do, there is little time for McAdoo to endure the inevitable growing pains. There isn’t a hot seat for him, but John Mara and Steve Tisch can borrow from the “Just Win, Baby” mantra of the late Al Davis.
The NFC East is up for grabs, and there are no legitimate reasons why McAdoo, with Eli Manning’s help, cannot grab it.
Jim Fassel had never been a head coach when he replaced Dan Reeves in 1997 and led the Giants to a 10-5-1 record and the playoffs, where they imploded during a 23-22 loss to the Vikings.
On the other hand, Bill Parcells was 3-12-1 in his first crack at the head coaching job in 1983, so there are never any guarantees. When Parcells walked away with his second Super Bowl championship, then-GM George Young thought Ray Handley would be ready for his first head coaching job, and thought wrong.
But Mara and Tisch and GM Jerry Reese did a whole lot more than put lipstick on a pig for McAdoo.
They went all in on the freeagent Botox.
Yes, they overpaid, but they overpaid for young talents entering their primes, at positions of dire need.
McAdoo doesn’t try to be Coughlin, doesn’t try to be anyone but himself, which is the only way to be, because players can smell a phony 100 yards away. He commands a room, relates well with the players, is tough and smart and checks off most of the boxes. He’d sooner wind up on Page Six with Khloe Kardashian than offer inquiring media minds strategic personnel morsels that could aid and abet the enemy.
McAdoo’s transition will be eased thanks to a patient and supportive ownership that opted to retain Reese and an experienced staff (defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, special teams coach Tom Quinn, offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan) to whom he can delegate with comfort and confidence.
None of it will matter if the injury epidemic that raged under Coughlin rears its head under new strength and conditioning coach Aaron Wellman, but if nothing else, the law of averages is on McAdoo’s side.
The right side of the offensive line remains a concern, and the linebacking corps is as far as you can get from Lawrence Taylor, Harry Carson and Carl Banks. But virtually every team in the league, and especially in the NFC East, has warts somewhere. With Tony Romo’s health an issue, Manning still stands as the best quarterback in the division.
The pass rush and secondary should be markedly improved, which isn’t saying much. If Victor Cruz can make it some of the way back and rookie Sterling Shepard can make an impact opposite Odell Beckham Jr., Rashad Jennings can be the bell cow, left tackle Ereck Flowers can grow, if Manning is right about his offense averaging 28 points a game and if the defense can remember to close out the fourth quarter, then McAdoo will enjoy a honeymoon rookie season.
That’s a lot of ifs, to be sure. But the Giants believe they have handed a lot of team to a lot of head coach. Count me among the believers.
I’ll be picking the Giants to win the division.