Ben’s Highs & Lows

Ben McAdoo was fired as the Giants’ head coach Monday morning, four games before the end of his second season. Below are three highs and lows of his time with the organization: HIGHS

• Reached the playoffs as a rookie head coach, no easy feat, guiding the Giants to the postseason last year as a wild card and ending a fouryear drought. He was just the fourth Giants coach to reach the playoffs in his first season.

• He was a strong offensive coordinator in his first two seasons with the organization. In his first year, the Giants had the No. 13 offense in the league after being 28th the previous year. In his second season, Big Blue had the sixthhighest scoring offense (26.3 points per game).

• A major part of McAdoo’s success in his first season was the team’s health, in part the result of a new schedule that eliminated Friday practices, and the addition of new strength & conditioning coach Aaron Wellman.

LOWS

• The benching of Eli Manning and the poor handling of it led, at least in part, to his dismissal Monday. It was an organizational decision to take a look at the other quarterbacks on the roster — Geno Smith and rookie Davis Webb — but co-owner John Mara clearly wasn’t happy with how it was communicated to Manning and the fan base. It led to a fan and Giants alumni outcry.

• McAdoo was hailed as an offensive guru upon being named head coach, and yet the Giants failed to reach 30 points once while he was head coach. They scored in the 20s just 11 times.

• Off-the-field issues became a staple of the Giants this year. McAdoo was forced to suspend two starters — cornerbacks Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and Janoris Jenkins — for a game apiece for disciplinary reasons. Two players ripped him anonymously in an ESPN report, saying he had lost the team, that he throws players under the bus to reporters, and “guys are giving up on the season.” His prickly relationship with the media didn’t help, either.