GIANTS’ PATH INTO THE ABYSS
How the Giants losst their wayy
ROCK BOTTOM, N.J. — Waiting now along the Road to Ruin are the empty seats, and the infuriated boobirds who spare no one — not even Eli Manning. Who never in their wildest imaginations expected to have a rebuilding project shoved down their throats before Halloween. Who wish Lawrence Taylor could show up even now to terrify the quarterback, and Mark Bavaro could show up even now to drag defenders with him, and the young Manning could somehow find David Tyree, and Plaxico Burress in the end zone.
Who, alongside the True Blue diehards and loyalists, will sit inside MetLife Stadium Sunday against the Redskins forlorn and flabbergasted, wondering: Who stole our Giants? Of course it always starts at the top, with the owners, good men both, who hire the general manager who starts picking too many bad players — enough bad players that the Hall of Fame coach couldn’t win with them, couldn’t win with the beloved Hall of Fame quarterback who is now on the 18th hole, and neither could the one-hit wonder coach who was chosen by the owners to replace the old Hall of Fame coach.
This is how a once-proud franchise has gotten here:
A pair of top-10 draft picks who were busts — Ereck Flowers and Eli Apple. A failure to build a sturdy offensive line. You can’t spell decline without an “E,” an “L” and an “I.” Great leaders growing old. Tom Coughlin losing his Midas touch. A spate of debilitating injuries, none more devastating than Victor Cruz’s torn patellar tendon in 2014.
Neglect of the linebacking and tight end positions.
A head coach in Ben McAdoo who didn’t last as long as Ray Handley. The Fall of the New York Football Giants:
At the start of the Giants’ 2012 training camp in Albany, Coughlin said, “We certainly want to continue with
‘All- In,’ and ‘Finish,’ but we’d also like to come out of the starting gate and sustain, and then we’d like to finish.”
They finished 9-7 and missed the playoffs on the last day of the regular-season when the Bears beat the Lions. This came after a second-half swoon by the Giants that featured Week 15 and 16 losses to the Falcons and Ravens by a combined 67-14 score.
Before the start of the 2013 season, GM Jerry Reese installed a countdown clock on a wall just outside the locker room that ticked off the days until Super Bowl XLVIII at MetLife Stadium.
The 2013 Giants started 0-6 for the first time since 1976 and finished 7-9. Offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride became the scapegoat when the offense ranked 29th. Manning (18 touchdowns, 27 interceptions) was terrible. McAdoo was hired from the Packers in 2014 to rave reviews by Aaron Rodgers.
Coughlin was quickly impressed by McAdoo’s system: “I really like the way it’s energized us. Eli is back with some bounce in his step. You can look in his eyes — he’s always been a great studier — you see that there’s new things to conquer.”
Defensive lineman Justin Tuck signed with the Raiders, and the 2014 season would mark Antrel Rolle’s Big Blue swan song — leaving an irreplaceable leadership void.
Odell Beckham Jr. was the 12th pick of the 2014 draft, but after he missed the first four games with a hamstring injury, it wasn’t long before Cruz tore his patellar tendon in Philadelphia and was never the same. The 2014 Giants lost seven straight and finished 6-10. Defensive coordinator Perry Fewell was fired.
“Change is necessary,” Coughlin said. Coughlin brought back Super Bowl XLII coordinator Steve Spagnuolo to replace him.
Reese made Flowers, an offensive tackle, the ninth pick of the 2015 draft. When incumbent left tackle Will Beatty suffered a torn pectoral muscle, Flowers was moved from the right side to replace him. As the 2015 Giants wobbled toward irrelevance, co-owner Steve Tisch put Coughlin on notice.
“I would not be happy with our season ending on Jan. 3,” he said. It ended on Jan. 3 at 6-10 with a three- game losing streak, which began on a day Beckham and Josh Norman made like Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor. The Coughlin Era was over, and Manning fought back tears at his only head coach’s farewell press conference.
But Reese stayed, and ownership, confident the job suited him better than his baggy press conference suit, turned to McAdoo to restore Giants pride. Reese spent nearly $200 million on defensive free agents — Olivier Vernon, Janoris Jenkins and Damon “Snacks” Harrison — a Big Blue Band-Aid necessitated by a series of bad drafts.
Reese made Apple, a cornerback, the 10th pick of the 2016 draft — after the Titans traded up to beat the Giants to offensive tackle Jack Conklin and the Bears traded up for outside linebacker Leonard Floyd.
The organization was stained when kicker Josh Brown was waived at the end of October following revelations of domestic abuse.
“Our beliefs, our judgments and our decisions were misguided,” Mara said.
With Cruz on his last legs, the burden was on the defense to carry the Giants to the playoffs. Cruz and Beckham embarked on an infamous boat trip to Miami the week before the playoff game at Lambeau Field — after which Beckham, who had a case of the dropsies, punched a hole in the wall.
Reese passed on 35-year-old free agent left tackle Andrew Whitworth (Rams godsend) and kept his faith in Flowers. Beckham was summoned to Mara’s office after mimicking a dog urinating in the Linc end zone before McAdoo lost control of the locker room and benched an ineffective Manning, ending his 210-game Ironman streak, for Geno Smith. Apple was suspended. Flowers was a pariah. McAdoo was fired, replaced by interim Spagnuolo. Reese was fired with him. The record: 3-13.
The new regime — GM Dave Gettleman and coach Pat Shurmur — delighted Mara when it committed to Manning.
“My plan is to come in here every day and kick ass,” Gettleman said.
He used the second-overall pick on running back Saquon Barkley instead of QB Sam Darnold. And made left tackle Nate Solder ($62 million) the highestpaid offensive lineman in the league at the time. And drafted guard Will Hernandez in the second round. And made Beckham ($95 million) the highest-paid receiver in the game. And thought Manning had years left, and thought they had fixed the offensive line. And thought wrong. Then Beckham sat down with Lil Wayne. “I think he needs to do a little more playing and a little less talking,” Mara said.
And then the white flag was waved when Apple and Harrison were traded.
And here we are.