Temporary reprieve for embattled Ben
Ownership has spoken and Ben McAdoo is not going anywhere — yet.
In a rare public statement, Giants co-owners John Mara and Steve Tisch sent out a missive Monday afternoon, a day after their team lost 31-21 to the 49ers in Santa Clara, Calif., the f irst victory for the 49ers, who had been 0-9. It was another dismal showing by the Giants, dropping them to 1-8. That loss followed a dreadful 51-17 rout by the Rams at MetLife Stadi um, o peni ng up t he floodgates that McAdoo must go, immediately, if not sooner.
The f l oodgates have been closed, for now.
“Ben McAdoo is our head coach and has our support,’’ the statement from the owners read. “We are in the midst of an extremely disappointing season. Our performance this year, particularly the past two weeks, is inexcusable and frustrating. While we appreciate that our fans are unhappy with what has occurred, nobody is more upset than we are.
“Our plan is to do what we have always done, which is to not offer a running commentary on the season. It is our responsibility to determine the reasons for our poor performance and at the end of the year, we will evaluate the 2017 season in its entirety and make a determination on how we move forward.”
This should not be viewed as a pardon, as on Jan. 1, 2018, McAdoo could find himself out of a job after a season that began with talk — from McAdoo, and others — of putting the fifth Lombardi Trophy in the case, a season that is likely to end with no more than two or three wins, or perhaps, no more than one. An ugly season is likely to get uglier, with the arrival of Sunday’s home game against the first-place Chiefs, as paper bags might become the new headwear around MetLife Stadium.
Clearly, this falls far short of a vote of confidence for McAdoo, and, for that matter, general manager Jerry Reese. The Giants have not fired a head coach during a season in 41 years, when Bill Arnsparger was dismissed after a 0-7 start in 1976. John McVay took over and went 3-4 the remainder of the season. What this does is quell the insistence McAdoo needs to go now, not later. Ownership will make t he determination whether he returns for a third season or gets f ired after two, but the decision will not come while there are games left to be played.
Asked about the statement from ownership during a conference call, McAdoo at first completely dismissed the query, saying he was in the process of grading the 49ers film and getting ready to start preparing for the Chiefs. Pressed, asked if this show of support will help him coach the team, McAdoo said, “I don’t know. Only time will tell. We’ll have to see how everybody responds. Again, my focus is as it always is, on the week of preparation and trying to put a good plan together, help these coaches and players any way I can to put a good product on the field and find a way to get better.’’ Not long after the statement went public, Damon “Snacks’’ Harrison took to Twitter to post “Bennie with the good hair’’ followed by emojis of two hands raised in celebration. “Bennie with the good hair’’ was the self-deprecating name McAdoo gave to himself — and had T-shirts made with the slogan — last season after New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie ripped McAdoo’s hair on WFAN.
Eli Manning said, “It ’s the right move’’ during his weekly WFAN spot and added, “This is not on coach McAdoo.’’
Not long after the latest loss, Landon Collins in a quiet and somber visitors’ locker room inside Levi’s Stadium, came to McAdoo’s defense, saying, “He needs to coach this team next year, too.’’
After the loss to the Rams— coached by McVay’s grandson, Sean —an ESPN report, quoting two anonymous Giants players — indicated McAdoo had lost the team and players had quit on the head coach, and the season. That was refuted, publicly, by several prominent players, notably Harrison, Collins, Justin Pugh and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie.
McAdoo in the past few weeks suspended RodgersCromartie and Janoris Jenkins, adding fuel to the f ire the Giants are in turmoil. Players insisted they did not quit in the 34-point loss to the Rams and expressed confidence they would make amends against the winless 49ers.
Instead, it was more of the same and the heat on McAdoo grew so hot Giants ownership saw the need to douse the speculation McAdoo’s time as the head coach was about to expire.