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Tom Coughlin should leave NY Giants on his own terms


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He’s been betrayed by Jerry Reese’s awful drafts, and the GM’s major pilgrimage into the free-agent market this year has backfired. Coughlin, of course, is not blameless. The Giants often look unprepared, make the same dumb mistakes and haven’t played with a sense of urgency since the 2011 Super Bowl run.

 

 

 

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/giants/myers-tom-coughlin-leave-giants-terms-article-1.2006208

 

 

om Coughlin has stuck around three years longer as the Giants head coach than Bill Parcells, has matched him with two Super Bowl trophies and could join him in Canton five years after the final season of his coaching career.

That final season should be this season.

At the end of what will be his third straight year out of the playoffs and fifth in the last six years, Coughlin should fire the Giants and gracefully retire and leave on his terms before they have a chance to ask him to “retire.”

He’s been betrayed by Jerry Reese’s awful drafts, and the GM’s major pilgrimage into the free-agent market this year has backfired. Coughlin, of course, is not blameless. The Giants often look unprepared, make the same dumb mistakes and haven’t played with a sense of urgency since the 2011 Super Bowl run.

Why does it seem the team that shows up on Sunday wasn’t paying attention at practice on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday? Or that their best defensive player is in the bathroom at halftime in Seattle when the assistant coaches were going over adjustments?

Or is it simply that the personnel is inferior and Reese, after hitting a home run in his first draft in 2007, has been stuck in a seven-year slump? They are not close to having Super Bowl talent and Coughlin is probably not the right coach to guide the Giants through a major rebuilding period.

“I think Tom is a great coach, but there comes a time when it’s just over, it’s stale,” one NFL source said Monday. “The players need to hear a new message, a new voice. They’ve grown deaf to Tom’s. You see it in their play. They need a re-do. It’s not that he can’t coach — he just can’t be the Giants’ coach. It happens. He’s had a great, long run, more than most, but I think they should have made the move last year.”

John Mara and Steve Tisch will never fire Coughlin, not after the coach won two Super Bowls in his first 10 years – any owner in the NFL would sign off on that production. He immediately gets a spot in their Ring of Honor when he’s done.

But if this 3-6 season, which started off with a two-game losing streak, then a three-game winning streak and now a four-game losing streak, likely transitions into a 6-10 or 7-9 season, then I think Mara and Tisch will strongly suggest to Coughlin he retire.

It can get awkward. I saw this happen in Dallas with Tom Landry when I covered the Cowboys.

After Landry was 3-13 in 1988, his 29th season as the only coach the Cowboys ever had, team president Tex Schramm wanted him to retire. He wanted to hire Jimmy Johnson.

Instead, Landry insisted he wanted to see the Cowboys through the rebuilding with Dallas owning the first pick in the draft and set to take Troy Aikman.

Schramm couldn’t bring himself to fire Landry. He didn’t have the heart to do it. Landry would have returned in 1989 except Jerry Jones bought the Cowboys in February of that year and quickly fired him, hired Johnson, his college teammate at Arkansas, and a few months later pushed Schramm out.

Mara and Tisch admire Coughlin much too much to fire him. They would never humiliate him. I don’t think Coughlin will fight them if he’s asked to retire, like Landry did with Schramm, and stay in a job where he’s not wanted.

“I think Giants ownership has been as respectful as they can to Tom,” the source said.

gcol11s-2-web.jpgAl Bello/Getty Images Things could get awkward between Coughlin and Giants ownership if Coughlin refuses to retire after the season.

Coughlin should preempt Mara and Tisch and walk into the Giants offices on Monday morning Dec. 29, one day after the final game against Eagles, and tell them it’s time for a change. And it is. That’s just the way it works in the NFL. It has nothing to do with Coughlin being the oldest coach in the NFL at 68. He has more energy than men 30 years younger. He’s on the treadmill at 5:30 in the morning.

But there just comes a time when change is good for both sides.

A no-fault divorce.

This is different than following the 2006 season, when Coughlin came close to getting fired after he lost the locker room. He talked his way back by coming up with a plan not only to get Eli Manning straightened out but by promising to reinvent himself and establish a better relationship with his players. The Giants responded by beating the undefeated Patriots in the second greatest upset in Super Bowl history. They beat the Pats again four years later. Coughlin has done his best work for the Giants in January and February.

But he has struggled in the regular season. His first championship team was only 10-6. His second was 9-7, the worst record ever for a Super Bowl champ.

Coughlin is a student of the history of the game. He knows what happened to Landry. He should not let history repeat itself.

 

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Who is teaching this defense by the way? I mean, how the fuck do you not know how to tackle? NFL PROfessionals right here.

 

Another reason football sucks now.

 

The new Collective Bargaining agreement pretty much cut the number of training camp practices in half, and severely limited the number of "contract drills" you can have in practices. Essentially, the first two games of the season are still preseason games (based on the play; players are TOTALLY unprepared), and you're no longer allowed to teach players how to tackle by actually... tackling... in practice during the season.

 

On the plus side, its clearly reduced the number of injuries. :eyeroll:

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Another reason football sucks now.

 

The new Collective Bargaining agreement pretty much cut the number of training camp practices in half, and severely limited the number of "contract drills" you can have in practices. Essentially, the first two games of the season are still preseason games (based on the play; players are TOTALLY unprepared), and you're no longer allowed to teach players how to tackle by actually... tackling... in practice during the season.

 

On the plus side, its clearly reduced the number of injuries. :eyeroll:

 

I mean, I cringed how much the seahawks ran on his and there were 5 guys on Lynch who couldn't even take him down.

 

Are they weak or they just fucking suck at tackling?

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I mean, I cringed how much the seahawks ran on his and there were 5 guys on Lynch who couldn't even take him down.

 

Are they weak or they just fucking suck at tackling?

 

Honestly, Marshawn Lynch does that to everyone. There's a reason I really wanted the Giants to pick him up three years ago.

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I mean, I cringed how much the seahawks ran on his and there were 5 guys on Lynch who couldn't even take him down.

 

Are they weak or they just fucking suck at tackling?

 

Both weak/uninterested but also didn't know how to fucking tackle...

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You have to respect Wilson's ability to scramble when talking about Lynch, there's a lot of guys not set to make these tackles and then you have this bull charging at you. Look at DC and the fact that Morris just hasn't had the same luck since RG3 left the lineup. It makes a big difference.

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You have to respect Wilson's ability to scramble when talking about Lynch, there's a lot of guys not set to make these tackles and then you have this bull charging at you. Look at DC and the fact that Morris just hasn't had the same luck since RG3 left the lineup. It makes a big difference.

 

That's an excellent point.

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No matter who you are, no matter your history of success, no matter how great a coach and man you still are, there comes a point when despite your best efforts, the team simply does not respond to your style, your message, your leadership, the team culture any longer.

 

I'm not saying the team is at that point. Injuries have seriously undone this team's aspirations this year, but there are problems injuries aside.

 

No one is irreplaceable, no matter your job. To me Coughlin is a Hall of Fame coach and person. But if Mara and Tisch say his time is up at the end of this season, I cannot argue against that decision.

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I do think when you make the decision to fire a man like Coughlin, you have to re-evaluate EVERYTHING. And one problem with this team is that Eli Manning makes a disproportionate salary relative to his ability. I love Eli, but he is not in the top tier of NFL quarterbacks, but he is paid like one, and that effects how good the team can be around him.

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I do think when you make the decision to fire a man like Coughlin, you have to re-evaluate EVERYTHING. And one problem with this team is that Eli Manning makes a disproportionate salary relative to his ability. I love Eli, but he is not in the top tier of NFL quarterbacks, but he is paid like one, and that effects how good the team can be around him.

 

Correct which is why I think the team should somehow drop a hint to Eli... if Eli doesn't do it on his own.. we're stuck with what we got.

 

 

I agree 100%.

 

My choice would be:

 

1) Retain Coughlin

2) Re-sign Eli

3) Keep McAdoo

4) Fire Fewell

5) Fire Quinn

6) Slap Reese in the head

 

I think last year's draft was better than his previous ones (except for 2007) and this year's is shaping up to be up there with 2007.

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No matter who you are, no matter your history of success, no matter how great a coach and man you still are, there comes a point when despite your best efforts, the team simply does not respond to your style, your message, your leadership, the team culture any longer.

 

I'm not saying the team is at that point. Injuries have seriously undone this team's aspirations this year, but there are problems injuries aside.

 

No one is irreplaceable, no matter your job. To me Coughlin is a Hall of Fame coach and person. But if Mara and Tisch say his time is up at the end of this season, I cannot argue against that decision.

I call it the Pat Riley Syndrome... even though the Lakers were still winning championships... people simply got tired of the guy... same thing in NY with less success... though they were consistently going deep into the playoffs... players tuned him out after 5 or 6 seasons...

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Tom Coughlin had the opportunity at the end of last season to leave and chose to stay, this season will be no different. I believe Tom Coughlin and Eli Manning have another super bowl in them and they will get it done. There is no place to kick Tom Coughlin up to in the organization and if they made one it wouldn't benefit the organization.

 

There will be a time when this conversation needs to happen but that time is not now. Too much football left in the season.

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Tom Coughlin had the opportunity at the end of last season to leave and chose to stay, this season will be no different. I believe Tom Coughlin and Eli Manning have another super bowl in them and they will get it done. There is no place to kick Tom Coughlin up to in the organization and if they made one it wouldn't benefit the organization.

 

There will be a time when this conversation needs to happen but that time is not now. Too much football left in the season.

Damn, I don't know dude. Just seems there's not enough time to build another team around them.

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Damn, I don't know dude. Just seems there's not enough time to build another team around them.

 

Around Eli yes.. and Tom being gone may help that... the team isn't as bad as most think.... on the D alone we have up and coming young kids who should be seeing the field like Bromely and Moore... Shit at this point, I'd bring Will Hill back (assuming he fucking gets his shit together)... the DBs are solid and deep... the only point of focus should be at the LB spot and that has to be built thru both the draft and FA...

 

Offensively we had what we thought was an improved OL... the injuries keep killing us.. we need to add another 1st rounder to solidify that unit for years to come... and we have to get a proven X in FA if possible... that's all we need in FA.. just 2 solid players (WR and LB).. and of course a DC who has some kind of imagination.. anything but Fewel... Eli is better than ever... his experience shows.. give him credit for his poise out there...

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Eli deserves to be resigned/extended. I want him to retire as a Giant. That said, his contract extension needs to be cap-friendly AND on par with his performance. That's a tough number to come to, but there have been discussions here ad nauseum about whether Eli makes those around him better or whether those around him make Eli better. And because it's a mixture of both of those things, where Giants ownership falls on that spectrum will have a lot to do with the number they offer Eli. Perhaps even more of a factor is where Eli's replacement will come from. We haven't necessarily seen enough from Nassib to even make him a suggestion at this point, but I'm assuming the coaches saw something to make him a draft pick. Do coaches actually look at QBs in the draft and select them to be a career backup?

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I don't believe for a second that Coughlin hasn't had enough talent to at least get to 0.500 the last two years. Those have been some horrifically under-prepared teams.

 

I dunno, man. Quarterbacks aside, just take a look at our skill guys compared to the rest of the division:

 

Giants

 

Eli Manning

Rashad Jennings

Larry Donnell

Odell Beckham

 

Cowboys

 

Tony Romo

Demarco Murray

Jason Witten

Dez Bryant

 

Eagles

 

Nick Foles

Shady McCoy

Brent Celek

Jeremy Maclin

 

Redskins

 

Robert Griffin

Alfred Morris

Fred Davis

DeSean Jackson

 

 

Not for nothing, but our "skill" guys are #2-#3 guys in the rest of the division.

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I dunno, man. Quarterbacks aside, just take a look at our skill guys compared to the rest of the division:

 

Giants

 

Eli Manning

Rashad Jennings

Larry Donnell

Odell Beckham

 

Cowboys

 

Tony Romo

Demarco Murray

Jason Witten

Dez Bryant

 

Eagles

 

Nick Foles

Shady McCoy

Brent Celek

Jeremy Maclin

 

Redskins

 

Robert Griffin

Alfred Morris

Fred Davis

DeSean Jackson

 

 

Not for nothing, but our "skill" guys are #2-#3 guys in the rest of the division.

 

I'm not sure that's an accurate assessment... the TE position, I'll give you that.. but ODB is better than Jackson, Maclin, and arguably Bryant... I'll take Eli over any QB in the division, And Rashad more than held his own... notice Alfred Morris all but disappeared when Washington couldn't run the read option anymore... We have problems but not in the are you're looking at.

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I never cared for the WR to WR comparisons between teams...same as all they hype of the Peyton vs. Brady matchups. These players don't play against each other.

 

Comparing how skill players match up against opposing defenses is the truer means of evaluation.

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