I usually write my hangover column on the mornings after games. This morning I have no hangover, just an empty, barren feeling. 
The 2009 Giants pulled a Mets on New York this year – they collapsed. In this case, the Giants had a pedigree of winning, though, which makes this plane wreck harder to digest.
Now will come the hard decisions for GM Jerry Reese, who has had his toast buttered for him here from day one. Suddenly Reese is facing a critical moment in his tenure, one where he cannot guess wrong.
Coaching
Firstly, does Reese bring back head coach Tom Coughlin? Or does he keep him but strip him of his coordinators? This sounds like an extreme notion, but Reese will explore this avenue. The team did not respond to the coaches in the second half of this season. That usually leads to changes in my experience………
Take away 2007, and Coughlin’s teams have no other significant victories to hang their hats on. During Coughlin’s reign, his teams either failed to make the playoffs or were eliminated right away when they did.
Personally, it may be time for him to move on, anyway…..
Offense
This is Eli Manning‘s team, so whatever needs to be done has to be done to support him. In my eyes, they are pretty much set. All they need is a third RB, some line depth and a tall WR (which is what we thought they had in Ramses Barden, if they ever let him play).
Defense
Justin Tuck gets a pass because he played the season with one arm in a sling. Everyone else should be ashamed of themselves.
A new coordinator (Romeo Crennel?, Rob Ryan?) might re-ignite this group, but they will still need to upgrade at almost every position if they can.
Osi Umenyiora should stop sulking and telling everyone he sees that the Giants are looking to dump him. The Giants want him. They want him to shut up and play better, that’s all.
I do not see Antonio Pierce returning. Reese will search long and hard for the right centerpiece to take over. I trust this will be very high on the list.
Also high on the list will be a complete overhaul of the defensive backfield. If Kenny Phillips comes back healthy, he’s got a job waiting for him. The rest will have to sing for their supper.
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John,
While I disagree with you about Tom going, (unless he freely decides to retire) I do think it is time to change our defensive coordinator. He never learned all season long that a 4 man pass rush wasn’t working. We do not have the secondary to allow a 4 man line the time to get to the quarterback. When Sheridan called a play that looked like one that Spags would call the defense responded and came up with a big play. Unfortunately, he didn’t call many of those plays.
Oh and before I get to off the tracks here, Jerry Reese has been on of the best GM at aquiring talent the Giants have had. I would like to ask him a question. Jerry with all the great talent you have brought to the Giants over the last couple of years why haven’t you done more to add talent to the secondary? Ross is great, hurt this season I understand and have no problem there. Rause shows flashes of potential but that is where it ends. If Corey Webster is as good as his hype then why didn’t he stay glued to Steve Smith yesterday? We need to revamp the secondary and add some depth there. NO LB’s, NO WR’s, NO RB’s we need a scecondary period.
Webster couldn’t stay glued to Steve Smith yesterday because he was inactive. He is still injured and couldn’t play.
I didn’t see the list of inactive players prior to the game. My apologies.
Make no mistake, Coughlin will be evaluated along with everyone else this off season….
just to be clear, Reese has addressed the secondary with high draft choices…Phillips and Ross are first-rounders, Thomas and Webster are second-rounders….
-I think Coughlin deserves at least another season.
-Gilbride is disturbing because he seems to have totally lost track of the i-form and the power running game.
-Sheridan also scares me because it seems like Spags had the perfect system in place. As his disciple, all Sheridan had to do was keep that system in place and he blew.
-Lets remember though, how the slew of injuries has affected this team, basically the entire defensive backfield – and it was on the offense to scheme toward those weeknesses. And they didn’t. And that’s on Gilbride and Coughlin.
-Can Romeo or Ryan run the 4-3? I’m not dow with changing the defense.
Eli has proven during the two minute offense that he can call a good game. Perhaps Kevin Gilbride needs to do what they do with big brother Payton and give Eli a scheme and then leav it all up to him.
What they could do is a modified 4-3 where you let guys like Tuck, Osi and Kiwanuka free lance on where they are going to attack form the line. Let them choose outside, inside, left or right. WIth their ability and speed it could cause havok with offenses trying to game plan. Right now they are in set postions, except when they drop into coverage, and offenses know where they are coming from. One of te Hallmarks of that 80′s defense was that no one knew where LT and Co. where going to line up. I believe that with the tallent the three of them have it would work.
I think you make some good points. In the championship season, the defensive players roamed all around the line causing matchup problems. Why did Sheridan forget about this aspect of the game? Why doe Osi all of a sudden have to be benched because of ineffectiveness?
But if anything I think Eli may have to be reighned in a little. Scheming the game toward Eli is part of the reason that Gilbride has forsaken the i-form, the power running game, and Brandon Jacobs – as Marshall is better in the passing game. Although the offense is very effective, the offense has done a horrendous job of keeping the ball out of other offense’s hands. And teams like the Eagles that had our secondary totally outgunned should have had the ball out of their hands.
I would have to disagree, respectfully, Gilbride did not call good run plays this season. Like last year I think Gilbride wanted to prove that the Giants could pass and win and didn’t need Plaxico.
That’s true John, but you have to ask yourself what has changed? In truth a number of organizational pressures combine to encourage the coaching staff from using the power run game – the very identity of this offense. And whenever you change identities you lose something in the balance – like playoffs.
Eli is shaping the identity of this team more and more. And he wants to run out of the single-back and gun – even though the Giants have a FB that looks like a LB. Even though B Jake and the running game is what took the Giants to the playoffs.
If that were the case then, why would they spend all that money on Jacobs? Part of Gilbride’s thinking I believe was in developing a repore and rythym with Eli and the new receivers. They already knew what Jacobs and Bradshaw could do. What they didn’t know outside of Boss and Smith was how would the otrher receivers perform when the pressure was on them. The only problem was he didn’t put enough work into the running game and it showed this season.
In the entire storied history of this franchise the face of the team was shared by the Defense, Running Backs and the Quarterbacks. In that order. This is the first time we had a QB that could be the face of the franchise and defense and running backs would have to take a back seat.
That’s a good question John. I would take that further and say:
Why did they pay Jacobs all that money if he was going to spend most of the day on the sideline against a team like Philly, with a decimated Giants secondary, where the Giants needed to play keep away.
And why even have A FB the caliber of Hedgecock – who a fairly good receiver and great after the catch – and did I mention is built like a LB – if their going to spend most of the time in singleback and gun?
Also remember that Eli was the face of the team in 2007. But it’s that Power I that dominated other teams. There was a balance there. And why would Gilbride lose a whole season experimenting with what the receivers can do? I’m glad they emerged but they should have emerged around the true core of this team – the running game.