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Mike Greenberg Diagnoses the Main Problem With the New York Giants: ‘Everyone in New York Hates the General Manager’
Tim Crean started writing about sports in 2016 and joined Sportscasting in 2021. He excels with his versatile coverage of the NFL and soccer landscape, as well as his expertise breaking down sports media, which stems from his many years downloading podcasts before they were even cool and countless hours spent listening to Mike & The Mad Dog and The Dan Patrick Show, among other programs. As a longtime self-professed sports junkie who even played DII lacrosse at LeMoyne College in Syracuse, New York, Tim loves reading about all the latest sports news every day and considers it a dream to write about sports professionally. He's a lifelong Buffalo Bills fan from Western New York who mistakenly thought, back in the early '90s, that his team would be in the Super Bowl every year. He started following European soccer — with a Manchester City focus — in the early 2000s after spending far too much time playing FIFA. When he's not enjoying a round of golf or coaching youth soccer and flag football, Tim likes reading the work of Bill Simmons, Tony Kornheiser, Chuck Klosterman, and Tom Wolfe.
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The New York Giants put up a valiant fight against the Kansas City Chiefs on Week 8’s Monday Night Football. Despite their best efforts, though, the team ultimately lost the game and maintained their last-place status in the NFC East. Who’s to blame for the mess in the Meadowlands? ESPN’s Mike Greenberg has an idea, and he says it starts at the top with general manager Dave Gettleman.
The New York Giants put up a fight against the Kansas City Chiefs
The New York Giants came into their Week 8 Monday Night Football matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs with a 2-5 record.
A matchup of a team that hasn’t made the playoffs since 2016 vs. the back-to-back AFC champions shouldn’t have been close, on paper. On the field, though, the game was closer than most (including Las Vegas and its Giants +10.5 point spread) thought it would be.
However, the Giants coaching staff put together a defensive game plan that followed the blueprint implemented by KC’s last several opponents. They kept two safeties deep most of the time and dared Patrick Mahomes to dink and dunk and make patient, smart decisions to drive down the field.
The strategy paid off. The Giants held Mahomes to just 275 passing yards. They also pressured him into two sacks, an interception (with several more near-misses), and a fumble that a Chief lineman recovered. His longest completion was for 24 yards.
Offensively, the Giants took advantage of the Chiefs’ poor defense . They used a balanced attack that produced 72 rushing yards and 241 passing yards. Quarterback Daniel Jones did a good job protecting the ball, save for one awful interception in his first series of the game.
The game came down to a late Chiefs drive where the Giants held Mahomes to a field goal. Then, with the ball and a chance to win, some questionable play-calling and a horrific taunting penalty from fullback Elijhaa Penny gave Kansas City the 20-17 victory.
The G Men may have played well against a (supposedly) good team, but, as Bill Parcells — one of the greatest coaches in Giants history — once said, “you are what your record says you are,” and the New York Giants are now 2-6.
Mike Greenberg shared his predictions on the future of the Giants GM, coach, and QB
When a team is 2-6, there is plenty of blame to go around. The front office, the coaching staff, and the players — specifically the starting quarterback — all share responsibility.
In the New York Giants organization, the primary suspects are general manager Dave Gettleman, head coach Joe Judge, and QB Daniel Jones.
Longtime ESPN personality and current Get Up! host Mike Greenberg joined the Pat McAfee Show prior to the Monday night game and discussed the Giants from a New Yorker’s perspective. He shared his predictions of what would become of the Giants GM/HC/QB triumvirate:
I think the overwhelming likelihood is that they make a change at general manager. Everyone in New York hates the general manager. Dave Gettleman is his name, and he has outstayed his welcome, let’s put it that way, for almost all of the fans of the Giants that I know. Here’s the problem you have. If you keep Joe Judge, who are you hiring to run your organization, and you tell that person, ‘you gotta keep this coach in place.’… Do I think Joe Judge deserves to be fired today? No. Have I seen enough myself to say, ‘I do not believe Joe Judge is going to be a great NFL head coach?’ I have.
Mike Greenberg on the New York Giants
Greeny would go on to say that whoever takes over would be wise to keep Jones for at least one more season, unless the team could make a home run move in the offseason, like getting Aaron Rodgers from the Green Bay Packers.
That would make sense financially as well. Jones’ cap number is only $8.3 million next season on the last year of his rookie deal.
Dave Gettleman has drafted poorly during his time in New York
General manager Dave Gettleman came to New York following a five-year stint in the same position with the Carolina Panthers.
The Panthers made the playoffs in four of his five seasons in the head front-office job. However, Gettleman struggled to build through the draft in his time in Charlotte. He made several average to unproductive picks in the first two rounds. This includes Kelvin Benjamin, Kony Ealy, Devin Funchess, and Vernon Butler.
With the Giants, the drafting track record has been even worse. His first pick as Giants GM was the talented but oft-injured Saquon Barkley, No. 2 overall in 2018. That pick is defensible in a vacuum. But, with Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, and even Sam Darnold still available at that point, it becomes less so.
In 2019, he used his three first-round picks on Jones, run-stuffing DT Dexter Lawrence, and CB Deandre Baker. The latter is now with Kansas City and has zero career interceptions in 22 career games.
The following season Gettleman picked OT Andrew Thomas, who’s been OK, but not worthy of the No. 4 overall pick. This year he traded back — much to the delight of Giants fans — but then picked the speedy yet volatile Kadarius Toney a round earlier than most draft experts predicted.
While the Giants do have some young talent that could come good with the right coaching, Gettleman’s lack of immediate success in his first four seasons in NY/NJ will probably mean that 2021 will be his last year in charge of Big Blue, just like Mike Greenberg said.
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