New York Giants Must Discipline Ereck Flowers

The New York Giants must seriously consider benching tackle Ereck Flowers if he did shove a reporter after a loss to the Green Bay Packers.

A lack of discipline from players continues to land the New York Giants in headlines. Whether it’s players committing silly and avoidable fouls during games or wide reciever Odell Beckham Jr. getting into a confrontation with a kicking net on a sideline, the Giants have been a mess on and off the field while in the midst of a three-game losing streak.

New York tackle Ereck Flowers is apparently the latest culprit. Flowers, who had a rough outing in the loss to Green Bay in front of a Sunday Night Football audience, allegedly shoved ESPN reporter Jordan Ranaan following that game. Per Newsday’s Tom Rock, Flowers offered an apology to the reporter and New York coach Ben McAdoo stated during a Monday conference call that any discipline regarding the matter will be “handled in-house.”

There is no circumstance where any pro athlete putting his or her hands on a reporter is acceptable. It doesn’t matter what that reporter says regarding the athlete. A player’s job is to play; a reporter’s job is to offer commentary on such play. And the two can discuss things while remaining professional and mature following a sporting event.

Flowers, of course, is not just some athlete. ESPN.com lists Flowers to be 6-6, 329 pounds. He is easily one of the biggest players on the Giants and a man who would tower over we mere mortals.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported on Tuesday that the NFL is now looking into the matter.

NFL looking into situation of Giants OT Ereck Flowers pushing a reporter after Sunday's game, per a league... https://t.co/HJuh5cbJrm
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) October 11, 2016

The discipline issues that plagued the Giants during the final season of Tom Coughlin’s tenure as head coach clearly haven’t gone anywhere. After beginning the campaign with a pair of victories, the Giants gifted a game to division rivals the Washington Redskins. New York then dropped contests to the Minnesota Vikings and now the Packers. Those losses were followed by stories that should embarrass certain individuals within the organization.

Coughlin and company failed to adequately handle Beckham last December, particularly after Beckham battled with then-Carolina Panthers cornerback Josh Norman during an emotional and chippy encounter. It now seems Beckham quickly earned himself a reputation for playing dirty. Subsequently, referees are clearly keeping close eyes on the superstar during games.

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The situation involving Flowers is entirely different than what we’ve seen from Beckham over the past year, though. Beckham gets emotional during games. While the Giants cannot afford for Beckham to engage with defenders after plays on a weekly basis, Beckham’s issues seem to be related to his desire to want to succeed.

Flowers feeling frustrated after New York’s loss to Green Bay is understandable. The 2015 first-round pick had a downright awful game at Lambeau Field, and reporters and also New York fans posting about the contest on websites such as Twitter repeatedly mentioned Flowers’ lackluster performance.

Regardless, Flowers crossed a line that night. He didn’t merely lose his composure while competing in a physical sport on the field of battle. The Giants lineman committed an act of assault, regardless of how violently or how lightly he shoved a reporter.

Like Beckham, Flowers is meant to be a cornerstone of a team that could theoretically contend for a division title as quickly as this season. Per Spotrac, Flowers will make over $14 million in guaranteed money from the contract he signed before the official start of his rookie season. Also like Beckham, though, Flowers is now flirting with becoming a distraction.

Nobody should yet refer to Flowers as a bust or a failure. It seems the Giants need to move Flowers to right tackle as soon as possible. Perhaps the Giants could do so after the club trades for a proven product such as Cleveland Browns tackle Joe Thomas, but that’s another topic for another day.

For now, however, McAdoo and the Giants must make the call to suspend Flowers for their Week 6 home game against the Baltimore Ravens. It’s a move that benefits all involved. McAdoo benching Flowers, along with the player losing a game check, would remind all within the New York locker room there are repercussions for certain actions. That one-game ban should also appease the NFL.