Its not all on coach Ben McAdoo, but the New York Giants’ coaching blunders have boiled over. The 2017 season is nearly lost for New York, but McAdoo can still save his team.
Prior to the season, Ben McAdoo was thought of as an up-and-coming head coach with a bright future in this league. In his first season in charge of the New York Giants, he led the team to 11 victories and a postseason berth.
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Just three games into the 2017 season, McAdoo may not have a future in this league. His coaching blunders have boiled over and the New York Giants are reeling. We debate.
Two brothers from New York, Dan Salem and Todd Salem, debate the New York Giants in today’s NFL Sports Debate.
Todd Salem:
Ben McAdoo is not going to be fired anytime soon; probably not even this entire season. There are too many steps to take in between now and a firing, specifically removing play-calling duties from his job. The Giants franchise is also one that doesn’t move on from a coach lightly. McAdoo’s job is safe. But that doesn’t mean he deserves it, nor does it guarantee his coaching success in the future.
Through three games, New York is one of the worst teams in football offensively. It has far and away the worst running game in the league. Only Cincinnati has scored fewer points per game. Considering McAdoo is an offensive guy who was previously an offensive coordinator, this feels alarming.
Then there are the blunders he is making on a weekly basis: not using a timeout two games ago to conserve an extra possession after a field goal; continually passing on field goal opportunities of his own; play calling within the red zone; etc.
This past week was the Giants’ best offensive performance of the year by far. It was also the first game the team has had with a healthy Odell Beckham Jr. Yet it came against a battered and shorthanded opponent, and McAdoo still saw his group fail miserable one time after another with scores and the game on the line.
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It is hard to know what exactly is a coach’s fault. As this season has gone on, though, it all feels at least partially like McAdoo’s fault. To know his real standing as a head coach, we need to see him relinquish play calling, move Ereck Flowers off left tackle, and play with his healthy stars. One down, two to go. Then there’ll be no more excuses.
Dan Salem:
It’s ironic how similar the New York Giants narrative is to what the New York Jets went through over the last two seasons. Todd Bowles was a first year head coach who led his team to 10 victories, narrowly missing the playoffs with a loss in the final week of the season. He is a defensive minded coach and in year two the Jets defense was awful. They surprised people with their success, then disappointed everyone by underachieving with a team full of veterans in year two of Bowles. There are a few key differences between the 2015-16 Jets and the 2016-17 Giants, yet there is no denying that we’ve watched this movie play out already.
Ben McAdoo has lots of weapons on offense and defense. Everyone is yammering about the ineffectiveness of the Giants offense, yet the defense has given up over 20 points a game on average. Has Eli Manning turned into Ryan Fitzpatrick 2.0 with a better resume? Has Brandon Marshall‘s mere presence on the offense brought the entire unit down? When you are 0-3 with no easy game in site, there are no stupid questions.
The offensive line is the biggest issue for New York, but McAdoo has done a poor job of game planning around his team’s main weakness. Being unable to run the football makes me think the Giants need lots of screen passes, quick throws to the flat, and a quarterback who can scramble and make plays under pressure. That is not Eli Manning, yet it might be Geno Smith. Its certainly Colin Kaepernick. This is wishful thinking, because Manning is there to stay. Ultimately, McAdoo must adjust to the team he has, not call plays for the team he had last season.
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Much like Bowles with the Jets, I don’t see the Giants holding a short leash with coach McAdoo. His blunders can be corrected. Call it a sophomore slump or a roster devoid of offensive depth, but he can only fix so much for this football team. Not one of the Giants’ opponents look easy any longer, so this may be a brutal season. The silver lining is that there are many stud quarterbacks in the 2018 NFL Draft and Eli Manning is showing his age. If the Jets can rebuild with the same coach, then the Giants can as well. The roller coaster sucks, but if you aren’t the best, why be average? Bottoming out is better longterm.