Last week the Giants fell to the Buffalo Bills at Metlife Stadium 28-14 with more questions then answers. Knowing the issues of having a young defense and lack offensive weapons for a veteran quarterback, the Giants made some moves.
The question remains the reasoning for the moves. Was Eli Manning really the problem? Did reality set in that this might be a lost season so the timing is now to see is Daniel Jones can hang is now? Or did Pat Shurmur make this change to to justify a long season.
Going into the season, the Giants parted ways with Odell Beckham Jr. who was the teams most dynamic offensive weapon the team has had in the last five years as we well as Landon Collins, a loyal solider from the Coughlin era who was a captain on defense.
John Mara has stated during training camp that the team needed to win games though acknowledged that some players like Beckham and Collins were popular in the locker room and with the fan base but were not translating to wins. Mara put trust in to General Manager Dave Gettleman to make the right moves.
“I wouldn’t say I had any—there was never any doubt in Dave’s ability or in what his motivation was, or what his skill level was” Said Mara. You don’t like to see all that talent go out the door, but let’s face it, we had one winning season in ’16 and the other five or six years, nothing, not since we won the last Super Bowl, so we needed some drastic changes. Again, he had the courage of his convictions, he knew they would be unpopular moves, but he went and made them anyway. ”
Well now Pat Shurmur had made the same decision that Ben McAdoo made two years ago, prepping for life after Eli Manning. Manning has been under center for Big Blue for over 16 seasons, will miss his second game of his career as Jones will take control of the offense.
“Daniel Jones is going to have the benefit to start here 14 games, of a guy who is what being a Giant exemplifies” said Head Coach Pat Shurmur. “Not only as a player, but as a person. He’s going to have the benefit of this guy’s assistance as we go through it. My gut told me it was the right time, but that narrative that you don’t bring Eli back, I think that’s just something for us all to talk about.”
Though the motives for pulling a Hall Of Fame QB after only two games is questionable, many speculate that this was done to give Pat Shurmur a little more of a leash as the Head Coach of this team. Going 4-12 with a rookie QB looks a lot better then a 4-12 record with a veteran QB.
Yes, the defense is young and will take time to gel. Yes, you are lacking offensive weapons for no matter who the QB is. So, lets change the QB?
I will not deny the opportunity Daniel Jones has to grow knowing that this will be a lost season, but the fact that management never stepped out to address the situation with an approval raises eyebrows.
Why bring Manning back which tied up $17 million dollars and not bringing more talent in if you knew you wanted to make this move two games in?
The team feels that this move is the best opportunity to win a game on the road. This was just the beginning of the tough media week Pat SHurmur had.
After a radio appearance on WFAN’s Mike’d up with Mike Francesa, Pat Shurmur was berated by the popular drive home host after trying to confront the Coach that the team “flat out stinks.” In the days follwoing the Giants put a statement out that Shurmur would no longer being appearing on Mike’s show.
“That was an organizational decision not to do that. Most people aren’t aware of this, but I wasn’t contractually obligated to do that spot”. Said Shurmur. “We did it as a courtesy and out of respect for our relationship with the radio station. We just felt like for a while here, we’ll just put that to bed for a while and just not do it and move forward. ”
The Giants are getting ready to play Tampa and ride the Daniel Jones excitement. Will this stop some of the PR bleeding the Giants are suffering through?
Will this help motive a very inexperienced defense? Will Jones help make some the offense tools more valuable?
The questions will be answered 4:05pm EST this Sunday.
