The Giants, at the suggestion of general manager Jerry Reese, posted a countdown in their locker room this summer, reminding all who enter how many days remain until Super Bowl XLVIII at their own MetLife Stadium.
Perhaps that countdown should be replaced with a different sort of alert: How many days until heads begin to roll.
Based on the Giants’ deteriorating performances — one worse than the next until the rock-bottom, 38-0 humiliation in Carolina — adding up to an 0-3 record to start a season of great expectation, based on how this team has played, you could round up about 30 players, the coaching staff, head coach Tom Coughlin and Reese and send them all packing. Of course, not before thanking many of them for all they did to help the franchise claim two Super Bowls titles since the 2007 season.
If you want to play the blame game, you had better be prepared for a long-running miniseries to deal with all the culprits. At the start of training camp, Reese put everyone on notice, saying missing out on the playoffs three of the past four years was not up to the organization’s standards. Well, considering the grim likelihood of the 0-3 Giants making the playoffs — three 0-3 teams have done it since 1990, none since 1998 — Reese is staring at no postseason in four of the past five seasons.
Is co-owner John Mara going to barge into the team facility on Monday and fire someone? That’s not his way. With whom would he start? Where would he end? After all, he still needs 53 players and a coaching staff for Sunday’s game against the Chiefs in Kansas City. The Giants usually try to ride out the storm, but this one may be too damaging to go with the patient approach.
Here’s a rundown of the greatest offenders:
Offensive line
Respected line coach Pat Flaherty did not suddenly forget what he’s doing. The widespread breakdown of this group is astounding. None of the five starters are playing well, and some of them (Will Beatty, Chris Snee, David Baas) are playing terribly. Justin Pugh is a rookie in over his head. It is as if everyone got old overnight. The big problem is there’s no logical move to make, at least until David Diehl recovers from thumb surgery.
Defensive line
There’s more pressure coming out of a deflated balloon than there is from these guys up front, especially the much-ballyhooed defensive ends. Perhaps Jason Pierre-Paul, coming off back surgery, will return to a semblance of his former menacing form at some point this season, but right now he’s not close. Justin Tuck hasn’t offered much and Mathias Kiwanuka is not very productive. The Giants got a lot bigger in the middle of their line — and a lot slower.
Kevin Gilbride
The longtime offensive coordinator is a favorite target of the fans when things go wrong, or when the Giants fail to get a first down. This offensive meltdown is historical in breadth. Somehow, Gilbride is going to have to reformulate the blocking scheme to get Eli Manning protected, because he’s not going to last much longer at this rate of punishment. Gilbride’s system is sound, if not very cutting edge. He’s usually reluctant to go no-huddle to enliven his unit, but he should because some change is needed.
Jerry Reese
His stubborn attitude toward linebackers has led to a hole in the middle of the defense. Reese always wants to build with defensive ends and cornerbacks, which is fine, but the talent level at the linebacker position has been siphoned almost completely. There isn’t a complete player on the roster, and worse, there are linebackers who barely do one thing at a high level. Reese should ask Carl Banks to come down from the radio booth and suit up. Reese also decided to invest big bucks (five years, $38.75 million) to make Will Beatty the franchise left tackle, which at the moment looks like a very bad deal.
Eli Manning
The guy can’t complete passes flat on his backside but there are times when he steps up in the pocket, right into the pressure. His accuracy has never been legendary but it has dropped this season and he needs plenty of work getting the right air under the ball on screen passes. It is not his way but getting in the face of his offensive linemen would shock them so much it might wake them up.
Tom Coughlin
Of course everything comes back to the head coach. We all know what happens Wednesday, Thursday and Friday is very important to a head coach, but until further notice, no one wants to hear how well Coughlin believes his team prepared during the week. It hasn’t amounted to much of anything. What is most troubling is the last three games the Giants pointed to as “must-wins’’ resulted in embarrassingly bad performances: Last season against the Falcons and Ravens (Weeks 15 and 16, respectively) and this past 38-0 debacle in Charlotte, N.C. Whatever message Coughlin is sending is getting intercepted like one of his quarterback’s downfield throws.
Perry Fewell
The defense is predicated on creating pressure up front with four players, and it’s a strategy that no longer works even a little bit. Fewell is reluctant to call blitzes because he wants to protect against big plays over the top of his secondary. Plus, he doesn’t have players adept at blitzing — once again, the lack of quality linebackers hurts. But it is Fewell’s job to generate some semblance of pressure, and he does not appear especially skilled at it unless one of his defensive ends is beating his man, which isn’t happening.