The page was turned yesterday on a dismal Giants season that cost Jim Fassel his job and came close to establishing franchise records for ineptitude. A forlorn day started with Wellington Mara, the Giants’ co-owner, in a rare address to the team calling the 1-7 home record “shameful” and promising to hire the best coach the organization can find.
So it went that as Fassel made his exit, the Giants were eager to look ahead. Much of the emotion of the last few days – all the hugging and expressions of love from player to coach and vice versa – had drained and dissipated, replaced by the grim realization that 4-12 sets the stage for mass change; practically no one is safe.
“Usually it’s a happier day; guys are a little bit joking around,” safety Shaun Williams said. “This seems real somber; guys are really just quiet. I’m sure a lot of guys are uncertain on what’s going to happen.
“I’m not going to try to figure out what happened this year, to tell you the truth. What’s the point in figuring out what happened? We screwed it up, that’s what happened.”
Fassel will leave town today, just as GM Ernie Accorsi and John Mara, the executive vice president, interview Rams defensive coordinator Lovie Smith in St. Louis. Smith today also will speak with the Falcons, who supposedly have him atop their list of candidates. On Thursday, Accorsi and John Mara will spend New Year’s Day interviewing Patriots coordinators Romeo Crennel and Charlie Weis. The Giants already have met with Tom Coughlin.
As players stuffed their belongings into large black plastic bags and departed, there was, as quarterback Kerry Collins said, “a sense of finality with [Fassel’s] tenure here.” The difficulty in coming to grips with the shock of losing eight consecutive games to close out the worst Giants season in 20 years was eased by the reminder that in the NFL, teams rise and fall and rise again extremely quickly.
“I really feel despite the way the last half of the season’s gone we still have a lot of things in place; we can turn it around as quickly as it went bad,” Collins said. “I don’t have an impending sense of doom with the personnel we have. Obviously we need some help in some areas.”
The one area that hurt the Giants more than any other is their offensive line, a position that the front office failed to strengthen, with disastrous results.
“It’s obvious something has to be done about the offensive line, period,” defensive end Kenny Holmes said. “That just sticks out. You have to address that.”
Finding a new coach is the immediate priority. Receiver Amani Toomer is one of the few Giants around from the last coaching change, when Fassel replaced Dan Reeves in 1997. “I remember it being like playing for a whole different team,” Toomer said. “It’s going to be the same locker room, same stadium, but everything else is going to be different.”
Fassel yesterday took his staff out for “a long afternoon of having lunch.” He will leave town today to attend Wednesday night’s San Francisco Bowl, as his son Mike is a holder and backup kicker for Boston College.
On Saturday, Fassel will interview with the Cardinals in Arizona. The Cards will speak first to Dennis Green and also are interested in Crennel and Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Johnson. The Bills also are expected to have an interest in Fassel.
“I believe I am going to coach again. Where, I don’t know right now,” said Fassel, who has one year (at $2.7 million) remaining on his Giants contract.
When he prompted ownership on Dec. 17 to announce his firing, Fassel hoped the departure would be as painless as possible. Somehow, he pulled it off. His office is nearly empty, boxes filled and ready to be shipped to his next destination. Not everything, though, fit neatly into the cartons.
“It’s hard,” he said, “to take memories.”