New York Giants Mailbag: The "We Made It, People!" Edition

It's the final reader mailbag of the regular season and as expected, the mailbag is filled with a mixture of emotions from loyal fans who were deprived of a solid football season.

Author:
Patricia Traina
Publish date:
Jan 8, 2022 8:00 AM EST

If you'd like to submit a question for the mailbag, please send it to nygiantsmaven@gmail.com or post it in our new forum (free registration required) under Reader Mailbag Questions. We reserve the right to edit letters for clarity and conciseness.

Truth be told, Sean, I haven't considered O'Brien. I'm not sure how I would feel about him, to be honest, but I do get the sense that he aspires to be a head coach again.

What's good, Matt? After the Bears game, I saw a spike in page views, and video plays because I think many people were outraged.

I think where I feel it most is in the subscription products. Inside Football is an all-Giants newsletter, and I've seen a steady decline in readership every year thanks to the losing, despite the content we produce being something you will not find anywhere else. (We do a player-by-player breakdown every week in-season, and then we have off-season topics we cover--you can learn more here if you're interested.)

But listen, I don't blame people if they don't want to read about the team. I have said before that writing about a losing team is a lot more difficult than people realize as there are so many ways you can describe why they're losing before you have to get creative.

You are invited to join our free message board community, where you can get more eyeballs on your thoughts and exchange thoughts with both myself and other Giants fans. Register for free right here--there's sure to be a lot to talk about this off-season.

From Danny G - Why should any prospected GM be forced to take Joe Judge? Wellington would not have gone that route.

Danny, do you know for certain what Wellington Mara would have done? Because back in the day, he was known for having some stubbornness that contributed to the first edition of the Wilderness Years.

From the start, I have made it clear that I'm in favor of a total reset. I think you have to let the new general manager evaluate the talent you have and figure out if a poorly stocked roster is to blame, the coaching or both, and which of the poisons you can live with if need be.

From Henry J. - Would it be feasible for the GIANTS, or Daniel Jones himself, to hire a baseball coach to teach him the proper sliding technique?

Nothing is stopping Daniel Jones from hiring instructors to help him with his game, Henry. Eli Manning did it throughout his career, and I hope Daniel follows suit.

From Joe G. - It seems like two weeks ago, Judge was a shoo-in to come back. Now not so sure. His 11-minute speech didn't help him. But the biggest problem is his hiring offensive coaches that are either not prepared, don't have the ability to adjust, or are just plain bad. It seems like all teams, including the Giants, get the biggest gains when they make an effort to run outside, which the Giants rarely do. Judge has done a poor job.

So the question is, do you feel the new GM should hire a new HC, go after an offensive winner with a creative attitude like Bieniemy, or keep Judge with a whole new offensive staff?

Joe, I have said and will continue to say that the new general manager should be allowed to make that decision with ZERO input from ownership.

It's nothing personal, but for years, this franchise has taken the patchwork approach, and it's not working. Start from scratch if need be, and get it right. I have also outlined what I think Joe needs to do differently if he's back.

I know people will disagree, but I think Joe is smart. Did he end up off the rails this year? Yes. But I think/hope he's smart enough to realize where he went wrong and correct it moving forward.

From Steve B - Seriously, how will we be able to attract any even semi-qualified GM candidate if JJ is part of the "package"?

I also don't understand how Mara thinks JJ has shown anything to "guarantee" he returns in 2022. I get the continuity stuff, but why is he doubling down with a poor HC choice? With poor talent and injuries, this is EXACTLY the time when you see how COACHING impacts the product on the field.

Steve, you might have some young and hungry general manager candidates that are willing to step up to prove themselves. Case in point: I asked David Turner, who has been with me every Monday on the podcast and who has a background in personnel, if he would take the general manager job if offered and if Joe was part of the package, and he said he would.

Others probably feel differently, while others might be willing to meet the Mara and Tisch families halfway on the condition they agree that if things with Judge don't work out, they'll be free to fire him after 2022 and get their own candidate in here. It's not much consolation, but that's probably where I see things going.

This team needs to take a long hard look in the mirror. I question if there are too many cooks in the kitchen regarding personnel decisions. I also question whether this team thinks it's further along than it is. And I would love to see ownership realize that while being in a comfort zone is preferable, it's not working and hasn't been working for years.

From Kevin W. - Why haven’t the Giants invested in their offensive line after all these losing seasons? Why do the Giants keep getting inexperienced offensive coordinators? Why haven’t the Giants fired Judge yet? Why didn’t they have a better veteran backup quarterback?

Kevin, I've touched on the answers to all your questions, which I understand were expressed in frustration after the Bears debacle. Bottom line: this team, I suspect, isn't fully honest with itself regarding its talent evaluation process.

As I have said in almost every response in this mailbag, their patchwork approach doesn't work. If you're patching, you have to make sure things complement each other. Sadly, I don't see enough of that.

I mean to not add young talent to the offensive line's pipeline given the injury rate and the average lifespan of their careers was just flat out foolish. Did the Giants honestly think their young group of linemen would last for the next decade?

They cut corners with the backup quarterback, as to retain Colt McCoy, they would have had to pay a lot more than they did to Mike Glennon. Again, short-sightedness there given they have a quarterback who has missed games every season.

As for Judge, what I suspect will happen is they'll give him another year given the injury situation and the discord, But here's the thing. Judge hired the staff, so any shortcomings there with play calling or scheme, that's on him.

The injury issue? I have no proof of this, but I would take a deep look at how the conditioning program is being run behind the scenes because there were far too many injury issues that I suspect weren't directly related to the normal wear and tear caused by the games. That's also on Judge.

And I'm not sure what the heck has happened to special teams. Tomas McGaughey had that unit humming before Judge was hired, and it just seems that group has gotten worse since Judge arrived.

I'm not saying Judge is the reason for that--it could be a coincidence, or it could be that the performers have declined. But that has been a huge disappointment thus far in Judge's tenure.

Very good question. I think they decided to fire Jerry Reese in-season after the Eli Manning fiasco when there was no going back and when thre was just massive outrage over how that had gone down.

For what it's worth, I can't give Jerry full credit for the 2007 Super Bowl championship since most of that team was Ernie Accorsi's roster. To be fair to Jerry, he did contribute heavily to the draft classes, and he did a pretty damn good job of it, too, as I recall, with a lot of his draft classes.

But the minute he brought in Marc Ross, that's when it went all downhill. I strongly disliked that hire at the time and after seeing all the draft fiascos, lt's ju say my feelings have intensified. .

And unless someone presents me evidence to the contrary, I still blame Ross for the years of poor drafting. That said, the buck stopped with Reese, who should have fired Ross long before things spiraled so far out of control.

I honestly don't know Michael because John Mara has yet to speak publicly about the mess this franchise has become. (i believe he's going to speak to the mdia next week, though I don't know when.) My guess is Judge will be retained regardless for the simple reason being that he hasn't lost the locker room as Ben McAdoo did.

I would love it if the Giants let the general manager have full authority as George Young had back in the day, but I'm not sure I see that happening either.

More from Giants Country

Click on an image to jump to the story you wish to read.

New York Giants defensive coordinator Patrick Graham walks off the field after the Giants lose to the Dallas Cowboys, 21-6, on Sunday, Dec. 19, 2021, in East Rutherford.

Giants Patrick Graham Makes a Candid Confession About His Future Goals

Patrick Graham once called the Giants his "dream job," but he also knows that ultimately one dream can end and another one begin.

From Joe G. - There is a chance that the Giants don't fire Kitchens, which in that case, Judge should be fired for being incompetent in hiring an terrible offensive staff. If he is, I would go with Eric Bieniemy, a winner who knows how to play offense.

Joe, I'm pretty certain Freddie Kitchens will be among those offensive assistants not retained for their current role and I know this isn't what people want to hear, but I'm 99.9 percent certain Joe Jude won't be fired.

From Charlie H. - This question relates specifically to Zo Carter but generally applies to players as an alternative to a 1-year prove-it deal. Can you structure a 3- or 4-year contract with specific first-year goals, e.g., games started, pressures, hurries, sacks, etc., and if goals are met, the contract stands, if they are not met, the contract reverts to one year at a specific minimum?

Hi Charlie. I'm not sure any agent worth his or her weight in gold would agree to such a structure. What happens if a player doesn't reach his goals due to injury? Is that the player's fault?

I would offer Carter a one-year prove-it deal, and my argument would be, "Look, we know you were injured but we need to see you put together a solid body of work instead of the piece mail."

If he rejects it, then fine; good luck getting a new deal on the open market. But I think a one-year deal is more than fair given the circumstances.