Beckham mistake highlights defiencies with Giants brass
By Curt Macysyn
If only the current Odell Beckham, Jr. scenario was not so predictable for the New York Football Giants. Ironically, this mistake was avoidable by a franchise that is seemingly losing its way once again this season. As the G-Men prepare to take on the Green Bay Packers on “Sunday Night Football”, the team carries the weight of the world. Unfortunately, these players are not robots, so the chatter that surrounds the squad undoubtedly has an impact. Clearly, the players and coaching staff share responsibility for the team’s win-loss record. But in some respects, the team is let down by a passive ownership and front office.
Mistake Number 1 – Issues are Not Self-Regulating
Last season, when Odell Beckham had his run-in with Josh Norman, national media outlets quickly jumped on Beckham and head coach Tom Coughlin. Perhaps lost in the shuffle was Giants’ president John Mara’s reaction. “I was very disturbed at what happened during that game and was frankly disappointed that we didn’t deal with it better on the sideline,” co-owner John Mara said as reported by the New York Post on Jan. 8, 2016 after Coughlin had been shown the door by the team. “I sat there watching that and I thought to myself, ‘He’s doing exactly what Carolina wants him to do. He’s losing his focus. He’s losing control.’ Sure enough they basically took him out of the game in the first half.’’
Fast forward to this season, has anything been different on the Giants’ sideline? Has new head coach Ben McAdoo said or done anything different than Coughlin did last season? The answer to all of these questions is a resounding “NO”. None of this excuses Beckham’s behavior, and Beckham’s behavior did not cause the current two-game losing streak.
But it is obviously a distraction, and anyone who says it is not, is delusional.
Did anyone other than the Giants’ brass think that Beckham’s conduct would self-regulate? And if they did not think that, then why hire a 39-year old first-time head coach to handle an impending problem?
It should bring to light the fact that the team has a detached general manager in Jerry Reese, and a co-owner who seems more interested in making nice at the NFL offices, than operating his franchise. It becomes more apparent each passing year that these two believe that once players put on Giants’ blue, all their warts wash away somehow.
Mistake Number 2 – Franchise Lack of Direction
Recently, the Giants have been a hodge-podge of talent collected from the draft, marquise free agency and off the street players. But throwing a collection of players together does not build a championship environment. The current player procurement system is a mistake and creates a me-first all star team mentality.
Bob McGinn of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel brought up a terrific case in point to describe the Giants’ personnel decision-making. McGinn looked at the case of former Big Blue defensive tackle Linval Joseph. “The Minnesota Vikings pounced on Joseph shortly after the start of free agency in March 2014, giving him a five-year, $31.25 million deal that contained $12.5 million in guarantees. In March 2016, GM Jerry Reese gave [Damon] Harrison a five-year, $46.25 million contract to depart the Jets as an unrestricted free agent. The deal contained $24 million guaranteed,” McGinn wrote on Oct. 4, 2016.
“Mistakes are made all the time in free agency. Clearly, the Giants made a big one two years ago by not recognizing what they had in Joseph and offering him a contract commensurate with his performance and untapped potential.”
Well, Reese and the Giants paid $12 million more for Harrison with double the amount in guaranteed money. The cumulative effect of these types of decisions has been crippling for the franchise that seems to die of a thousand cuts every NFL season.
Mistake Number 3- McAdoo’s Inexperience Needs Support
Keep in mind, McAdoo has never been a head coach anywhere, so his situation is clearly a baptism by fire, without nary a word from Reese or Mara. The point is that McAdoo has no past history to rely upon to help him navigate this situation, so the least that Reese and Mara can do is be available to the media and deflect attention away from McAdoo. Doing this would at least take some heat off of the young head coach as he prepares his team for a season defining game against the Green Bay Packers.
The team already hung McAdoo out to dry as he had to navigate the Josh Brown situation alone. This was done as the head coach prepared to face the Dallas Cowboys on opening day. Shouldn’t personnel decisions be addressed by the general manager anyway?
After several days passed, including a preseason contest against the Buffalo Bills, team co-owner John Mara finally spoke on the Brown topic. What took so long?
In reality, there is no excuse for Jerry Reese to hide behind his desk until the year-end press conference. Part of the the general manager’s responsibilities would seem to be as spokesperson on matters pertaining to the roster. Previously, the team had Tom Coughlin who had already been through the wars to rely upon. But it’s a different day.
At this point, the only solvent for the team’s warts is a win at Green Bay. Hopefully McAdoo and the players can put the distractions aside and come home with a W.