At first blush, it seemed that Josh McDaniels as coach of Big Blue was a given.
Along the way, something didn’t seem right though. Thankfully, New York Giants brass sensed it as well. Whether accurate or not, the Bill Belichick-to-Giants rumors and a ESPN dysfunction story suddenly appeared when teams were looking for a head coach. As secretive as the New England Patriots are, how did anyone within the organization feel comfortable talking about Bob Kraft, Tom Brady and Belichick?
Yet here are the words in Seth Wickersham’s article for everyone to read:
"“But according to interviews with more than a dozen New England staffers, executives, players and league sources with knowledge of the team’s inner workings, the three most powerful people in the franchise — Belichick, Brady and owner Robert Kraft — have had serious disagreements.”"
Can you say plant?
Back in January, dutifully, New York Giants brass travelled to Foxborough to interview both Josh McDaniels and Matt Patricia for their vacant head coaching position. Rumors quickly surfaced that Patricia was leaning toward the Detroit Lions. McDaniels zoomed up the New York Giants wish list.
Or did he?
Patricia made a curious decision, given the state of affairs in Motown, to take the Lions job. You see, anyone with two eyes and a modicum of football knowledge knows the two worst jobs in the NFL are the Cleveland Browns and the Detroit Lions. But the Lions are no threat to Mr. Kraft – Patricia got the green light.
And then McDaniels seemed destined to leave for the Indianapolis Colts. But when time came to sign on the dotted line, he hemmed and hawed. Then the New England Patriots’ assistant left the Colts at the altar.
It doesn’t make sense. Can you say payback for deflate-gate?
When one NFL team is screwing another NFL team – the Patriots are always on the giving end.
These aren’t all coincidences.
New York Media Panic
Seizing upon the fact that Patricia was already making noise about the Motor City in early January, media-types focused on McDaniels and Shurmur exclusively. Steve Serby of the New York Post wrote:
"“Do not under any circumstance be left standing in this high-stakes game of musical chairs by Patriots defensive coordinator Matt Patricia taking the Lions job and Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels taking the Colts job and Shurmur taking the Cardinals job.”"
Maybe Serby was thinking about the old Meatloaf song “Two out of three ain’t bad.” But in reality, the G-Men were pivoting to Shurmur or bust. They sensed – that “something’s rotten in the state of Denmark.”
More accurately, something’s rotten in the state of Foxborough.
Unfortunately, the Indianapolis Colts unwisely got caught in the tangled web of the Patriots. And now they are angry. They should have seen the writing on the wall. We warned about going to bed with those guys right on these pages.
Related Story: New York Giants: Ignore media’s poor coaching advice
Whose line was it anyways
Interestingly enough, Dave Gettleman’s thoughts end up pretty close to the surface. Per the New York Post, the new GM said this about his new coach:
"“[Shurmur’s] an adult. He’s mature, he’s got wisdom, he’s very even-keeled and his demeanor really pays off. I’ve watched him on the sideline; he doesn’t get shook, he doesn’t get rattled. This is a job for a grownup.”"
Most fans assumed the general manager was talking about the former head coach Ben McAdoo. Instead, these comments could very well apply to McDaniels. People change their minds, but it wasn’t like this was a snap decision. McDaniels had close to a month to consider the ramifications.
The optics weren’t only bad, this was a terrible sequence for McDaniels, Kraft and Belichick. Colts’ owner Jim Irsay should have some pointed words for the egotistical Kraft at league meetings. In the world of coaching, the recycled Patriots assistant should be shunned. This action should not be retaliatory, rather just simple common sense.
Stay away.
Curiously, McDaniels treated the New England Patriots like some view the Church of Scientology. They don’t ask questions, they just do as instructed by Mr. Kraft and Mr. Belichick.
The Pats assistant became a pawn in the Pats’ endless game of payback. He will likely pay the price for the rest of his NFL career.
Where is Eric Mangini these days?