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James Bettcher deserves to be on the hot seat

By Charles Vitolo

GLENDALE, AZ - SEPTEMBER 11: Defensive Coordinator James Bettcher of the Arizona Cardinals walks out onto the field before the NFL game against the New England Patriots at the University of Phoenix Stadium on September 11, 2016 in Glendale, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
GLENDALE, AZ - SEPTEMBER 11: Defensive Coordinator James Bettcher of the Arizona Cardinals walks out onto the field before the NFL game against the New England Patriots at the University of Phoenix Stadium on September 11, 2016 in Glendale, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) /
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New York Giants defensive coordinator James Bettcher has not delivered the results that fans have been looking for in his tenure.

If the Giants’ season continues to go like it started yesterday, defensive coordinator James Bettcher will be first up on the chopping block – and he deserves to be. Of all the pathetic performances we’ve seen out of Big Blue defenses over the past few years, this one may top them all. Even though this isn’t an episode of First Take, Bettcher finds himself squarely on the hot seat.

For a coach that has been praised as a ‘blitzing savant’ (insert air quotes), Bettcher has shown absolutely zero ability to generate any sort of pass-rush in his 17 games as the head man in charge of the defense. I’ve been on record that I don’t think switching to a 3-4 defense in this day-and -age is a wise thing to do, but I was willing to give it a shot due to Bettcher’s supposed pedigree.

When you really look into that pedigree, though, you being to realize that the 41-year-old coach really doesn’t have a very deep history. Bettcher didn’t begin coaching until he was 26, and bounced around a few small colleges as a graduate assistant (and North Carolina)  before making a big leap to be the Colts’ outside-linebackers coach in 2012.

It seems as though that is where his relationship with Bruce Arians formed, although I couldn’t get any further confirmation on that. After the disastrous ‘Curtis Painter’ year where Arians took over as head coach, Bettcher then followed him to Arizona. From there he quickly elevated from outside-linebackers coach to defensive coordinator, where he did a solid job from 2015-2017.

What that tells you is that there really is only one respected coach or NFL mind that has ever really seen anything in Bettcher. Of course, Arians is an offensive coach, which makes the relationship that more sketchy and less trustworthy. It’s entirely possible that these two men just shared a great connection, and that Arians gave him a promotion he did not deserve.

I’m obviously speculating there, but from what we’ve seen out of James Bettcher, I don’t see how he is the man for this job. The Big Blue defense was 31st in the NFL in sacks last year, and followed that up with a laughable performance against the Cowboys in week one where Dak was barely touched. It would be hard enough to have a perfect quarterback rating on 31 passes in a flag football game – heck, we even see quarterbacks make several mistakes in their pro days, without pads and not facing a defense. Apparently, Dak wasn’t facing a defense, either.

To be fair, Dave Gettleman has not equipped Bettcher with many pieces to succeed. On the flip-side, Gettleman has brought several players into the fold in New York on the word of Bettcher. That is what leads me to question his qualifications more than anything. Any coach that really thought bringing in Kareem Martin, and now Antoine Bethea (at 34 years old) needs to be questioned. Markus Golden is another Arizona retread, although the jury is still out on him as it appears he could have some productivity left in him.

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You would have to think he had a hand in advising Gettleman not to bring back former Giant line-backer Devon Kennard, either. The Giants elected to give Martin basically the same-exact contract that Kennard got with the Lions. Kennard has three sacks yesterday, and had seven in his first campaign in Detroit. Kareem Martin had 1.5 sacks in all of 2018, and has looked helpless any time he’s been asked to drop back in coverage.

Martin only registered 4.5 sacks in 56 games as a Cardinal, including 14 starts. Most of that came with Bettcher running the defense, so what exactly was he seeing? To be fair, sacks are not the end-all-be-all anymore, as we have many other ways to quantify a pass-rush. But Martin didn’t succeed outside of picking up sacks, either.

Under Bettcher, Martin recorded Pro Football Focus (an extremely reliable source) horrid overall grades of 49.3, 61.7 ad 73.2 in 2015-2017. Even in that last, somewhat-decent 73.2 year, he still only recorded a 67.2 pass-rush grade. To get handed a fifteen-million dollar contract off of that resume is nice work if you can get it. Martin predictably (to everyone but Bettcher) regressed back down to his bottom of the league caliber with a 60.2 grade in his first year as a Giant.

After running a defense that finished in the bottom-ten in terms of overall defense and points allowed in 2018, Bettcher is not going to be allotted much time to fix this. He doesn’t deserve much more time to fix it, either. He’s going to have to get creative (something we were all told he was) to turn this unit into a respectable one.

This will be a critical week for the Giant defense in practice, Bettcher has to take charge and set the tone. What we saw on Sunday can not continue – not for this once proud franchise. Otherwise, the Arians disciple will be packing his bags, and in short order.

Whether it’s right or not, James Bettcher is going to be the first sacrificial lamb- he’s got some work to do to avoid that. It starts this Sunday against Buffalo.

I’m not holding my breath.

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