New York Giants ’embarrassed’ John Mara, who still believes in Joe Judge

New York Giants owner John Mara admits that he was ’embarrassed’ by his team’s performance down the stretch of the 2021 NFL season 

New York Giants owner John Mara hit a new low, in recent weeks.

Mara, speaking to reporters for the first time Tuesday since firing head coach Joe Judge and general manager Dave Gettleman’s retirement, admitted that he was embarrassed by the Giants’ second half of this season.

“Honestly, I would have to say yes,” Mara said, when asked if the state of his team is embarrassing to him, personally. “Yes, it is. I kept thinking during the season that we had hit rock bottom and then each week it got a little worse.”

The New York Giants lost six in a row to close out the franchise’s fifth consecutive double-digit loss season, failing to score more than 10 points in five of those games. This season was the ninth time this decade that the New York Giants missed the postseason, and the Week 18 loss to the Washington Fotball Team was the 100th since New York won Super Bowl XLVI, back in Feb., 2012.

Rock bottom. Embarrassing, indeed.

So, for the third time in six years, Mara fired a head coach. This time, it was Judge, who finished his time as New York Giants head coach 10-23.

But, just because Judge is no longer the New York Giants’ head coach doesn’t mean Mara believes he doesn’t have a bright future.

It was just time for the New York Giants to move on.

"“I still think that there is a really good head coach inside of Joe Judge,” Mara said. “I just felt like given where we are right now on the verge of bringing in a new general manager, we have to give that person the flexibility to bring in the head coach that he wants. I think that was a large part of the decision here in making a change. I just felt like we really needed to just start from the ground up again.”"

New York Giants’ ideal interview list to replace Joe Judge, including Doug Pederson

After firing head coach Joe Judge, owner John Mara and the New York Giants seem intent on hiring a general manager and head coach with outside influence.

Was there a last straw for John Mara, before New York Giants fired Joe Judge?

Despite not feeling that Judge has the chance to land on his feet, Mara says that Judge’s 11-minute defense of the culture he was trying to build in the locker room did not sit well in the owner’s suite.

“Obviously, I wasn’t thrilled with that particular press conference,Mara said. “But, I can’t say there was one specific act that was the last straw. It was just a culmination of things. We just got to a point where I thought we had dug ourselves a hole so deep that I didn’t see a clear path to getting out of it unless we completely blew it up and started all over again with a new general manager and a new head coach.”