By a show of hands, how many fans watched or listened to Joe Schoen's bye week press conference and left thinking the New York Giants general manager is in way over his head?
For those who missed his addressing of the media, you didn't exactly miss much. He fielded some tough questions, dodged answering most of them, spoke about putting interim head coach Mike Kafka in a position to win, and took some accountability for the team's abysmal 2-11 record. Even still, the whole thing felt meh.
This was the first time Schoen had spoken to reporters since firing former head coach Brian Daboll. It was the first time he had talked about what fans should expect from the final four games of the season after their late bye week. The whole thing felt weird. He looked and sounded like a dead man walking. Here are the four biggest moments fans will scoff at during the 15 to 20 minutes he spoke.
4 Joe Schoen press conference moments Giants fans won’t stop rolling their eyes at
He was very late to his presser
We’ll kick things off with an easy one here. Schoen was supposed to address the media at 1:45 p.m. After no update for 30 minutes, the YouTube stream then changed its start time to 2:15 p.m. But even after moving the time back 30 minutes, he still showed up late.
It’s no wonder that rookie everything’s‑given‑not‑earned linebacker Abdul Carter sleeps through walk‑throughs and shows up late to meetings. His own GM does it.
"Understanding" tough questions
If I had a dollar for every time the 46‑year‑old responded to a tough question with, “I understand the question,” I’d be in a new tax bracket. Seriously, the avoidance of answering the hard hitters was frustrating. Seemingly every question the fans wanted answers to, he dodged.
Anyone who wanted to know more about the Daboll decision, nothing. Same with Shane Bowen. Curious about how he feels about his job security? He understands.
Not making the same mistake twice
While the fourth‑year GM did take some accountability for the state of the Giants, he did stress that it’s his job not to make the same mistakes twice. The sound bite makes for a good listen, but the frustrating part is that this front office has been making the same mistakes week after week, year after year, and nothing changes.
Pardon my not-so-subtle eye roll at the notion that he’s going to all of a sudden learn from his mistakes. There have already been too many to count.
Taking credit for Jaxson Dart draft pick
By now, pretty much everyone has seen the viral video of Schoen separating himself from Daboll as the Giants were about to trade up to select rookie quarterback sensation Jaxson Dart with the 25th pick.
It turns out that’s not what he was doing at all. You see, he and his staff had already done the due diligence on the 22‑year‑old, and they were already planning on getting him regardless of Daboll’s stance on the former Ole Miss star. Real interesting time to be patting himself on the back there, while his job is about as uncertain as uncertainty allows.