NYJ 23 NYG 20 OT

“Only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked.”  We used that quote from Buffett to explain the many weaknesses of Kevin Gilbride in 2013.  It gets revisited after yet another ugly loss to the Jets today, because we see Coughlin swimming naked with this team.  We have been talking about wholesale underachievement for quite a while on this NY Giants blog.  Here again we see what that looks like with another defeat snatched from the jaws of victory.  This is the 5th time the Giants have blown a lead in the final 2 minutes of a game.  That ties a record for a single season. (Give the Giants a chance to break it- hey they have 4 more opportunities.)

Antonio Pierce retweeted before the game a reference to Giants beating the Jets in 2007 and going on to win SB XLII, & once again doing the same in 2011 for XLVI. We replied before kickoff.

With all respect to @AntonioPierce , he’ll be first to tell u ’15 is not anything close to ’11 or ’07. Too many injuries. Not enuf talent.

— Andy Furman (@UltimateNYG) December 6, 2015

//platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsThis 2011 miracle cr*p is finally crumbling. As great as it was that the Giants won the title, 6 glorious wins (for a team that was 7-7) have given everyone the license to look the other way at what has been a lot of mediocre/bad football. Yes, franchises like the Browns and Lions would give their left testicle to have the same “problems” the Giants have had the last 7 seasons. For our part, there has been a ton of dysfunction going on and we keep getting smoke blown up our butts about 2011 miracles. Today the miracle talk ends. Of course the Redskins can lose and keep the Giants tied at 5-7. But at this point who are we (or more importantly, Hanlon, Reese and the Lipstick-on-a-Pig PR Team) kidding?

The entire season has been full of recaps that sound like this:  Giants awful, playing a team that is just as awful if not more awful, still manage to have lead into 4th quarter, make questionable decisions, blow 4th quarter lead, lose game they could have won.  Rinse. Repeat.

I am reading in the media that Reese’s job is not in jeopardy because he did not select Coughlin as his head coach.  This logic is ludicrous because he selects him as his head coach every season he is there.  He accepts the good, when TC pulls out rabbits, and he accepts the bad, when underachievement means Sheridan, Gilbride & Fewell lose their job but Tom stays.  So don’t insult our intelligence and tell us that Reese is crickets when Coughlin is there for 9 straight years under his administration.

How many seasons of mediocrity can we take, Mr. Mara?  How many injuries can we take before Barnes and Palmieri are shown the door and the Giants join the 21st Century?

That sound you heard is the bubble bursting on Mara’s denial.  Mara is part of this problem because Coughlin and Barnes have no accountability.  Mara calls it loyalty.  I call it teflon and tenure.  Nothing seems to stick to these guys.  Mara comes to the mic after each season is over and says how disappointed he is, but meanwhile nothing is done.

Mara is upset with the Linebackers, singles them out a few years ago, yet the draft neglect by Reese (minus Kennard, a 5th rounder) is completely EPIC.  Lol, Kennard is out today, hurt (what else is new?).  Linebacker matters when the Jets make a 3rd down & 15 conversion by throwing an underneath midscreen to Powell.

Mara talks about the injuries, what a plague they are, but he is probably like King Theodon in Lord of the Rings, who is under the spell of his vizier Grima (Barnes).  How else do you explain 7 consecutive years of injuries without ANY personnel changes? Instead of new guys who are going to do the flexibility training, we get spa days.  Note how Mara is busy talking about changes with his brain trust.  Yet the Giants are leading the league 3 consecutive years in injuries.  The odds of that occurring are 1000-1 for ANY NFL TEAM.

Mara talked about wanting to clean house after last year’s Jacksonville loss.  Well, that game was a blown lead, and this year we have 5 more.  How’s that loyalty working out?

At this point I am rooting for change.  If it were not for the lowly NFC LEast, the season would already be completely done.  But we have to be led along a path of garbage football with a glimmer of “hope” of postseason play which only serves to confuse the understanding that wholesale changes are needed.  We are not going to get change by beating Washington, and somehow making it to the playoffs.

This is NOT 2007 or 2011. The number of miracles needed in 2011 were staggering. As we tweeted to Antonio, he’d be the first to tell you that this is not 2011. 3 hours later, we got confirmation when the Gmen could not even beat another installment of mediocrity, aka the NY Jets.

I know many of you are chomping at the bit about that call to not kick the FG.  It’s more of the same.  At this point I am frankly numb to the decisionmaking of Coughlin. Of course you take the points.  You make Fitzpatrick beat you with 2 TDs.  Mara and Reese gave Coughlin enough rope, and he hung himself with oodles of poor decisions

What’s next? We watch more mediocrity Monday evening with DAL-WAS. Either DAL without Tony Romo is 1 game out of first or WAS is the tower of power at 6-6 and takes firm control of the division.  PHL looks to go to 5-7 after beating PHL this evening.  I do not care about the NFC East anymore because it is fantasy to think that a team that blows leads vs mediocrity is worthy of any consideration in the playoffs.  They will get undressed if they somehow make the playoffs at 7-9.  (It is getting pretty hard to imagine them beating Carolina or Minnesota.)  The mediocrity road show continues with the next installment at Miami next Monday night.  Another 5-7 slugfest. Joy.