I see where you’re coming from on your points. My question to you, though, is whether you caught any games out there in Shanghai? I did not enter this season looking for a reason to throw Coughlin under the bus. Personally, I don’t normally look to blame the coach without what I would deem to be good reason. For example, I felt very strongly that Torre should not be fired after this past October. But after I watched every minute of GMen football for the 2006 season, it’s difficult to ignore what I witnessed. My negative feelings towards Coughlin’s coaching abilities are due to what I repeatedly saw…all around bad coaching. It is true that we were plagued by injuries, but I have two responses to this. First: despite the injuries, we were in the position to win numerous games that we blew; second: in the very beginning of the season, we were still grossly underachieving with a fully healthy squad (most notably against the Eagles where we got lucky and against the Seahawks where we repeated the exact same shittiness we did against the Eagles except we didn’t get lucky). Flume, trust me. If you watched this season all the way through, I think we’d be in agreement.

To add a couple….

The injury problem is apparently being linked to the entire strength and conditioning program, which is gonna be replaced. Add in the firing of both coordinators, and one wonders exactly what Coughlin did to earn this reprieve. He put together this staff, he presided over one of the worst collapses in team history.

Anyone can see that the Giants are one of least prepared and poorly coached teams in the league, in virtually every facet of the game other then the offensive line. No kickoff returns, no punt returns, no ability to stop a team on third down. Did you watch that Eagle game? You’re talking about a game winning drive that featured four runs of at least 9 yards?! That was abysmal. That is coaching. Anybody can put together a game plan to stop the run, especially a team like the Eagles who are a marginal running team at best.

If Garcia was gonna beat us again, fine. But to let Westbrook run for 150 yards was a joke. Our linebackers are constantly out of position. Our DE’s sprint up the field, past the running backs, ALL SEASON LONG. We played a soft zone, ALL SEASON LONG.

Ahhhh…. I could go on and on. This team has some young talent, and that’s why the change needed to be made. In fact, we missed a golden opportunity THIS year, especially now that we know Tiki’s leaving. We should’ve fired Coughlin after LAST YEAR, which was a slightly smaller collapse, 11-4, blown out by the Redskins, embarrassed by the Panthers. How much of Tiki’s decision was colored by the fact that his choices were more Coughlin, or going through a new coaching staff.

How much of a difference are we gonna see with Gilbride the offensive coordinator? He’s already been working with Eli for three years?! What’s he gonna do now, that he hasn’t already done?

The players played hard. I keep hearing that, they played hard. Big Fucking Deal. We won in spite of Coughlin, that’s the bottom line. We won even though he did very little to inspire, to adjust, to plan. Many many times in these three years, we’ve been completely outcoached, surprised, and/or unable to adjust to what the other team has done.

Coughlin is a failure, next year will be no different.

Oh, you mean the First and 30 caused by your team committing three penalties in a row? (although the third penalty was bullshit) No, Coach Coughlin. Let’s concentrate on the fact that your team committed three penalties in a row, putting itself in a shitty position that it managed to get itself out of. Let’s pay attention to the fact that your team cannot score TDs in the RedZone. Coach Coughlin, why the fuck should I or the media concentrate on the isolated flashes of “decency” that transpires on the field amid the steady, mind-numbing doses of sheer incompetence that you have been feeding us for the last nine or ten weeks now? Why on earth, Coach Coughlin, should we throw you a bone?

Coughlin is a bad coach. It’s official. So what do we do about? Our owners choose to ignore it and this fact proves almost more unsettling than keeping Coughlin on for another year. Are we becoming one of those “Star Fucker” franchises a la the Knick or the Rangers or even the Yankees? Holding out for a big name, old guard coach? Is this not the mistake we made in hiring Coughlin in the first place. Couldn’t we learn from the Jets? Maybe a hiring a young relatively unknown, although a risk, might be appropriate for the long term health and success of a young and talented team. Perhaps a coach who grows and matures with his players would help foster an empathetic relationship between players and coaches (a “we’re all in this together” type of environment, if you will).

We have talent NOW. In sports in general and especially in the NFL, players don’t stay good and healthy forever. Is it worth the risk of wasting another season? Is Coughlin THAT important? Is a Cowher or a Schottenheimer THAT important? Eli is supposed to be our franchise player and we gave a lot up for him. Despite his potential (I do think he has it), it’s fair to say that he is not developping under Coughlin. If Eli is forced to endure another middling season like this past one (and last year), he might be sufficiently “shook” to NEVER make it…at least not in NY. Is it worth the risking of blowing a chance of trying to revive the guy who’s supposed to be our future? Is Coughlin THAT important? Is a Cowher et al THAT important? Some talented players don’t like Coughlin. What happens when they can go elsewhere and play under coaches who know how to succeed? Is our loyalty to Coughlin and holding out for a “known” NFL coach worth this risk?

Needless to say, I have grave concerns.

It’s been a while since I have submitted commentary regarding this team, but it just became too difficult to do so. In essence, I didn’t feel like repeating myself or others and my entries tend to be longwinded anyway. Figured I’d spare myself the pain of articulating the negative emotions and thoughts that the GMEN ceaselessly wrung out of me over the last couple of months and, maybe even more importantly, I figured that I would spare everyone else from subjecting them to my ranting and raving (except for Greg, who has had to withstand my angry voice messages and occasional in-person, maniacal, seemingly endless tirades).

Never before have I felt relieved after a Giant playoff loss, particularly one that we lost on the final play. It was so utterly apparent that we were going nowhere anyway, I figured that we may as well lose sooner than later. This way I no longer had to put up with the bullshit, whether it be the lack of discipline, the stupid penalties, the stupid play-calling, the inept defense, the bewildered QB, the inability to adjust during the game…in a word (or maybe three), the sickening underachieving. In watching the Giants implode, I no longer wanted to find myself transforming into Col. Tom himself…my facial expressions, twisted and contorted, my eyes would narrow and most likely take on a ghoulish beadiness, as I would sit there in disbelief, infuriated and helpless. I also didn’t want the front office to have any reason to think, “You know what? Maybe we should keep Coughlin.”

As far as I was concerned (and still am), Coughlin had to go…no matter what. Even if we had made the SuperBowl, he still would have to go because, frankly, pulling off a three game winning streak (albeit in the playoffs) would still mean shit to me when placed in the context of Coughlin’s three-year tenure (most particularly what we all witnessed during the second half of this season). The fact that we could have beaten the Eagles and that the game was as close as it was did not so much make me think twice about whether Coughlin should stay but instead underscored why Coughlin needed to go…we keep losing when we could (and should) be winning.

Greg does a very nice job of articulating why Mara and Tisch’s reasoning for retaining Coughlin is piss-poor at best. And unbelieavably, as I thought that getting out of this season would afford some form of redemption at long last, I fear that the oasis that I could have sworn I saw in the near-distance turned out to be a mirage and really we are stranded smack in the middle of the Sahara.

We all knew that there was something rotten in the Kingdom of the Meadowlands but I guess I had not fully realized how deep this rottenness ran. Only a week ago, I thought the Gmen’s problems was a team suffering from crucial gaps (both mental AND in terms of personnel) that was made worse by an inept coaching staff. These are serious problems. Now, remarkably, I feel even worse about the franchise when I thought I would be feeling better because I , like Greg, question its long-term health.

I don’t recall who made the Dolan reference, but this is my concern. We spent many years now amassing talent and doing so successfully. Season after season, I have waited patiently while I watched the Giants rebuild and cope with the absence of a true premier QB. Ernie Accorsi did a great job and he will be sorely missed. Now we’re throwing that all in the shitter because the owners feel some inexplicable obligation to a coach who has not done his job? Have we not learned that “Stay the course” is not the appropriate mantra when you find yourself in a quagmire?

To make a John Kerry-esque point: if you don’t go to college, you’ll find yourself on the Giants. Wait, no. Wrong point. I’m getting mixed up here. Let me start over. Take two. -ahem- To make a John Kerry-esque point: Eli has extremely mediocre numbers despite the talent around him, which makes his numbers even better than they should be. Col. Tom has extremely mediocre numbers yet he presides over a potentially good/great QB who has extremely mediocre numbers despite the talent around him AND an incredibly talented team that is miserably underachieving. Which is worse?

I don’t know what goes on in the locker room and I don’t care. My concerns about Coughlin go far beyond his relationship with the players and his old-school disciplinary style that clearly doesn’t work. These are simply manifestations of what I deem to be Coughlin’s true shortcomings. He’s stubborn, he does not have the ability to adjust himself to changing circumstances around him (whether inter-personal relationships or in-game coaching decisions), and I question his intelligence. Frankly, I don’t think Coughlin’s a very smart guy and this comes through in his interviews and post-game analysis…not mention all of the second chances his team has had this season but still repeated the same fucking mistakes (including our playoff loss). The dude misses the boat a lot and has issues being accountable. Is this due to being in denial or due to obtuseness (Andy Dufresne)? I’m not sure. For example, Greg references Coughlin’s whole “You [the media] only concentrate on the negative things? What about converting First and 30?”

Not much, as far as I can tell.

I’m thinking that TC is just keeping the seat warm until Cowher or someone of that stature is contractually free to come on board. Come to think of it, Cowher would be pretty cool — he’s young (well, younger than I am LOL) and has the experience, and understands the kind of smash-mouth football that we used to play in the Meadowlands.

At any rate, with Tiki gone, it will be an interesting 2007 season — either over by week 4, or into the playoffs again.