New York Giants: Dave Gettleman has a big decision on Pat Shurmur looming

New York Giants, Pat Shurmur

When New York Giants ownership hired Dave Gettleman to act as the general manager of the organization, he had the ability to choose his next head coach, and ultimately a coach that would be integral in rebuilding the franchise from top to bottom.

In year two of the rebuild, the team is sitting at 2-5 with plenty of talent on offense and a quality young core on defense. Some positions are more prevalent than others, but the team is moving in the right direction, nonetheless. The offense is stacked full of talent at most positions, and the Giants have their rookie quarterback in Daniel Jones at the helm. However, coaching mistakes and lack of time management has been the demise of the team in recent weeks, especially in the loss to the Arizona Cardinals last weekend.

Falling to Arizona exposed several deficiencies and how important good coaching is the winning games, and Shurmur hurt the team in numerous ways. Calling a draw play on 3rd-and-18 and letting Darius Slayton return a kick out of the endzone in the pouring rain with no timeouts are two that caught my eye.

Success starts with the head coach, and Shurmur’s inability to manage the game correctly puts the team at a disadvantage right off the bat. This doesn’t mean he cannot further develop his game and become a quality coach, but his decisions have been questionable thus far.

The New York Giants need to proceed with caution:

If the New York Giants continue to lose games and show signs of regression, Gettleman will have to decide on the head coach. Keeping him after losing more than 65% of games in two seasons is hugely concerning, and it should force the Giants brass to make a difficult decision on whether to let him go.

The remainder of the season is vital for Shurmur to justify he has the team moving in the right direction. For the sake of argument — Shurmur is working with a young quarterback and a lack of talent on defense, which makes winning difficult, but good coaches find ways to put their team in the best position to win. Eliminating mental mistakes should be a priority for Shurmur because he’s running out of time to prove he’s a capable option.

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