The New York Giants are entering the 2020 NFL season with a new coaching staff. Pat Shurmur was fired from the position after two disappointing seasons with Big Blue. His replacement, Joe Judge, has quickly won over the fanbase with a commanding introductory press conference and the hiring of an excellent and experienced coaching staff.
Joe Judge hired multiple former head coaches as assistants on his coaching staff. The biggest name of all was Jason Garrett, former the Dallas Cowboys head coach from 2010-2019. Garrett was hired to serve as the Giants’ new offensive coordinator, replacing Mike Shula who held the position since 2018.
Mike Shula was always an interesting hiring for the New York Giants. He was not the team’s first choice at offensive coordinator- that was Kevin Stefanski, who is now the head coach of the Cleveland Browns. However, once the Vikings denied permission for the Giants to interview Stefanski, the team shifted focus and went with Shula instead.
Shula had some familiarity with Dave Gettleman from Carolina. He was a member of the Panthers’ coaching staff from 2011 to 2017. Shula’s offensive scheme helped quarterback Cam Newton reach MVP status en route to a Super Bowl appearance in 2015. In New York, though, Shula was not running his own scheme, rather, he was helping Pat Shurmur run his scheme.
A Different Coaching Philosophy
One of the biggest differences for the Giants in 2020 will be the fundamental change in coaching philosophy. Under the last two head coaches, McAdoo and Shurmur, the Giants’ offensive coordinators were far less involved on Sundays. Both Shurmur and McAdoo called plays for the Giants, quite unsuccessfully. Both offensive schemes were criticized for being predictable and inefficient.
Perhaps the most detrimental aspect of having the head coaches call plays was their lack of situational awareness. Quite often, both coaches would forget to call timeouts or call them at unfavorable moments. McAdoo and Shurmur had poor clock management skills that many attribute to the two coaches being too wrapped up in playcalling.
The Giants will not have that issue anymore as they welcome in a new philosophy. Now, the offensive coordinator will run the offense and call plays while the head coach oversees the entirety of the team. Luckily for New York, they secured one of the NFL’s brightest offensive minds in the league with Jason Garrett.
Jason Garrett As An Offensive Coordinator
During his long tenure with the Dallas Cowboys, Jason Garrett always had one of the league’s top offenses:
“With Garret calling plays, the Cowboys passing offense was never ranked lower than 9th in yards per game or 11th in yards per play, including two top five finishes in both categories. The rushing offense was top ten in yards per play four times.†–via Giants.com
Now with an offensive coordinator dedicating his attention strictly towards the offense, the Giants could see more consistency out of its scoring unit.