I am at the point, and am probably not alone among Giants fans, whereby the team's prospects are so dismal that diasters are causes for celebration, because each one is a nail in the coffin of the inept management and leadership that got them to this place. For YEARS, I have been complaining about the organization's propensity to pursue skill position players at the expense of the offensive line and defense. All four of their Super Bowl wins were on the basis of veteran, home-grown offensive lines, often assembled using high draft picks. Instead, they waste picks on receivers, who can't do jack unless the blocking is done well. Receivers have minimal effect on the game, and their apparent success is a symptom of preparation and fundamentals. The most all-round successful receiver in the history of the franchise, was an undrafted free agent. Odell Beckham, the highest drafted receiver in recent memory, and arguably the most talented I have ever watched in the uniform, through his fourth season has an overall losing record in games he plays. It was obvious to everyone and his mother last season that their drastic failures of offensive production resulted ENTIRELY from the shortcomings of the much neglected offensive line. They had no running game, and their passing game was compromised by a crippling vulnerability to the pass rush. So with two highly-drafted receivers already on the roster, and another proven veteran who could have been re-signed for reasonable money, what did they do in the off-season? Sign a veteran free agent wideout, in Brandon Marshall (another one of those guys with lots of ability and a performance track record that has seldom translated into team success), and did NOTHING about the line. They signed a backup guard. That's it. In the draft, rather than help out the line, they elected to draft a tight end, because that's jsut about the only ball-touching position where they did not have great talent last year. And rather than draft one who could block and augment their running game and pass protection, they got a guy who's a little too heavy to play wideout, but not nearly tall enough to have any physical advantages in going for balls, nor sturdy enough to be an adequate blocker. Well, the little shit promptly drew a penalty for excessively celebrating his first (and to date, only) NFL touchdown, and was a total non-factor in this game, even with all but one wide receiver out. That's right. Their vaunted top pick in the draft, when the game was on the line, and he was their number one receiver, did not have a single catch.
Beckham is hurt. Sterling Shepherd is hurt. Marshall is hurt. Dwayne Harris is hurt. The only active wide receiver standing after today is Roger Lewis, who is roughly number four among that group of five. And they can't run the ball, had no faith in their ability to run twice for seven yards when they were nursing a two point lead and trying to drain the clock in the fourth quarter, and now, their vaunted receiving corps is down to a trio of tight ends who were only able to get open and be targetd twice on the final drive, and who were arguably responsible for more lost yards to penalties than receiving yards.
Most satisfying of all, is Harris' injury, a broken foot suffered on a kick return. In the NFL, if a kickoff goes into the end zone, the receiving team can simply start playing at the 25 yard line. If the player who catches the kickoff elects to run with the ball, they start playing where he gets tackled. In other words, upon catching the kick, he has to reach at least the 25 yard line, or he leaves his team worse off. It also runs time off the clock they might need, and runs the risk of injuring one of the 11 men on the field, wich frequently happens on kickoff plays, due to their lack of structure (for years, actually, the touchback line was the 20, but recently the NFL increased it to the 25 for the very purpose of discouraging returns and reducing injuries). Another thing that happens a lot is penalties, which negate any gains made by the ball carrier, and instead force the team to start behind the place the penalty occurred. Again, due to the unstructured and fast-moving nature of such plays, penalties are more frequent, so the risk is pretty high. For the last few seasons, Harris has repeatedly taken kickoffs out of the end zone and failed to gain the 25, while risking penalties (over which he has no control - even if you want to argue that he is confident of his ability to gain more yards than the touchback, he can't do anything to prevent some 3rd string defensive back from shoving an opposing player from behind and undoing all his efforts). Well, it finally happened, and as proof that there is justice in the world, it was Harris himself who suffered the injury.
The countdown to the ouster of Ben McAdoo and Jerry Reese has surely begun. Can't wait!
