TUCSON, Ariz. — John Mara’s reaction to the 2021 Giants season will be defined by his perspective on it and his expectations for it.
If the team president still genuinely believes that he fielded a playoff-worthy roster this fall, then he would presumably view this 4-8 team as underachieving.
If he believes that, blowing it all up again would be on the table for the Giants team practicing here all week at the University of Arizona ahead of Sunday’s game at the Los Angeles Chargers.
But if Mara is realistic, and if he comes to grips with this year’s roster still being grossly incomplete, then he will re-commit to this rebuild and exercise patience with head coach Joe Judge and this fledgling program.
And I do believe Mara, for all of his recent missteps, sees the value of staying true to the course that he himself set for this organization in January 2020 with his out-of-the-box hiring of Judge.
This is the same owner who oversaw two Super Bowl runs in five years between 2007 and 2011, after all. He’s been the steward of a gold standard winner before and could be again.
There is pressure on everyone in the Giants’ building, obviously, as evidenced by the firing of offensive coordinator Jason Garrett two weeks ago. Mara and co-owner Steve Tisch want victories. They want results.
Dave Gettleman is no doubt finished as GM for a lot of reasons, namely because the offensive line is worse than when he arrived four years ago, a failure that has compromised the evaluation of the oft-injured quarterback Gettleman drafted, Daniel Jones.
But Giants fans have booed Mara twice during halftime ceremonies at MetLife Stadium this season because they are telling him the dysfunction is his fault and responsibility.
They see the pattern now and they are letting Mara hear it. He has to recognize that the Giants won’t step off their recent hamster wheel of irrelevance if they continue repeating the same mistakes.
The pattern is the Giants’ constant inability to self-assess, believing they are close to competing when they are still years away. It is also their rush to find quick fixes when the only solution is smarter team-building, better player evaluation and patience.
Mara fired Ben McAdoo and Pat Shurmur during and after their second seasons, respectively. Both coaches benched Eli Manning and lost too many games and paid the price, even though Mara signed off on the coaches’ calls.
Mara has since admitted he didn’t give McAdoo a fair shake. His 2016 team is the only Giants squad to make the playoffs since 2011. Shurmur had shortcomings but helped draft and develop Jones and got much more out of the QB in one season than Garrett did in parts of two.
Emboldened by nearly winning the NFC East with a 6-10 record last season, and impacted financially by the COVID-19 shutdown, Mara and the Giants reacted by going on a sudden spending spree in free agency this past spring.
They viewed their division as weak and vulnerable, and they wanted to give fans a reason to come back to their seats. So they funneled money into their roster, forcing them to restructure numerous contracts to stay within budget and hamstringing their financial flexibility in 2022.
But their optimism was born more out of hope and restlessness than reality.
Disgusted fans who want to see Mara blow it all up again are only taking the lead of the organization, which sold hope in playoff contention to them.
Not that Judge is without his faults or flaws.
The amount of injuries on this year’s team is worth examining, no doubt, especially after Judge’s rookie year team had been so healthy in 2020.
Judge has to stop punting from the other team’s 46-yard line on 4th and 2, too, as he did in the second half of Sunday’s road loss to the Miami Dolphins. That is counterproductive.
There are game and time management issues to clean up, as well. And the offense needs to score touchdowns somehow, someway.
However, if Mara is viewing this season with the proper perspective and context, he will see progress in Judge’s team playing hard through adversity for a second straight season.
They haven’t lost back-to-back games since mid-October. They are 3-3 in their last six. They are more competitive in their division.
Judge is only one game removed from clamping down on Jalen Hurts and a red-hot Eagles team whose only loss in the last five games was that 13-7 Giants win at MetLife Stadium on Nov. 28.
Judge out-coached the Eagles’ Nick Sirianni that day, just as he outcoached New Orleans’ Sean Payton and Carolina’s Matt Rhule in October.
Plus, since Judge arrived, the Giants have added building block players in the draft like Xavier McKinney, Azeez Ojulari and Andrew Thomas. They added an extra first-round pick to the 2022 draft with a trade back.
Judge also has empowered players like Julian Love to step into leadership roles. And truth be told, one major thing the Giants roster is lacking is leaders, especially on offense.
Considering Mara’s slump in managing his franchise lately, though, his most forward-thinking decision in recent years was probably his hiring of Judge.
It wasn’t the predictable, eye-rolling, keep-it-in-the-family Giants move. It was a refreshing acknowledgement by Mara that his way wasn’t working and it was time to try someone else’s.
Bill Belichick’s New England Patriots beat the Buffalo Bills on the road on Monday night in swirling winds by having quarterback Mac Jones throw the ball only three times. They ran the ball, didn’t turn it over and played great defense.
It wasn’t an exciting game plan but it was a winning strategy.
Judge isn’t Belichick. None of Belichick’s assistants have been great head coaches, not yet anyway.
But Judge does have that gene to change and tailor game plans weekly based on specific opponents. That’s how the Giants beat the Eagles two weeks back and how they upset the Seahawks on the road last year.
Beating Justin Herbert on Sunday won’t be so easy, and Jones’ injury is terribly unfortunate, since the Giants want to gather as much information as they can at that position holding two first-round picks in April’s draft.
Still, the arrow will be pointing up on the rebuild at year’s end as long as the team keeps playing hard and Judge continues to craft game plans that give the Giants a chance to compete.
And that is why Mara would be wise to see the rebuild through. Because it is the only way the Giants will come out the other side better for it.