New York Giants head coach Pat Shurmur vowed he won't make any changes to his coaching staff during this coming bye week, but after dropping to 2-8 with an embarrassing 34-27 Week 10 loss to the previously one-win New York Jets, it's fair to wonder how long this will be his decision to make. According to former Giants beat reporter (and current NFL Network insider) Mike Garafolo and several other reporters who witnessed it, Giants co-owner John Mara walked out of the building Sunday after ignoring reporters -- and not even looking up -- visibly angry by the team's loss.
Garafolo referred to Shurmur's coaching seat as scalding hot and even opined that a coaching change is on the way, but at least for now, the Giants head coach refuses to make any of his assistant coaches the scapegoat for the team's disastrous first 10 games in 2019.
"I'm not going to make any coaching changes, it's important that we coach and play better, period," Shurmur told reporters during a conference call on Monday.
Shurmur was asked by Giants reporters twice in the last 24 hours if he had any conversation with the visibly frustrated Mara or with general manager Dave Gettleman about his future with the franchise. He had no interest in entertaining this question.
"This is the second time you're asking that question in 24 hours," Shurmur said. "If I would have had that conversation, it's obviously not something I would share publicly."
Although it seems unfathomable the Giants would fire Shurmur after just two seasons given Mara's prior comments about not wanting to repeat the Ben McAdoo disaster, in addition to their history of giving long leashes to their head coaches, there is a steady drumbeat building that this could become a strong possibility this offseason.
For those fans who want Shurmur fired now, or at some point during the 2019 season, they will likely have to give up on that idea altogether. Shurmur's seat may be scalding hot, as described by Garafolo, but the Giants have only fired a head coach in-season once (McAdoo). That decision was as much about the way McAdoo handled benching franchise icon Eli Manning, and the backlash from the fanbase that ensued, than about the losing record in 2017.
During the 2020 offseason, things could change fast. Although Mara initially wanted to avoid turning the franchise into a carousel at the head coach position, he also has made it clear on numerous occasions that he wouldn't stand behind a team that is a consistent loser -- and that's exactly what the Giants are right now.
More specifically, Mara doesn't want to be embarrassed and that's exactly how he felt during the last two games at MetLife Stadium. In a home loss on "Monday Night Football" to the Dallas Cowboys, the fourth quarter was littered (no black cat pun intended) with fans from the opposing team and their chants were audible both at the stadium and during the game. Just six days later, the Giants lost again at MetLife Stadium -- this time to a one-win team that shares the stadium.
Mara has proven to be a very prideful owner and we can't lose track of what he said back in August, via Giants.com, when asked what he needed to see from the Giants this season to feel like they are headed in the right direction with the current regime.
"We need to win some games," Mara said. "I want to feel like at the end of the season we're moving in the right direction. I'm not going to say it has to be a minimum number of games that we have to win, or we have to make the playoffs. I want to feel when I'm walking off the field after the last game of the season, whenever that is, that this franchise is headed in the right direction. That's, to me, the most important thing."
The Giants are not consistently winning games and it has become evidently clear Mara is not walking off the field (or his press box) feeling confident the franchise is headed in the right direction. In fact, based on reports about his postgame mood after the team's Week 10 loss, we can confidently say he is feeling the opposite right now.
If you're searching for positive when it comes to Shurmur, look no further than rookie quarterback Daniel Jones. In his first eight games as a starting quarterback, Jones has thrown for 15 touchdowns with just eight interceptions -- numbers that far exceed any rookie quarterback in the last two draft classes through their first eight games. In Week 10, Jones threw for 300+ yards and four touchdowns (with no interceptions) despite the fact that he was without three starting offensive linemen (replaced by two former undrafted players), his top two passing game weapons (Evan Engram, Sterling Shepard), and his running back Saquon Barkley totaled just one yard on 13 carries -- the first time this has happened to a running back in 40 seasons. Jones needs to fix his ball security (fumbling) issue, but he's developing fast as a passer, and Shurmur deserves credit for that.
Unfortunately, the negatives are piling up, and they appear to outweigh Jones' progression. The Giants drafted a running back at No. 2 overall who entered the NFL with a reputation as a dynamic threat in the passing game and Shurmur has yet to utilize him as a focal point of the passing game. Barkley had just one route designed to get him matched up one-on-one against a linebacker in Week 10 and it resulted in a 22-yard gain. Shurmur also continues to lean on the inside-zone run scheme despite a lack of success.
Shurmur's run play calls have become predictable, and he has called them from predictable personnel packages, down and distances, and formations. He has yet to utilize Jones' athletic ability on designed bootleg and rollouts on any kind of consistent basis. He has also failed to get tight end Evan Engram involved as a focal point in favorable one-on-one matchups vs. linebackers and safeties on a consistent basis. Engram ran a 4.41 40-yard dash, but you wouldn't know it based on how nonexistent he has been up the seam on vertical routes. Shurmur has failed to do this despite having over 20 games to work with and design his offense around Barkley and Engram.
These issues listed above are specific to his offensive system, but there are larger issues that have plagued Shurmur's tenure so far and they include: clock management, his usage of challenges, his inability to alter his game plan based on injuries to his own personnel, and his inability to design specific offensive game plans to attack specific defensive coordinators.
At some point, Mara will join the rest of the Giants fanbase who is fed up with the losing and ready for a change. That point remains highly unlikely to happen at any point before 2020, but it has now become a real possibility the Giants won't give Shurmur a second season with Jones. This seemed like a near impossibility heading into Week 1 of the 2019 season. Eight losses in 10 games later, it has become the reality for a franchise that is headed fast toward another top-6 draft pick.
