The Giants need a clean sweep amid continued playoff drought

Major changes must be en route in East Rutherford.

Another season without a playoff appearance — the Giants‘ fifth straight.

Another season with double-digit losses — again, the Giants’ fifth straight.

New York suffered one of its worst losses of the year on Sunday at the hands of the Eagles by a score of 34-10. The Giants have thus dropped to 4-11.

Jake Fromm was awful, Mike Glennon wasn’t much better, the offensive line was atrocious, the defense couldn’t hold its own against Jalen Hurts and co., and Joe Judge continued to make questionable coaching decisions.

But the loss only capped off what was mainly a disappointing day for this fanbase. Because in the wee hours of the morning, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Judge and starting quarterback Daniel Jones (who’s out for the remainder of the year with a neck injury) are expected back next season. This comes in spite of the fact neither has made a legitimate case for why he should stay in 2022.

It would be a disastrous move by John Mara to retain both individuals. The co-owner of this historic franchise cannot lead the team into an even deeper hole by bringing the head coach and quarterback back after another horrific season.

A clean sweep must occur in East Rutherford.

Jury out on Judge

The Giants are now 10-21 since Joe Judge took the job in early 2020.

This once-respected ballclub, under Judge, has continued to embarrass its fanbase and solidify itself as one of the league’s worst over the course of the last half-decade.

When Judge took the job, he noted in his introductory press conference that the Giants would “punch [opponents] in the nose for 60 minutes.”

He and the team have yet to fulfill that promise; it’s unclear if they ever will.

The Giants offense has been horrendous since the start of last year and is currently 30th in both total offense and scoring. The defense has been strong at times but is far from perfect, an adjective it essentially must associate itself with given the immense issues on the offensive end.

Many also believed Judge was going to introduce an aggressive culture — one that would lead to the team taking chances in situations that Judge’s predecessor, Pat Shurmur, may have been a tad bit conservative in.

However, Judge has taken much heat for cautious decisions, such as his choice on Sunday to punt from the Eagles 44-yard line on 4th-and-3. Prior to the eventual snap, he initially had the offense out there but the unit eventually ran off the field while the punt team ran on. Whether the Giants meant to confuse the Eagles, it was a weird scene nonetheless.

Judge isn’t a legitimate head coach in this league, at least not right now. The Giants need an offensive-minded individual to lead this team both next year and beyond — someone who’s going to implement an aggressive approach that’s up to par with the modern-day NFL.

In a conference with head coaches like Matt LaFleur, Sean Payton, Bruce Arians, Sean McVay, Kyle Shanahan, and Kliff Kingsbury, the Giants need aggression and urgency.

They don’t have that with Judge.

Daniel done?

As we at ESNY have mentioned various times before, Daniel Jones should be gone after this year.

If there should be a new head coach, there needs to additionally be a new direction at quarterback, especially considering there’s expected to be a new general manager in the organization next year (whoever that may be).

Jones is injury-prone and mistake-prone, and has been since his rookie campaign. He’s missed 10 total games in three years (two in 2019, two in 2020, six in 2021) and has never been able to fully rid himself of his turnover issue (36 fumbles, 20 lost fumbles, 29 interceptions in 38 career games).

He’s not a big-game quarterback, and you need that in the offensive-driven, quarterback-driven, passing league in which the Giants reside.

Just like how Judge can’t match up with the aforementioned NFC head coaches, Jones cannot be compared to NFC quarterbacks such as Dak Prescott, Aaron Rodgers, Kirk Cousins, Tom Brady, Matthew Stafford, Kyler Murray, and Russell Wilson. I don’t even think I would take Jones over someone like Jimmy Garoppolo at this point.

The big picture

General manager Dave Gettleman‘s departure is inevitable, whether that be via retirement at the end of the season or a firing prior to then.

It’s believed the Giants could elevate assistant general manager and VP of football operations Kevin Abrams to be Gettleman’s replacement. They obviously should look outside of the organization though, given the major issues that have arisen under this current regime’s watch.

If a new general manager (from outside the team) is going to be in place for next season, a new head coach and quarterback should be acquired as well.

John Mara cannot force a marriage between the GM and head coach/quarterback. If Gettleman is going to go, then Judge and Jones need to follow, regardless of who replaces either.

Follow Ryan Honey on Twitter: @RyanHoneyESNY

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