Giants’ Patrick Graham knows he’s accountable for defense’s performance

Giants defensive coordinator Patrick Graham spoke to the media Friday following the firing of Jason Garrett.

Jason Garrett is out of East Rutherford.

This past Tuesday, after the Giants‘ blowout loss to the Buccaneers in which they scored just 10 points, the organization fired the offensive coordinator. It was a move long overdue — this Giants offense has remained stagnant for much of the last two seasons.

But the struggles in and around the team didn’t all fall on Garrett and the offense. New York’s defense, led by coordinator Patrick Graham, has been inconsistent in 2021 and nowhere near the level it was at last year.

Like Garrett was, Graham is heavily responsible for his unit’s performance, whether it be good or bad.

“I just know this — and it’s been laid out since I’ve been coaching football, period — we get judged based on how our guys play and all that stuff like that, so we’ve got to do a good job there,” Graham told the media Friday. “We all know what we signed up for. This is a business and every day I come in thinking, ‘Hey, you could be fired.’ That’s just part of it. I’ve always thought that way whether I was a QC, a graduate assistant at Wagner. It’s just the nature of the business I think, coaching football especially at this level. I don’t know the message, I can’t speak for the other coaches, but for me personally that’s how I kind of operate in my day-to-day, just knowing that I’m accountable for my job.”

There were talks in 2020 about Graham potentially being an NFL head coach at some point given his defense’s above-average performance for much of that season.

But now, the same discussion may not be taking place. While the defense played well in its Week 7, 8, and 9 games (prior to the Week 10 bye), the unit is now back to square one after allowing Tampa Bay to score 30 points and gain over 400 yards of offense.

If the defense struggles for much of the final seven regular-season weeks, Graham’s future past 2021 could be unclear.

Regardless, he and his 11-man group must take it one game at a time. Could they put the lackluster Week 11 performance behind them and turn it all around against the Eagles this Sunday?

Follow Ryan Honey on Twitter: @RyanHoneyESNY