The only thing more embarrassing that the New York Giants’ 100th season was John Mara’s explanation the day after it ended.
Hours after releasing a statement that head coach Brian Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen would return for the 2025 season, the Giants co-owner essentially constructed the plank the two will walk next season should things not turn around.
“It better not take too long (to improve the product),” Mara told reporters Monday, “because I’ve just about run of patience.”
Everyone else is already there, John.
Letting Schoen and Daboll return is defensible, given the proper messaging and rationale. Except instead of offering a rebuttal, Mara essentially prefaced why he would have to fire them next season should the winning ways not return. It’s exactly the type of dysfunction that has plagued the franchise for the better part of decade and portends to do so for the future.
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“I understand, believe me, that that’s not going to be the most popular decision in Giants land, but we believe it’s the right decision for us going forward,” Mara said.
Schoen and Daboll are 18-32-1 with one playoff appearance and a playoff win in that first season. Daboll was named NFL Coach of the Year for his efforts in 2022, when the team started 7-2, largely thanks to a defense that performed better than expectations. But that season’s defensive coordinator, Wink Martindale, and Daboll couldn’t get along, and now Martindale is at the University of Michigan.
Since that start, the Giants are 12-31-1 (including the playoffs). Desiring continuity is admirable, but regression – to this degree – should be unacceptable. But Mara’s poor choices (hiring Dave Gettleman as GM, then Pat Shurmur and Joe Judge as HC) have created a revolving door in northern New Jersey, and only now has Mara sought to stop it.
“When you start over, you really set yourselves back,” Mara said. “And when you have a belief in the two individuals that are leading the organization, you have to have the patience to stay with it. And again, if we’re standing here, if I’m standing here a year from now and we’re having the same conversation, I’ll take the heat for it. But I still think – we still believe – that it’s the right decision going forward.”
This was the same media session in which he said his patience was thinning. Two songs, one singer. And a nightmare for the fans.
Sure, Daboll has had a tough hand with Daniel Jones at quarterback, and his injuries and poor play led to Tommy DeVito, Drew Lock and Tyrod Taylor all stepping into the starting role over the course of the last two seasons. But the offense has never been explosive outside of two late-season victories against the even more directionless Indianapolis Colts in the ’22 (38 points) and ’24 seasons (45 points), respectively.
Mara didn’t blame anyone else for the Giants’ shortcomings. But he sure did talk himself in a circle. He should take notes from New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, a guy who knows a thing or two about winning (recent results aside).
“This whole situation is on me,’ Kraft said while addressing media Monday, a day after the Patriots moved on from Jerod Mayo after one season. ‘I feel terrible for Jerod because I put him in an untenable situation. I know he has all the tools as a head coach to be successful in this league. He just needed more time before taking the job. In the end, I’m a fan of this team first. And now, I have to go out and find a coach who can get us back to the playoffs and hopefully championships.’
There’s a level of introspection, humility and confidence there that Mara would do well to emulate.
Mara has his own ideas of what he’d like to see fixed this upcoming offseason. Here’s a brief recap of what he said:
He was disgusted by the defense and basically put the blame on coordinator Shane Bowen.
Daboll should give up offensive play calling (though the coach later said that he brought it up in their meeting).
He wouldn’t say whether the roster Schoen inherited from Gettleman is better than the one they ended this season with.
The Giants definitely didn’t tank against the Philadelphia Eagles’ backups, with Tanner McKee at quarterback, after playing themselves out of the No. 1 pick a week prior.
Schoen and Daboll remain the right people for their jobs.
Schoen’s first two draft picks, Kayvon Thibodeaux and Evan Neal, have been underwhelming at best and disasters at worst, considering they were the No. 5 and No. 7 overall picks, respectively, in 2022. But Mara liked the 2024 draft class, which included Malik Nabers at No. 6 and running back Tyrone Tracy Jr. in the fifth round (second-round safety Tyler Nubin also looked promising).
Schoen said Monday he respects ownership too much to be reckless with money this offseason. But with the heat turned up, expect a free-agency spending spree on players who will not live up to their contracts, as has become a Giants tradition at this point, and handicap the future regime – just like Gettleman did to Schoen before the former was graciously given the chance to retire instead of Mara having the stomach to fire him.
Rinse. Repeat. Give out free sodas during the last game of the season as an “Oops, our bad!”
Here’s that word again: dysfunction.
Maybe Mara is so forward-thinking that another year of futility will finally yield a quarterback of the future in a 2026 draft class that figures to have better prospects at the position. Anybody could tell you the Giants were desperate for a passer. The owner saying it out loud makes the price to acquire one – through free agency, the draft or a trade – that much steeper.
In a division that changes hands every year, the Giants haven’t won the NFC East since the 2011 season. The sad realization is that the franchise has largely been a joke since. That changing anytime soon feels impossible with Mara at the top of the organization, and co-owner Steve Tisch – who owns 50% of the team but leaves the football side to the Maras – seems content enough to collect checks and keep his own family name lucrative and relevant.
Over the last 10 seasons, the Giants are 57-106-1. The New York Jets, the team the Giants share a stadium with but act like they’re better than, have one fewer win over that span. Only the Jacksonville Jaguars have won less often.
That is the company John Mara has chosen to keep. Unless he changes his ways – or, really, gets out of the way – they’ll remain in the NFL’s basement.