Coughlin is on the Hot Seat

Tom Coughlin led the New York Giants to a Super Bowl win just three years ago. Fans of Big Blue don’t want to hear that.

Coughlin, now in eighth season as head coach of the Giants, finds himself on the hot seat for a number of reasons. Chief among them, the Giants haven’t been quite the same since that memorable 2007 season, which ended with the Giants pulling off a remarkable victory over the New England Patriots in February, 2008.

It’s not as if the Giants have been terrible the last three seasons, but it has appeared at times that Coughlin has lost control of his team.

Take last year, for instance. The Giants got off to a 6-0 start and looked poised to make another deep run in the playoffs. But the team completely fell of the wagon, ending the season with a record of 8-8 and no trip to the postseason. Giants’ co-owner John Mara was not pleased, and reportedly blew a gasket after the season. While the fall wasn’t enough to get Coughlin fired, it did count as a strike against him.

Assuming there was already a strike against him considering some of the struggles his team suffered before winning the Super Bowl; Coughlin is down to his last strike. 

What’s taking place now is the final act of Coughlin’s tenure. 

The Giants are sitting at 1-2 after the first three weeks, a disappointing record considering the expectations heading into the season. And the two losses haven’t been pretty. Losing to Indianapolis 38-14 in Manning Bowl II wasn’t terribly surprising, but it would have been nice if the Giants had at least showed up for the contest. The Colts destroyed the Giants in every phase, and the game was virtually over after the first quarter.

Then there was last Sunday’s debacle against the Tennessee Titans. There have been many awful and embarrassing performances from the Giants during Coughlin’s tenure, but this one had to be one of the worst. It wouldn’t appear that way when looking at the box score.

Big Blue dominated in virtually every statistical category, gaining 471 yards to Tennessee’s 271, racking up 26 first downs to Tennessee’s 17, and winning the time of possession battle 31:38-28:22. And yet the Titans won the game 29-10. That’s because the Giants turned the ball over three times, one of which came on Manning’s horrific left-handed toss in the end zone, and committed 11 penalties. And of those 11 penalties, five were personal fouls.

Smart, disciplined football teams don’t commit five personal foul penalties in one game. Coughlin has always prided his teams on being the opposite of what the Giants were on Sunday.  

Now, it’s not all Coughlin’s fault. Part of the reason stupid penalties are being committed is due to the fact that the Giants don’t have a single player willing to step up and become the true leader of this team.

Everyone has always assumed Justin Tuck was the one, but he isn’t the vocal presence that the Giants have needed the last two seasons. And that goes back to the downfall this team has experienced since winning the Super Bowl. Michael Strahan was leading the way in 2007, and it’s laughable to think that he would have let everything that’s happened take place when he was around.

This team is in desperate need of someone to step up and say, “We’re not going to do this anymore.” Instead, the Giants are stuck with players who don’t have the leadership skills to say anything useful. It would be nice if Eli decided to say something, but he’s never been a vocal presence and probably never will be.

The Giants look like a team with no direction, and Coughlin looks like a coach who doesn’t have a clue what to say to his team.

With Bill Cowher stating that he would be willing to come back to coaching if he found the “right situation” and Jerome Bettis saying Cowher “covets” the Giants job, Coughlin isn’t going to last much longer if things stay the same.

Maybe a change would be good for all parties. Anything would be better for the Giants at this point.