The New York Giants are heading into the bye week coming off their most embarrassing loss of the season, and there is growing speculation that head coach Pat Shurmur and his staff are on borrowed time with the team. General manager Dave Gettleman could also be on the hot seat, but no one in the organization is expected to lose his or her job during the week off.
While the bye week is often the time terrible teams decide to make coaching changes, ESPN’s Jordan Ranaan does not expect Shurmur to be fired before the Giants take the field again in Week 12. Despite the team currently being on a six-game losing streak and having just lost to the lowly New York Jets, the belief is that the Giants are reluctant to leave rookie quarterback Daniel Jones with an interim head coach for the remainder of the year.
The Giants have the 26th-ranked defense in the NFL, so there has been some talk that Shurmur could fire defensive coordinator James Bettcher during the bye. However, the Giants have almost no playmakers on the defensive side of the ball, and making a coaching change there would look like blatant scapegoating. Shurmur also told reporters on Monday that he is “not going to make any coaching changes” during the regular season.
Jones has played well given the circumstances, and that is likely saving jobs at the moment. The No. 6 overall pick has played some of his best football of the season recently, as he has nine touchdown passes compared to just one interception over the past three games. His passer rating is 106.7 during that stretch. You could argue that Shurmur has done a good job with the rookie, which will probably make owner John Mara’s decision a tougher one after the season.
The Giants’ last head coach, Ben McAdoo, was fired midway through his second season on the job. The team had a record of 2-10 at the time, but he took New York to the playoffs in his first year. McAdoo had an overall record of 13-15 at the time he was shown the door. Shurmur is 2-8 this year and 7-19 overall.
Injuries have piled up for the Giants in recent weeks, and that hasn’t helped matters. Still, the last six games of the season are going to be extremely important for Shurmur and potentially Gettleman. If Jones continues to play well and the Giants win some games, everyone could be given another chance in 2020. If the skid continues, sweeping offseason changes would not be a surprise.
