New York Giants should fire Ben McAdoo

If you’re like most New York Giants fans, you can’t stand offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo right now. We’re assuming he was responsible for calling the critical third down play. If this ruins their playoff hopes at the end of the season, fans will never forget this loss.

After blowing the opportunity to burn a valuable 40 seconds during the final two minutes against the Dallas Cowboys, McAdoo’s job security needs to be called into question. We all know what happened Sunday night, and now it’s time to analyze the root cause of the loss (other than the referees): McAdoo.

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As if the seven months wasn’t enough time to learn from the Seahawks’ Super Bowl XLIX blunder, McAdoo took a play out of their goal-line playbook and placed the Giants in perfect position to lose the game. By deciding to call a pass play on 3rd & goal (with the Cowboys out of timeouts), the Giants were unable to trim 40 seconds from the game clock. Soon after a meaningless field goal, Tony Romo shredded the Giants defense and tossed a game winning touchdown to Jason Witten. However, we cannot place the blame on the defense.

Sep 13, 2015; Arlington, TX, USA; New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning (10) is hit after he throws a pass in the second quarter by Dallas Cowboys outside linebacker Anthony Hitchens (59) at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports

The main reason the Giants were even in Sunday’s game was almost entirely due to the defense. By forcing key fumbles and picking off Romo twice, the Giants were in place to steal a win against a division rival and begin the season 1-0. These hopes came crashing down in a Seattle-like fashion, and the Giants now find themselves 0-1.

The decision not to run the ball in that situation is something that will be second-guessed for the next several months. Just ask Russell Wilson or Darrell Bevell. Quite frankly, Eli Manning should have known better and audibled into a run play. If the Giants ran the ball and were stuffed before scoring a touchdown, fine; at least you burned time. Just lofting a pass over the receiver’s head? Not smart at all. What happened is unacceptable, and this type of mentality will not produce a championship team.

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The risks of going for it on 4th down could have produced better odds than what transpired. If they failed to convert on 4th down, Dallas has the ball on the 1-yard line, down 23-20 with less than a minute to go. A field goal would have at least resulted in overtime. Instead, they had about 1:40 remaining while down 26-20. This forced them to go for the end zone. Head coach Tom Coughlin will accept full blame for the miscue (just like Pete Carroll did), but the offensive coordinator (or QB) should be the one receiving it.

Back to McAdoo now. This blunder wasn’t his biggest flaw Sunday night. The offense performed far below expectations. Projected to be one of the best offenses in the NFL, the Giants offense couldn’t get out of its own way. Even without Victor Cruz, the Giants had plenty of offensive weapons, highlighted by Odell Beckham Jr. Creative ways to use his talent or in-game adjustments could have resulted in him playing a bigger role in the outcome. The Cowboy secondary is not the Legion of Boom. Whereas the Giants defense performed better-than-expected with numerous injuries, the offense under-performed. This blame goes squarely on the offensive coordinator and players.

This embarrassing loss wasn’t the first strike for McAdoo. Let’s not forget about last year’s Week 11 game against the San Francisco 49ers. Remember the three consecutive fade routes? Genius, right? Beckham’s emergence gave the team a false illusion of the offense. His superior play last year made up for McAdoo’s struggles and kept his job secure. Why, many people were even praising him for “improving” the offense last year.

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I was against the McAdoo hire from the beginning. Forcing the coordinator of two Super Bowl winning offenses, Kevin Gilbride, to retire and replace him with a first-time coordinator was highly questionable at the time. The downfall of Gilbride was due to the deteriorating offensive line, which was unable to give Eli any time at all. This eventually led to Gilbride becoming the scapegoat, and bringing in a new voice. McAdoo’s credentials at the time? Being the quarterbacks coach of the Green Bay Packers.

The Packers have one of the most dynamic offenses in the league, so it make sense to explore some members of their staff. However, the Giants seemed to have “forgotten” that the Packers have MVP Aaron Rodgers as QB, and that head coach Mike McCarthy called the plays. Giving any of this credit to McAdoo and hiring him was pretty strange to me. Honestly, how much input do you think a QB coach has on calling an offense? He probably spent most of his time working with the second and third-string QBs anyways.

Speaking strictly about Week 1, there was no guarantee that the Giants would have won the game even if they did run the clock down. But at least they would have been in the best position to win, without having regrets.

McAdoo’s inexperience first showed in Week 11 last season, and also showed in Week 1 of 2015. Both games resulted in losses, and left fans thinking whether firing Gilbride was a good idea in the first place. His play-calling wasn’t the sole reason the Giants lost, but it played a huge factor in both games. The Giants won’t fire McAdoo now, as changing offenses mid-season does not happen much in the NFL. Unless he engineers a Super Bowl winning offense, my opinion on him is already set. Realistically if he isn’t going to be fired, he should be placed on the hot seat immediately.

McAdoo is hardly the Giants’ only problem on offense. Inability to establish a solid offensive line and inability to avoid third & long has plagued the team. Jerry Reese has also made many head-scratching decisions in the recent past, and he should also be on the hot seat. While Preston Parker was busy dropping third-down conversions, former-Giant James Jones caught two touchdowns for the Packers.

To me, it looks like the offense is still “broken”.

Next: Giants vs. Dallas Cowboys Team Grades

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