New York Giants: Why Week 6 Victory Hurts Ben McAdoo

The New York Giants got their first win of the year on Sunday, defeating the Denver Broncos 23-10. The victory, however, brings more frustration than happiness.

The sun was shining a little bit brighter this Monday morning after the New York Giants finally picked up their first win of the season. The problem is, this victory came a few weeks too late.

After weeks of fans pleading, Ben McAdoo finally gave up his play-calling duties and deferred to offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan. The switch seemed to help the Giants offense but where was this change a few weeks ago when the season wasn’t already lost?

Had McAdoo allowed Sullivan to call the plays after going, say 0-2, and given him the opportunity to draw up schemes to get the ball to Odell Beckham Jr. and a healthy wide receiving corps, perhaps the New York Giants could be 3-3 right now.

Instead, McAdoo stubbornly waited until Big Blue hit rock bottom and this new-found offense is now on a 1-5 team.

Ben McAdoo waited too long to surrender play-calling duties. He waited too long to shuffle up the offensive line. And he never committed to a running game that proved on Sunday that, if given the chance, it can be effective against even the best of run defenses. For weeks, I’ve been calling for more Orleans Darkwa, and now, he’ll be running his way to nothing but moral victories.

NFL head coaches have to be flexible. They have to be able to make changes on the fly. I understand believing in your guys and your system and not wanting to abandon ship too early. However, 0-3 should’ve been a clear sign that something needed to change. 0-4 should’ve caused sirens to go off!

Unfortunately, it took until 0-5 and the playoffs being practically out of reach for Ben McAdoo to make a change. Now, Big Blue sits in NFL purgatory. Winning games makes everyone feel better but it also lowers their draft position. If the New York Giants don’t make the playoffs, isn’t it in their best interest to tank and get the first overall pick?

I’m not suggesting tanking but if you really think about it, what good is going 7-9 and having the 12th overall pick?

Heck, who knows, maybe the Gmen go on an unprecedented tear and make the playoffs. They still have four divisional games which can always shake up the standings.

But what if they win eight of their final ten games, thus finishing the season on a 9-2 streak, and end up 9-7? They still might miss the playoffs. Only real difference between 7-9 with no playoffs and 9-7 with no playoffs is that a 9-7 finish makes you feel good about the season and gives you hope for next year.

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If the New York Giants go 9-2 after an 0-5 start, fans will be celebrating what an unbelievable turnaround the team made. I, on the other hand, will be disappointed and frustrated. I’ll be disappointed because that strong finish will all but guarantee Ben McAdoo another shot as head coach in 2018. I’ll be frustrated because I’ll be thinking of what could have been had McAdoo dropped the tough guy act and made changes a few weeks earlier.

I’d love to see a strong finish by the Giants, I really would. But we can’t let a strong finish blind us from McAdoo’s stubbornness that got us into this hole. Sunday night was a fairly convincing victory over the Denver Broncos. That was the New York Giants team we all expected to see coming into the season. Ben McAdoo, however, robbed us of seeing that team earlier and has most likely robbed us of seeing that team compete in the playoffs.

Next: Takeaways from the New York Giants First Victory

You can’t fool me, Ben McAdoo. Big Blue’s Week 6 victory hurt your case for remaining the New York Giants head coach beyond this season.