New York Giants finally fire Ben McAdoo and Jerry Reese

After a 2-10 start to the 2017 season, the New York Giants have finally fired head coach Ben McAdoo and general manager Jerry Reese. Fans have been waiting a long time for this moment.

Although it has seemed like just a matter of time, the New York Giants have officially fired head coach Ben McAdoo and general manager Jerry Reese, according to NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport and Aditi Kinkhabwala. Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo will serve as the interim head coach for the remainder of the year.

The 2017 season has been a forgettable one for the Giants, to say the least. Big Blue started 0-5, eventually getting to 2-10. What was once a season with Super Bowl aspirations quickly became a nightmare.

McAdoo had communication issues with both the media and, more importantly, the locker room. Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and Janoris Jenkins received indefinite suspensions during the season, both of which lasted just one game. Perhaps the worst development of the season was when anonymous Giant players spoke out about McAdoo and his lack of control of the locker room. They mentioned excessive fines and players just not caring anymore.

Losing the locker room was never an issue at the end of the Tom Coughlin era, even when the team was losing games.

How do you top losing the locker room? By benching the face of the franchise and losing the fanbase, of course. McAdoo decided to bench Eli Manning ahead of the Giants Week 13 matchup with the Raiders in favor of Geno Smith. This decision would ultimately be his last one as McAdoo was fired the day after Smith turned the ball over twice in the team’s tenth loss of the season.

Despite winning 11 games in his first year as head coach in 2016, Ben McAdoo was never fit for the job. A great defense and Odell Beckham Jr.’s playmaking ability carried the New York Giants to the playoffs last year. Unfortunately, McAdoo’s lack of control resulted in the Miami party boat fiasco and Big Blue was bounced in the Wild Card round.

The Giants hired McAdoo because they did not want to lose him as an offensive coordinator but, as it turned out, he’s not very good at that either. New York’s lack of offense destroyed their chances of winning from the very start of this season.

It took McAdoo five weeks (and an 0-5 start) to surrender play-calling duties to offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan. Sullivan’s first game calling the shots was against the Broncos and wouldn’t you know, that was the Giants first win of the season.

It also took McAdoo too long to make adjustments on the offensive line. He waited until Week 4 to start D.J. Fluker at right guard, a move that really improved the Giants running game. It took him just as long to realize that John Jerry is a better left guard than he is a right guard and he left Bobby Hart in the starting lineup way too long.

Although this nightmare of a season still has four weeks to go, firing Ben McAdoo already feels like a victory and if this is the last winning feeling we have for the rest of the year, I will be quite alright with that.

Getting rid of McAdoo, however, was just the first domino to fall as Jerry Reese was also fired on Monday.

Although I think Reese put together a roster that is much more talented than 2-10 and McAdoo should be blamed for most of the underachieving, it was likely time for New York and Reese to part ways.

Some would argue that Reese should have been let go with Tom Coughlin but he was given another chance. Reese bought himself some more time with his impressive 2016 free agent spending spree but after failing to upgrade the offensive line this past offseason, combined with his less than stellar draft track record, Reese ran out of excuses.

I didn’t expect Reese to be fired during the season. Firing him mid-year really has no benefit to the New York Giants but I guess there’s no sense dragging out the housecleaning.

Although Monday’s news answers the big question of “When the hell are the Giants firing McAdoo and Reese?”, it raises plenty of other questions that need to be answered.

Are coordinators Mike Sullivan and Steve Spagnuolo safe?

This really depends on who is hired to be the next head coach. I don’t expect Mike Sullivan or Steve Spagnuolo to get the job but Spagnuolo has been named the interim head coach to finish off the season.

Neither of these guys will be fired this season. However, new head coaches typically bring in their own staffs, especially when it comes to coordinators.

If the New York Giants hire an offensive-minded head coach, perhaps he’ll look to Big Blue’s defensive success in 2016 and keep Spagnuolo around. If the Giants hire a defensive-minded head coach, perhaps he’ll want to keep Sullivan around to see what he can do with a full season of play-calling and a healthy Odell Beckham Jr.

I would expect both of these guys to be let go after a new head coach is hired, but it will likely be that new head coach’s decision.

Will Eli Manning be back under center?

Now that Ben McAdoo’s disrespectful behind is gone, fans will wonder if Eli Manning will be the New York Giants starting quarterback again.

As far as the rest of this season goes, it is tough to tell. Although ownership disagreed with the way the Eli benching was handled, they seemed to agree with the idea of getting a look at the other quarterbacks. I think when John Mara said that, he was referring more to Davis Webb than Geno Smith, but I can’t be sure.

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If Davis Webb continues to not be ready and continues to not dress on game days, I could see the Giants having enough of Geno and going back to Eli. I could also see New York committing to getting a look at the future/keeping Manning out of harm’s way while they tank for a top pick.

When it comes to next season’s starting quarterback, that, like with the coordinators, will be up to the new head coach. If the new head coach thinks Eli Manning’s best football is behind him, he could look to trade him to Jacksonville and move forward with a quarterback of his own, possibly a prospect taken in the top-five.

If the new head coach thinks Eli still has a few good years left in him, he could stick him right back under center in 2018. The Giants could still use their first round pick on a quarterback and have him learn under Manning’s tutelage for a year or two like the plan originally was for Davis Webb.

Eli, being the classy man that he is, will accept whatever fate the organization chooses for him. I hope Manning is back starting sooner than later but after a season like this, there will be plenty of changes, so I can’t be too sure.

Next: Eli Apple needs to play as Giants look to the future

No matter what else happens in the future, Ben McAdoo and Jerry Reese will not be a part of it. And that’s really the most important thing for New York Giants fans.

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