Eli Manning (left) and former Giants OC Kevin Gilbride talk strategy in a game against the Cowboys in 2013. (Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports)
When an NFL team supposedly under-achieves or has a season worse than expected, the coaches are often thrown under the bus. In a sport decided largely by personnel, the head coach or the coordinators are usually the first to be blamed.
What’s interesting is that after the head coach or one or both of the coordinators are fired, the opening discussions then center on what has to be done to improve the sub-standard personnel.
Well, if there is the acknowledgement that the personnel was the issue, then changing coaches can only set things backs because of changes in the system. That’s especially true these days with shorter offseason programs, fewer OTAs and less contact in training camp.
But, it’s a scapegoat game, and someone has to be blamed from the coaching staff rather than the players.
Thus, it was refreshing to hear the comments recently of former New York Giants offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride, who retired after the team’s lackluster 7-9 season that began with six consecutive losses.
With no ties to his former employer, Gilbride could speak candidly about what went wrong with the team’s offense, which led to quarterback Eli Manning leading the league with 27 interceptions.
As an aside, there are those that often say they don’t wait to hear excuses about what has occurred. How shallow. It’s not excuses, it’s explanations; reasons why things happened.
Anyway, in an interview on SiriusXM NFL Radio recently, Gilbride was asked what the central problem was this past season. He responded, “I would say the offensive line, first and foremost, has to be addressed. I think they need another significant upgrade in the O-line and certainly some added depth.
“It (the line’s play) just made it impossible for our quarterback to function. (Eli’s) a guy where if you give him enough time, he’s always going to be throwing the ball to the right person, he’s going to know what you’re doing defensively, he’s going to see through your disguises, he’s going to be an accurate passer. But he’s not a scrambler and you’ve got to give him some help. And if you give him some help he’s proven that he can win a championship for you.”
In 2007, when the Giants defeated the Patriots in the Super Bowl, during that regular season, no offensive lineman missed a start, and all played the same position. This past season, they had nine different starting linemen and seven in the interior. Left tackle Will Beatty and right tackle Justin Pugh started all 16 games, but there were two left guards (Kevin Boothe 10 and James Brewer 6), four right guards (David Diehl 11, Chris Snee 3, Brandon Mosley 1, and Brewer 1) and three centers (Jim Cordle 7, Boothe 6 and David Baas 3).
In the first six games, there were three different starters at both center and right guard and two at left guard.
Another criticism of the vocal crowd is that a team failed to make adjustments, as if anyone would really know schematically what a team tried to do. The reality is that adjustments can be made week-by-week or in a game, but the other team adjusts, too. The other reality is that the other guy sometimes is just better.
To that end, Gilbride said, “I think philosophically, we modified substantially what we normally do. We’ve been kind of a dynamic, explosive, throw-the-ball-down-the-field (offense), let your guys do a lot of vertical read-type of stretch principles and we had to abandon those. Those are the things that we’ve done very well that allowed us to be in the top 10 offensively for a long time. You can’t do it because your quarterback would be on his back while you’re waiting for those things to happen.
“So we became much more conservative, much more three-strep oriented – which was good for a while, but they’re smart on that side of the ball and they identified fairly quickly what your weaknesses are, and they realized what your adjustments had been, so they take those things away. And when we had to expand what we wanted to do that’s when our shortcomings manifested themselves.”
Giants co-owner John Mara, officially president and CEO, understands that patience is important and knee-jerk reactions can be bad. Perhaps he learned some of that from the Steelers, who have had three head coaches since 1969.
Speaking of Gilbride, Mara said, “It doesn’t matter how much success you have, the minute things start to go bad, everybody jumps on him. They think the play-calling is too conservative, too predictable or whatever the case. Again, people have short memories in regard to Kevin because he did a great job for us.”
As for head coach Tom Coughlin, who probably did as good a coaching job as he ever has, bring the team back from that 0-6 abyss, Mara said, “He’s won before. He didn’t all of a sudden forget how to coach, as some of my letter writers seem to think. The guy is still as good of a coach as there is out there. Let’s see if we can help him by getting him some better personnel.”
Nice to hear some common sense for a change.
Next Question
Former Raiders executive Amy Trask, now an analyst on CBSSports Network, brought an interesting perspective to the discussion of quarterbacks.
The subject was Jay Cutler’s new contract with the Chicago Bears, and what Trask said could pertain to many situations where critics want to dump a quarterback for any perceived slight.
Trask said, “There’s a good test to apply in situations like this. The ‘And do what test?’ Jay Cutler shouldn’t be the quarterback? And do what? You have to be able to answer that question. Your choices are: Do you re-sign Cutler? Do you look elsewhere in free agency? Do you look to the draft? Or do you make a trade? But you better be able to answer what you’re going to do if you decide to move on.”
She then added, “Marc Trestman is tremendous with quarterbacks. He is one of the better communicators that I have ever worked with in terms of coaches and the manner in which he communicates with players and educates and teaches. Whatever potential Jay Cutler has or does not have, I believe Marc Trestman can bring that potential to its absolute maximum.”
Even if Bears fans don’t like Cutler because of his face.
