Results Beat Process Anytime

Thank God for John Mara. The Giants boss was just as fed up as I was with the horrid pass defense, finally pulling the plug on the defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan . Judging by his rather harsh (but then it had to be) words, he must have been remarkably patient all year.

While I’m happy that the Giants finally made a move in that direction (I’ve been calling for Sheridan’s ouster for quite some time now), I think there’s certainly more that could be done. The secondary coach, the linebacker coach, and even the GM could also be considered for the boot.

Even considering the injuries and lack of pressure on the passer, the Giants corners and safeties were deplorable. If they weren’t totally out of position, they just stood by while the receiver made the catch. I’ve blamed the coordinator all year because nothing seemed coordinated. But surely the GM bears responsibility for the talent he brought in. And surely the secondary coach could have imparted some useful information as to how to cover people.

What saves the GM, Jerry Reese, in my eyes is the fact that he had that fantastic draft class of a few years ago. And the Giants certainly have plenty of talent on offense. Except for the front four though, there isn’t really much talent on defense at all. His very few high draft choices in the secondary, Kenny Phillips and Aaron Ross, were both hurt this year. Safety Michael Johnson was the 224th pick in 2007. Corner Terrell Thomas was pick 63 in 2008 but was only marginally competent. The rest of the acquisitions (free agents) were awful all year…CC Brown, any of the multitude of Johnsons, Aaron Rouse….if he played the secondary, he was incompetent.

The head coach, Tom Coughlin, also gets a mulligan, but only for now. His retention should definitely be considered temporary. He’s been the Giants head coach for a long time. Maybe the players have had it with him. They certainly haven’t responded to his pleas for playing hard.

All that being said, I really think the problems are fixable. With a good defensive scheme (what was wrong with Spagnuolo’s?), and Phillips and Ross returning in good health, half the secondary problems go away. The rest of the secondary roster, except perhaps for Terrell Thomas, have to go. A change in scheme should go a long way towards fixing any pass rush problems.

It’s to be hoped the new defensive coordinator will pay more attention to the effects of his teaching on a week-to-week basis than his predecessor, who was proudest of his consistency in his teaching method without regard to the results. (This last is almost too preposterous a position on which to comment).
Process is great. You will hear a lot about process from guys like Eric Mangini, whose Cleveland team finished strongly but still wound up with 4 or 5 wins (who’s counting?). Process gets you a situation such as the one that totally shut down Newark Airport yesterday. Process gets you the New Orleans situation after Katrina. And I’m sure process has a lot to do with the ridiculous war in Afghanistan.

Give me Rex Ryan anytime. Rex had a huge problem, quite literally, when his defensive tackle, Kris Jenkins, went down. He brought somebody in, coached him up, and the Jets soon resumed their proficiency in defending the run. When Mark Sanchez, his rookie QB, started turning the ball over, he initiated a simple color-coded sideline communications system to keep the QB on track.

When the Giants run into problems, they try to hide them. Actually, the hiding comes only after the denial that there is a problem at all. When Coughlin was forced into a corner to comment on his defense, he first obfuscated the problem by shunting some of the difficulty over to his offense. Then he said he wasn’t making excuses.

Keep it simple, make it work. Forget process. And, if we have one more year of uninspired play from the Giants, I’d say forget Coughlin too. And maybe Jerry Reese isn’t quite as brilliant as I had originally thought. He seems a lot better at the draft than he is at picking up replacement players in a pinch. No doubt he has a process for the draft. Heh-heh.

Well, that’s quite enough about those disappointing Giants, especially when we have a playoff contender in the New York Jets. Their impressive win over the Bengals on Sunday was a really good sign. I don’t care that neither the Bengals nor the Colts before them had anything to gain from the game. The Jets could have still lost. They could have assumed an easy contest and mailed it in. They didn’t. They played 120 minutes over two games of playoff football. Kudos to the Jets.

While I don’t think their rematch with the Bengals next Sunday will go nearly as well as the first game, I do think the Jets will win it. The injury to David Harris will definitely hurt though. He’s been the leading tackler for the Green and White for quite some time now. And while the Bengals will run more effectively with Cedric Benson rather than Larry Johnson, I can’t imagine it making a huge difference in the final result.

Meanwhile, speaking of management, kudos to Mets GM Omar Minaya for finally locking up Jason Bay, filling that left field slot with a pretty terrific hitter. If he can indeed get Molina to catch, the Mets will have a pretty awesome lineup as Beltran, Delgado and Wright all return. And Jeff Francoeur should be ok after his thumb problem.

The pitching is a different story. Kelvim Escobar is a good pitcher if he can get healthy but it seems like a shot in the dark. I would hope they still try to get a better arm for that up and down starting rotation. It’d be a big shot in the arm for a young and erratic staff.