J-Speaks: The New Shur of the New York Football Giants

Everything that could go wrong last season for the 3-13 New York Football Giants did. Injuries, particularly to their wide receivers. The defense was terrible. The cartoon character Mr. Magoo could lead the team then head coach Ben McAdoo, who the team axed even before the close of the 2017 season. It was clear that entering the 2018 NFL campaign the Giants needed someone new to steer this ship back in the right direction, and they turned to the Offensive Coordinator of the Minnesota Vikings for this task. 

On Friday, the New York Giants introduced former Vikings OC Pat Shurmur, who prior head coaching experience was two rough seasons with the Cleveland Browns, where he was 9-23 from 2011-12, and interim head coach with the now National Football Conference Champion Philadelphia Eagles, after being moved up from OC after the ousting of Chip Kelly to close the season 2015 season. The coach with a 10-23 mark entering his new job signed a five-year deal, with the terms of the dollar amount were not disclosed.  

The former Vikings play caller was not at the top of the Giants coaching wish list. They had their eyes according to reports on New England Patriots Defensive Coordinator Matt Patricia, and Pats’ OC Josh McDaniels. Both, who will be trying to help lead head coach Bill Belichick and the Pats to a sixth Super Bowl win in eight tries under their boss against the Philadelphia Eagles in Minneapolis in two weeks signed elsewhere. Patricia took the head coaching vacancy of the Detroit Lions, and McDaniels is expected to fill the opening for the Indianapolis Colts. 

Shurmur moved up to the top of the list after he met with the Giants top brass in Minneapolis during the Vikings bye week of the postseason. 

“He gave as good an interview, and I’ve interviewed a lot of coaches in my time,” Giants’ co-owner John Mara said at the close of this week. “That’s about as good an interview as I’ve ever been involved with.”

Giants’ new general manager Dave Gettleman, who took the place of the fired Jerry Reese earlier this month was so impressed that he wrote the word “adult” at the top of his notepad during the interview. 

For the Giants, it was imperative that they find the right person to lead them back to elite status in the NFL after the worst season in franchise history where they made more headlines for their inability to function both on the gridiron, and off it. 

The organization was looking for someone who could mesh with their no-nonsense GM in Gettleman. 

He also wanted the Giants head coaching job, even though he had done interviews with the Arizona Cardinals, Chicago Bears, and Detroit Lions. 

How much did Shurmur want to be in New York, during his introductory press conference, the lights went out for a moment when he was saying, “It’s an honor to be the head coach of the New York Giants.” 

When the lights came, Shurmur said with a smile, “and we’re off.” 

He took a more serious tone when he said to the members of the press, “You have hired a career coach. You’ve hired a guy that doesn’t know what he would do if he wasn’t doing this.” 

What really blew Gettleman, and the Giants brass away during the interview was when Shurmur said, “‘Everything starts with the offensive line.’” “And I think there’s a great example of that, what we went through in Minnesota. We didn’t change the oil up there, we changed the transmission. We went, and got two free agent offensive lineman, we drafted a center that played like a veteran, and we transformed the offensive line that helped us do the things that helped us win 14 games.” 

“And I think it’s very important, no matter how good your offensive line is, and your defensive line, you have to address those issues constantly because if you can’t block them, and you can’t pressure the quarterback, this game gets really, really, really hard. I know that about Dave. I know we have a serious mindset when it comes to doing what we can to upgrade in those areas.” 

If that come to fruition, the Giants have a major chance on improving the 26^th ranked rushing attack that averaged just 96.8 yards on the ground in 2017.

Besides having the same mindset in terms of how to build a roster that can compete to win at a high level on Sundays, and Monday nights, both Gettleman, and Shurmur have a like minded philosophy on how the team from the players to the entire organization should represent themselves. 

“Those of you who know me, though, I have zero tolerance for people that don’t compete,” Shurmur said. “I have zero tolerance for people that don’t give effort, and I have zero tolerance for people that show lack of respect. And I think that’s something that you’ll know about me as we get to know each other better.” 

That level of respect, and integrity was at Dechrome One this past season for the Giants, who suspended three of their players because of their conduct. The two most notable were defensive backs Dominque Rogers-Cromartie, and Eli Apple. 

The Giants feel that Shurmur brings the kind of command to where he speaks, the entire room has their mouths closed, and their ears, and eyes open. 

While those qualities are well and good, the main reason he got the job with the Giants is because he ability to make quarterbacks better; his knowledge of X’s and O’s, and his ability as a player caller.

He turned Case Keenum from a below average quarterback into a pretty good one this past season with the Vikings, where he threw for 3,547 yards, 22 passing touchdowns, and just seven interceptions. Running back Latavius Murry had a solid season, rushing for 842 yards, and eight touchdowns. Wideouts Adam Thielen, and Stefon Diggs went from unknowns into solid pass catchers with 1,276, and 849 receiving yards, on 91, and 64 receptions, for four, and eight touchdowns respectably. Tight end Kyle Rudolph had a solid season as well with 57 catches for 532 yards, while tying Diggs for receiving scores with eight. Backup running Jerick McKinnon was solid both in the run game, with 570 yards, and three scores, as well as in the passing game with 532 yards receiving, on 51 catches with two touchdowns.

One week after Keenum threw the game-winning 61-yard touchdown to Diggs, in the Vikings dramatic 29-24 win versus the New Orleans Saints in the NFC Divisional Round of the playoffs, the Vikings were lambasted in the NFC Championship Game 38-7 at the Philadelphia Eagles last Sunday night, falling one game short being the first team to play a Super Bowl on their home turf. 

The Giants hope he can have the same effect with the most recognizable talents in two-time Super Bowl champion Eli Manning, who had 19 touchdown passes, and just 13 interceptions, but was sacked 31 times. Wideouts Brandon Marshall, Odell Beckham, Jr., and Sterling Shepard, who were lost early in the season because of injury, and tight end Evan Engram, who led the Giants with 722 receiving yards, and six touchdown receptions. 

A return to full health for at the skill positions should improve dramatically the No. 19 ranked passing offense a season ago that managed 230.0 yards through the air this past season. The Giants were only ranked 20^th in touchdowns catches with 20. 

Since being fired by the Browns, Shurmur has had a chance to work with two of the best offensive minds in football in former Eagles Coach Chip Kelly, and Norv Turner. 

“I think we have an offense that we’re going to constantly try to do things that our players can do well,” Shurmur, who will be the play caller after hiring an offensive coordinator. “So once we quickly learn what our players are good at, then we’ll [see]—but I do have a West Coast background. My last three years in Philadelphia I was with Chip Kelly, and so the tempo, and being able to play fast, there’s advantages to using that strategically. When you can run the ball like we did last year—and we developed a core set of runs—then the play-actions are meaningful, and that’s how you can drive the ball down the field. So [we’ll] try to use all those things.” 

“And when they’re trying to destroy your quarterback, certainly the scree game is something that’s very important. So, I don’t know. I don’t know if there’s a label for it. We want to play good offense. Want to play New York Giants offense.”

The best example of this is the Eagles starting signal caller Nick Foles, who will be trying to lead Philly to a Super Bowl title when they face off against the Patriots on Feb. 4 in Super Bowl LII. Foles back in 2013 had 27 touchdowns, and just two interceptions that season. 

With their new head coach in toe, the question now is can Shurmur turn the Giants around, who as mentioned earlier finished dead last in the NFC East at 3-13? Can this turnaround come quickly? 

They took a first step towards that earlier in the week when Mara, and Gettleman publicly said the want to keep Manning, and not trade him. Shurmur during the interview when he reportedly also endorsed Manning to be the Giants’ starting signal caller. 

He also must find a way to get Odell Beckham, Jr. to be more of team player. Meaning he must behave like an adult, and not the spoiled, entitled star that he has shown to be since entering in the NFL. Just tweeting that he approves of the Giants hiring Shurmur will not be enough. 

The Giants hoped to make a big splash with their coaching hire this off-season. While that may not have happened, they did hire someone who has a solid track-record as a position coach, and offensive coordinator. Above all, he meshes well with the GM in Gettleman, and he wanted to be in New York. The work now begins to raise the New York Football Giants back into a Super Bowl contending organization, with a head coach that is eager to put the past in the past and build toward a future with dreams of winning titles. 

“There’s reasons why the Giants slipped to 3-13, and we’re going to find out what some of those reasons are behind the scenes, and we’re going to try to get them fixed at the beginning,” Shurmur said on Friday.

Information, statistics, and quotations are courtesy of 1/23/18 New York Daily News articles “Safe to Say, not 1^ST Pick,” by columnist Gary Myers, and “Team Brass Cites Leadership For Putting Pat Across Goal Line,” by Pat Leonard; 1/26/18 11 p.m. edition of WABC 7 “Eyewitness News,” with Bill Ritter, Sade Baderinwa, Lee Goldberg with weather, and Ryan Field with sports; 1/27/18 www.espn.com article “How and Why Pat Shurmur Became the Giants’ Coach,” by Jordan Raanan; www.espn.com/nfl/team/stats/_/name/nyg/new-york-giants; www.espn.com/nfl/team/stats/_/name/min/minnesota-vikings; www.espn.com/nfl/statistics/team/_/stat/rushing/sort/rushingYardsPerGame/seasonregular; www.espn.com/nfl/statistics/team/_/stat/receiving/sort/receivingYardsPerGame/seasonregular; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Shurmur; and https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Magoo.