Dear Mr. Mara,
How are those trash cans doing? I heard you threw a couple of them around your suite at Met Life Stadium after the game against the Falcons. Hopefully they didn't get too badly damaged. Good trash cans are so hard to come by these days.
Seriously, though, have you had enough? How long are you going to let this nightmare go on before you wake up and do what has to be done? This franchise is a fucking joke, and frankly it's been that way for a very long time.
Since your last Super Bowl win in 2011, the Giants have had exactly two winning seasons (2012 and 2016) and one lousy playoff appearance (2016). The overall record during that span is an abysmal 57-80, including three losses this season. During the reign of Dave Gettleman, the man you hired to replace Jerry Reese, the record is 15-36.
You fired Tom Coughlin because you felt the game had passed him by. OK, fine, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. It's a business, I get it. But here's the thing: at least he had a resume. Ben McAdoo was an offensive coordinator under Coughlin and a quarterback coach at Green Bay, Pat Schurmer was a failed head coach at Cleveland and an offensive coordinator at Minnesota, and Joe Judge was a special team's assistant under Bill Belichick at New England.
While you were drooling over landing Judge, several quality candidates slipped through your fingers. One of them, Matt Rhule, after going 5-11 with the Carolina Panthers last year is currently 3-0 and in first place in the same division as Tom Brady's Buccaneers, with a starting quarterback New York's other moribund football team discarded during the offseason.
Transforming losing programs is Rhule's specialty. He successfully turned around both Baylor and Temple before jumping to the NFL. As of right now, he has the inside track to be coach of the year. Your guy? So far, he's no better than his last two predecessors. The Giants still commit way too many costly mistakes at critical moments and seem incapable of making key stops on defense when they need to. Last Sunday, Atlanta marched down the field and kicked a game winning field goal as time expired. The week before that, Washington did the same thing. Yes, Dexter Lawrence jumped offsides, but the bottom line is the defense still couldn't protect a lead.
The offensive line remains a problem; the receivers drop way too many balls; and the team hasn't had a legit edge rusher in over a decade. Gettleman has had four years to fix what's wrong and he's thoroughly failed. His decision to take Daniel Jones with the 6th overall pick in 2019 instead of Josh Allen should've earned him a pink slip. Instead, you gave him two more years to inflict yet more damage. And true to form, he didn't disappoint. Last year, he took offensive tackle Andrew Thomas with the 4th overall pick, bypassing more skilled tackles like Tristian Wirfs and Jedrick Wills, Jr, the latter played at Alabama for Nick Saban, Judge's old boss. Thomas has been underwhelming, to say the least, while the other two have excelled.
It's time to wipe the slate clean. Gettleman's gotta go. I realize you may have to keep some of the coaching staff until the end of the season, but I've seen nothing from Judge that leads me to believe he is capable of turning this ship around. If anything, he's a slightly improved version of McAdoo, but without the play calling ability.
What this organization needs is a complete makeover. The game has changed considerably since the days of George Young. The best franchises today aren't run from the front office; they're run from the sidelines. You want to know who the best GM's are, Mr. Mara? Simple, take a look at who's wearing the headsets. Besides Belichick and Rhule, Pete Carrol, Sean Payton, Sean McVay, Kyle Shanahan, John Harbaugh and Andy Reid all run the show from top to bottom. And with the exception of Rhule, all have been to the Super Bowl at least once.
You need to get one of these guys, and now. Someone who knows how to evaluate talent and can bring out the best in it. You have two first round draft picks next year. Maybe you could dangle both to pry Sean Payton away from New Orleans. He once worked for your father as an assistant under Jim Fassel, so it'll be a sort of homecoming for him. Payton checks all the boxes and has one of the best minds in the game. If anybody can figure out Daniel Jones, it's Payton. And he'll finally fix this offensive line so you don't have to worry about stupid-assed holding penalties in the red zone that kill scoring drives.
It's time the New York Giants entered the 21st century. This is one of the premiere franchises in the NFL. As principle owner, you have a fiduciary responsibility to ensure it doesn't become a laughingstock. To allow the stars quo to continue is a slap in the face to the tens of thousands of fans who each Sunday shell out their hard-earned money to watch this team in person, and the millions more who watch it alone at home.
It's all on you, Mr. Mara. What are you waiting for?
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