Belichick To Giants Isn't As Far Fetched As You Might Think

Twenty years ago, Bill Belichick shocked the football world when he resigned as head coach of the New York Jets - a position he'd been promoted to only 24 hours earlier - to become the head coach of the New England Patriots. Over the last nineteen seasons, Belichick, with the help of the best quarterback the game has ever seen, has coached the Pats to nine Super Bowl appearances, winning six of them. No franchise in NFL history has come close to accomplishing that feat; not the Steelers, not the Cowboys, not the Packers, not the 49ers, no one.

Now that the Patriots are out of the playoffs, having lost to the Tennessee Titans last night, there's a lot of speculation about what happens with Tom Brady. Does he retire? Does he re-sign with New England? Or does he leave for another team? And where does Josh McDaniels - Brady's offensive coordinator - wind up?

But no one has dared ask the most important question; the one that's on the tip of everyone's tongue. What happens with Belichick? He's been such a fixture in New England sports that no one can conceive of a life without him. But as in love as they may be with Belichick, the hall of fame head coach has a soft spot in his heart for another franchise, and it's the one where he got his start: the New York Giants.

Deep down, Belichick never forgave the Mara family for passing him over for the head coaching job when Bill Parcels stepped down, even though the decision was actually George Young's. For their part, I'm pretty sure the Maras probably wish they could have a do over, given that Ray Handley botched things up in his brief two-year stint. And even though Jim Fassel led the franchise back to the Super Bowl in 2000, it would take seven more seasons before another former Parcells' assistant - Tom Coughlin - allowed them to hoist the Lombardi Trophy. Imagine what might've been if the Giants had had the foresight Robert Kraft possessed two decades ago.

Look, this may sound crazy, but I wouldn't be shocked one bit if over the next couple of days Belichick announces that he is stepping down as head coach of the Patriots to become the next head coach of the Giants. I also wouldn't be shocked to learn that as a condition of him leaving the Pats, John Mara and Steve Tisch have agreed to give him complete veto power over all personnel decisions Dave Gettleman makes, including draft picks and free agents signings. In other words, Belichick would be in charge.

Far Fetched? Perhaps. After all, knowing how things are done at 1925 Giants Drive, it's much more likely that they end up signing Matt Rhule as their next head coach, especially now that Mike McCarthy has decided to stay an extra couple of days in Dallas. But I'm not so sure that this is as far fetched as most would think. Let me explain.

Belichick knows that Brady's days are numbered. In fact, you could say the entire organization has been holding its breath, hoping to squeeze one more year out of that magic arm. But the sad truth is that after an 8-0 start, the Pats came crashing down to earth. The offense became predictable and one dimensional, and the vaunted defense was simply unable to compensate. Put succinctly, there's nothing more for Belichick to prove here. Even if he retools during the off season, at best he'd still be the coach of a 42 year old quarterback who is doing his best to cheat father time one game at a time. At some point, reality is going to set in and hit this franchise hard. Belichick knows this, and deep down so do the millions of diehard fans in New England.

With the Giants, Belichick would have the opportunity to mold another young quarterback and rebuild a defense that once upon a time put the fear of God in opposing offenses. He'd also have Saquon Barkley in the backfield instead of Sony Michel. And if the current crop of receivers the Giants have manages to stay healthy for an entire season, Daniel Jones will have a nice arsenal of targets to throw to in 2020. Sterling Shepard may not be Julian Edelman, but he's younger and faster.

They say you can't go home. I beg to differ. I think if you subjected Bill Belichick to a lie detector test, you'd learn that he would jump at the chance to come back to his old stomping grounds and return Big Blue to the promised land. And if you did the same thing to both John Mara and Steve Tisch, you'd learn that, despite all their protestations to the contrary, nothing would give them greater satisfaction.

Twenty years ago, Bill Belichick shocked the football world. I wouldn't put it past him to do it again.

End of an Era.

Before I proceed to slice and dice the New York Giants for the brutal way in which they handled this whole, ugly affair, I wanted to say a few things about Eli Manning first.

With the exception of Lawrence Taylor, who was the best defensive player I ever saw play the game, no one had a bigger or more profound impact on this franchise than number 10. Eli was a class act and a true professional. He's the only quarterback in NFL history who can boast with pride that he beat Tom Brady twice in the Super Bowl. And I'm also pretty sure he's the only quarterback who went into Lambeau Field twice and beat Brett Favre and Aaron Rogers in a playoff game; the former in sub-freezing conditions, the latter against a 15-1 team. Had Jerry Reese done a better job of drafting offensive linemen during his tenure, Manning might well have won a third title, that's how good he was.

Many "critics" have opined about how Manning's skills have deteriorated over the last few years. You try getting your ass pile driven into the turf six, seven, eight times a game and let's see how your skills hold up. The fact that he hasn't missed a game due to injury in his entire 16 year career is nothing short of miraculous, given how little protection he's had the last six seasons. Were it not for Ben McAdoo's decision to bench him for, of all players, Gino Smith in 2017, he would've entered week three of this season having started 233 consecutive games, second only behind Favre. Not bad for a guy the so-called experts said was overrated.

For all the talk about how great the David Tyree and Mario Manningham catches were in Super Bowls 42 and 46 respectively - and they were great - the fact is that it was Manning who delivered both throws. The Manningham ball, in particular, was perfectly placed. Had it been thrown slightly to the left, Manningham would not have been able to catch it; had it been just to the right, it would've been batted away. Without those plays, the Patriots and not the Giants would've won both games. That's why Manning, and not Brady, was the MVP in those contests. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, New England fans.

On behalf of every Giants fan out there, I wanted to say thank you, Eli, for all the great memories. I still have your jersey and I will wear it proudly this Sunday when your team goes up against Tampa. Daniel Jones has some mighty big shoes to fill.

And now onto the main course.

Once more, this franchise botched what should've been a graceful transition. Dave Gettleman's refusal to admit that the Giants were in rebuilding mode when he took control over a year ago, meant that the team was compelled to retain Manning and his $23 million salary going into this season. It's now painfully obvious that he was going to select a quarterback in this year's draft, having passed on one last year. Fine, I have no problem with that. I'll say it again: Saquon Barkley was the best player in the 2018 draft. You don't pass on a generational player like that.

But if Gettleman was determined to choose a quarterback in 2019, he should've jettisoned Manning before the season began and put that money to work where it was sorely needed: the secondary. It was inevitable, given how well Jones performed during the preseason, that he was going to eventually be named the starter. Gettleman could've chosen to do what the Jets did a year earlier: let his number one draft pick learn how to be a successful quarterback under center rather than on the sidelines. I'm not saying the Giants' record would've been any better with Jones as the starter, but at least the expectations would've been set a whole lot lower.

So now this team, with arguably the worst secondary in the league and a front seven that at best is below average, has a $23 million quarterback riding the bench and a rookie quarterback at the helm. And for that, owner John Mara must take full responsibility. It was undoubtedly his call to keep Manning this season, rather than release him and allow him to sign with another NFL team that could've used his services. Imagine Eli taking over the reigns in Pittsburgh, where Ben Roethlisberger is done for the season. Or perhaps landing in Jacksonville to take over for Nick Foles, who is also out for the remainder of the year. How sweet would it have been to see Eli reunited with Tom Coughlin? Now he's forced to sit while Jones starts in his place. If you don't think that's humiliating, you've never watched a football game in your life. There are bench players in this league that are treated better.

Face it: the Giants are the laughing stock of the NFL. Their ownership and G.M. have managed to take a bad football team and somehow make it worse. Going into this season I thought they might go 7-9. As things stand now, they'll be lucky if they match last year's record of 5-11. But one thing's for certain, the man who proudly wore number 10 for 16 seasons had nothing to do with this train wreck. In fact, had his team performed with the same level of professionalism he exhibited game in and game out, I dare say the Giants would be one of the league's premier teams; right up there with the Patriots.