One of New York Giants co-owner John Mara’s biggest fears is playing meaningless football in December and January — a situation he’s become very familiar with over the past decade.
The way the NFL is set up these days, with 18 weeks of play and additional playoff slots, that has become more uncommon. When December rolls around, most teams are still mathematically in the postseason race, as the Giants were this season.
The Giants closed the season out with a dominating 27-10 victory over the playoff-bound, but reeling, Philadelphia Eagles at MetLife Stadium on Sunday — their first victory over their hated rivals in their last six tries.
Mara is likely not pleased with the team’s 6-11 finish but appeared to be pleased with Sunday’s result.
“Any win is a good win, especially this win,” Mara said after the game, via Charlotte Carroll of The Athletic.
In their dual press conference on Monday morning, aka The Postmortem, general manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll revealed that although Mara has not been as visual or vocal these days, they speak with ownership daily.
“We talk to (John Mara and Steve Tisch) every day,” Daboll said.
Mara has been quick on the trigger with his head coaches since parting ways with Tom Coughlin after the 2015 season. Ben McAdoo didn’t make it through his second season, spelled by defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo.
The Giants followed that up with back-to-back unsuccessful two-year stints from Pat Shurmur and Joe Judge before dumping general manager Dave Gettleman in favor of Schoen last January, who then hired Daboll.
Daboll now becomes the first coach to last more than two seasons since the aforementioned Coughlin.
