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Was Kevin Gilbride really to blame for the Giants demise?

Posted by fantasyfurnace on January 6, 2014
Posted in: NFL. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , . 4 Comments

The Giants offensive coordinator tendered his resignation last week and to us, it just doesn’t seem justified. Although it probably was a case of the Giants giving Gilbride the option of resigning rather than being fired, Gilbride said that it was all his decision. In any event, it still begs the question, was the G-men’s lack of offense and ultimate demise mainly his fault?

There are too many reasons to suggest that it wasn’t. The complete collapse of the team’s offensive line and Jerry Reeses’s inability to bring in some players during the season added to Eli Manning’s career-setting 39 sacks as well as his record-setting 27 interceptions. The O-Line, simply put, did not give the beleaguered quarterback the time to make accurate throws and that, coupled with his indecision this season, led to an inordinate amount of hits and sacks.

"The first thing I said to our owners is I'm responsible for the coaches, and to think there's any one individual who is responsible for the circumstances that we found ourselves in, that's crazy" -Tom Coughlin AP Photo/Bill Kostroun

Keven Gilbride, the Giants Offensive Coordinator for the past ten years has now resigned.
AP Photo/Bill Kostroun

We don’t believe that Eli Manning who is a former Super Bowl MVP, suddenly has forgotten how to be an elite quarterback, and more importantly, that it is Gilbride’s fault. Hakeem Nicks, in his contract year no less, was of no use to Manning failing to record even one touchdown this season. Even ‘Mr. Salsa’ himself, Victor Cruz (4 TDs) had an off year as Rueben Randle scored more touchdowns (6). The Giants’ tight end position, once a mainstay of their offense was at best ineffective with Brandon Myers averaging 32.6 receiving yards per game and posting only four touchdowns all season.

At running back, the Giants were devoid of their Earth, Wind, and Fire trifecta on their Super Bowl run. That trio included Brandon Jacobs, Ahmad Bradshaw and Derrick Ward. This year’s group included Andre Brown who broke his leg, David Wilson who had a more serious neck injury, and Brandon Jacobs who couldn’t carry the load single handedly & has since retired. Was the lack of a running game Gilbride’s fault as well? We think not. Once again, without a talented offensive line to open up some lanes, the team’s running backs rang up some of the fewest rushing yards in the league making Eli force many balls downfield as he consistently found himself in 3rd and long situations.

The Giants offense was ranked 28th in the NFL by season’s end. The team struggled, scoring an average of 18.4 points per game and you are not going to win many games scoring just a little over two touchdowns a game. On defense, during their 0-6 start to the season, the Giants, in games 4 through 7, were outscored 146-61. Not your typical Big Blue defense working on all cylinders. Once again, no fault of Kevin Gilbride.

The most telling stat that we were able to come up with was this: The Giants have scored 400 points in one season just five times in their long history. Three of those were under Kevin Gilbride. Enough said.

"The first thing I said to our owners is I'm responsible for the coaches, and to think there's any one individual who is responsible for the circumstances that we found ourselves in, that's crazy."- Tom MARK BONIFACIO/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

“The first thing I said to our owners is I’m responsible for the coaches, and to think there’s any one individual who is responsible for the circumstances that we found ourselves in (this season), that’s crazy.”- Tom Coughlin Photo: MARK BONIFACIO/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

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NFL 2013: Week #7-The Furnace’s Five Best Bets

Posted by fantasyfurnace on October 18, 2013
Posted in: NFL. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

We are almost at the halfway point in the season and the elite teams are beginning to separate themselves from the pack. Injuries have taken several teams out of contention for the moment, most notably the Atlanta Falcons who are without Julio Jones, Roddy White and Steven Jackson. Ouch!! We took it on the chin last week (1-4),  bringing our season record to 16-14. We look to get off the carpet this week with the following Best Bets…

*Home team in CAPS 

EAGLES over the Cowboys- Unfortunately, the Cowboys have two key players listed as doubtful going into their game in Philadelphia on Sunday. For Defensive end DeMarcus Ware (strained quad), it will be the first game that he has missed in his career. RB DeMarco Murray (sprained MCL) has insisted that he’ll play this weekend while the Cowboys have said they will be cautious with him. In either case, their defensive line is in shambles and they’ll face the high-octane offense of the Eagles with Nick Foles under center instead of Michael Vick.

#9 Nick Foles, one of our Waiver Wire Pickups this week, will not have #94 DeMarcus Ware (left) breathing down his neck this Sunday. Yong Kim/Staff Photographer):

#9 Nick Foles, one of our Waiver Wire Pickups this week, will not have #94 DeMarcus Ware (left) breathing down his neck this Sunday. Photo: Yong Kim/Staff photographer

49ers over the TITANS- Even though the Titans are 3-3, they have beaten a 1-4 Steelers team, an inconsistent Jets team, and a pretty decent Chargers team. They will step up in class this week and take on the 49ers who have beaten their last three opponents by 24, 31 and 12 points respectively. We don’t think that Tennessee has the defense to stop the Niners although they might slow them down, but not enough to garner the victory.

CHIEFS over the Texans- Houston has been in a free-fall having lost their last four consecutive games. Beleaguered quarterback Matt Schaub (ankle/foot), will yield the start this Sunday to little known and undrafted backup QB Case Keenum. Starting your first career NFL game AT Arrowhead Stadium is no easy task especially when your team is minus -12 in turnovers. The Texans are in disarray and would be hard pressed to beat any team at the moment, let alone the Chiefs.

Ravens over the STEELERS-  This is an ongoing heated rivalry and every game is a war when these two teams face one another, but we’re going to go with the underdog in this one. The reason? There’s three… For one thing the Ravens have won their last three regular season games at Heinz Field. For another the Steelers win last week against rookie quarterback Geno Smith and the Jets is not that impressive. Lastly, Ben Roethlisberger has been sacked 18 times this season and you can expect the Ravens to add to that total.

The two rivals face off in another heated contest on Sunday at Heinz Field.

The two rivals face off in another heated contest on Sunday at Heinz Field. Photo; Getty Images

GIANTS over the Vikings- We haven’t been able to win once with the G-Men this season (0-2) but we think that given the improvement in their 27-21 loss to the Bears last week, we’ll give them the distinct edge. Now if only Eli Manning can have just one game where he only throws to the players wearing his team’s blue uniform, then the Giants will have a shot at winning their first game of the season. Center David Baas is set to return in the Monday Nighter and now that N.Y. has had some semblance of a running game with Brandon Jacobs going off for 100+ yards and 2 scores last week, the addition of Peyton Hillis could put less pressure on Eli Manning and his errant passes of late. Giants win their first game in front of their home crowd on Monday!

Stick a fork in the 2013 Giants…Their season is done!

Posted by fantasyfurnace on October 6, 2013
Posted in: NFL. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . 5 Comments

Jimmy Carter was the President and gasoline was $0.90 a gallon the last time the N.Y. football Giants were 0-5. That was back in 1979 when more than half of our readers weren’t even born yet! And now, history has repeated itself as the team once again has arrived at that dubious milestone.

This season has been going downhill for the Giants every week as this merciless season has unfolded. The only real bright spot took place in game one when three Giants receivers had 100+ receiving yards. There really haven’t been any other bright spots over their next four games.

The Giants have struggled on both sides of the ball but the most glaring common denominator has been turnovers. The team has 20 turnovers to lead the league in that category while 12 of those have come through interceptions by the once very elite quarterback & captain Eli Manning, who threw 15 all of last season!. (Eli has never lost five games in a row since coming into the league back in 2004).  Those turnovers have resulted in 54 points scored by their opponents which also leads the league.

#10 Eli Manning dejectedly leaves the field after throwing one of his three picks vs Dallas in game one this season. Photo: Rueters

#10 Eli Manning dejectedly leaves the field after throwing one of his three picks vs Dallas in Game 1 this season. Photo: Rueters

Some could raise the argument that the club has suffered more than their share of injuries but that’s just the nature of the game. Fact is their offensive line has not protected Manning enough as he has been sacked 15 times this season (19 all of last year). They also have not been able to open any lanes consistently for the Giants running game to get off the ground as David Wilson and Brandon Jacobs have proven to be a major disappointment on offense.

Their defense has been, well, in a word, “offensive”. Their secondary has been as porous as swiss cheese and rushing the passer has become as extinct as the dinosaur. Jason Pierre-Paul and Justin Tuck are a shell of what they once were. Here’s a stat that exemplifies how their complete lack of defense has helped them actually make the record books: The 182 points allowed so far this season are the most through five games by ANY team since the Raiders gave up 187 in 1961…That’s over 50 years ago folks! 

It’s most shocking to see a Tom Coughlin team perform this badly, even going back to his early days in Jacksonville when he brought respectability to that franchise for the first time ever, they played hard every game for the fiery coach. Were the two Giants Super Bowl wins under Coughlin just flukes? Has the team lost its passion and hunger for another championship? Or has Tom Coughlin just lost his team?

Head coach Tom Coughlin now in his 10th season with the Giants, might be losing his team to bad case of ANDREW THEODORAKIS/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS. Photo:

Head coach Tom Coughlin, now in his 10th season with the Giants, might be losing his team to bad case of complacency. Photo: ANDREW THEODORAKIS/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Good questions all. We’ll have to wait and see what happens by the end of the season to realize any definitive answers. One thing is perfectly clear; no team that has begun the season 0-5 has ever made the playoffs and this bunch will be no exception to that rule. Can General Manager Jerry Reese work his magic and bring in some key replacements in time to at least salvage the season by making the Giants relevant or has that ship already sailed?

Meantime, that smoke you see coming out of Met Life Stadium means that the Giants season is done….WELL done!