This has been a hot topic of debate on this board, and amongst Giant fans for some time.
So I decided to research the topic, by getting to the bottom of this, and going back to the original manuscripts from November of 2017 when this all went down.
Here are some direct quotes from John Mara himself,
and I quote...
"The point was we did not want him on the bench. We wanted him to start the game and play some portion of the game and at some point work the other guys in. Again, it was his decision, which I completely respect, to go with."
"He’s got to play a meaningful part of the game, whether that was half or three quarters or whatever."
"But what I did not expect, and this is my fault, I was probably naïve, I did not expect Eli to react by saying, ‘Go ahead and start the other guys.’ And again, especially after speaking to him today, I completely understand that. But that took me by surprise a little bit and, yeah, maybe I would have handled that a little bit different."
"We’re 2-9. We’re 2-9, okay? I’m embarrassed about that. Nobody’s doing a good job."
"I did, I did have some pause, but then having talked with Jerry about it and accepted the fact that Eli had slept on it overnight and had time to think about it. He and I texted each other, I wanted to talk to him over the phone, but he preferred to do it face to face because I couldn’t get here until today. So yeah, it did give me some pause, but once I realized that he had slept on it overnight and that was his decision, we went ahead with it."
So what did we learn?
While it is true that the Giants benched Eli Manning for the 3rd and 4th quarter, they did not bench him for the 1st and 2nd quarter.
Mara, Reese and management, wanted him starting, they did not want him on the bench, they wanted him keeping his streak alive, and playing a meaningful part of the game.
As Mara said, it was Eli's decision, and he made this decision after sleeping on it all night, this was not a rash decision.
Therefore it was Eli, and Eli Manning alone who willfully benched himself for the 1st half.
It was Eli Manning, who by his own free will and choice ended his own streak.
I believe he let or allowed his emotions to blind him, to the point where his feelings consumed him so intensely that he ended his own streak.
Eli was being paid 21 million dollars, all he had to do was play the first half, let the other guys come in, and none of that media firestorm would have happened.
Mcadoo and Reese would have been let go anyway at the end of the year, and Eli would have kept his steak alive.
But somehow the media, and some of the fanbase has spun this that the Giants are the ones who ended Eli Manning's streak, and that is not the truth.
So down the road, if and when this topic comes up, it was Eli Manning, and Eli alone, who willfully ended his own streak, and benched himself for the first half.
Hope this helps...
I think it could be argued that we should have at least had an arrangement in place that was amicable so that Coughlin could have been bumped up to the front office in a position similar to Jacksonville, considering their success after he was hired.
That isn't a bad thought at all. TC has an exceptional eye for finding WR talent - for example. And he built that first Jags team in '96 from scratch.
The problem would have been the shadow he casts over the new coach. I could have seen that potentially making things uncomfortable with TC lurking. That actually was talked about in Jacksonville when he arrived for round 2 - would he take out Marone for himself? Didn't happen, obviously, but it was a concern...
So the two backstabbers lost their jobs to the one guy with integrity. Reese was a horrible GM, he rode EA's coattails, and if this were not true why then could he never get this team back on track, only 1 good season after EA's offensive line was too old, the one season he overspent on a defense in free agency to compensate for one horrible draft after the other. This topic has been covered enough, and needs to be put to rest. The Reese fans were wrong about him, he stunk, and that is why he remains unemployed, now let's hear from the Reese will have a job in 5 minutes crowd.
So the two backstabbers lost their jobs to the one guy with integrity. Reese was a horrible GM, he rode EA's coattails, and if this were not true why then could he never get this team back on track, only 1 good season after EA's offensive line was too old, the one season he overspent on a defense in free agency to compensate for one horrible draft after the other. This topic has been covered enough, and needs to be put to rest. The Reese fans were wrong about him, he stunk, and that is why he remains unemployed, now let's hear from the Reese will have a job in 5 minutes crowd.
He did NOT ride EA’s coattails, unless you consider the no-brainer that was Eli, a coattail. Otherwise, whatever draft success EA had was largely due to hiring Reese in 2003(?) as his chief scout, imv. EA was a mediocre, AT BEST, GM. Reese had his faults and screwed the pooch more than not his last bunch of years(injuries notwithstanding), but a coattail rider of EA. Hardly
And without Eli, Reese loses his job much earlier. He was an average - at best - GM. So he did ride Accorsi's coattails as far as I'm concerned.
I think it could be argued that we should have at least had an arrangement in place that was amicable so that Coughlin could have been bumped up to the front office in a position similar to Jacksonville, considering their success after he was hired.
But like I said, it's neither here nor there.
This sort of thing assumes Coughlin wanted to stay here if he wasn't coaching. Nothing about him indicates he would have accepted having the job taken from him to kick upstairs.
So the two backstabbers lost their jobs to the one guy with integrity. Reese was a horrible GM, he rode EA's coattails, and if this were not true why then could he never get this team back on track, only 1 good season after EA's offensive line was too old, the one season he overspent on a defense in free agency to compensate for one horrible draft after the other. This topic has been covered enough, and needs to be put to rest. The Reese fans were wrong about him, he stunk, and that is why he remains unemployed, now let's hear from the Reese will have a job in 5 minutes crowd.
There are some junk takes in here. Also, find any source that McAdoo was Reese's coach. I bet you can't, because that wasn't the case.
Quote:
I think it could be argued that we should have at least had an arrangement in place that was amicable so that Coughlin could have been bumped up to the front office in a position similar to Jacksonville, considering their success after he was hired.
But like I said, it's neither here nor there.
This sort of thing assumes Coughlin wanted to stay here if he wasn't coaching. Nothing about him indicates he would have accepted having the job taken from him to kick upstairs.
This is assuming Coughlin would ever willingly give up the reigns and move upstairs. He's not that type of guy -- which is a great quality and why he succeeded.
He only opted for the front office gig when it was clear he wasn't going to ever be a head coach again.
The charade it wasn't going to end with hurt feelings for everyone is Mara's worst mistake. Reese, Coughlin and Manning all are proud guys with 2 rings and none of them were or will go out without a fight.