What I found most refreshing about the Eli presser today, it was short & to the point. Eli didn’t thank every offensive coach here, not McAdoo or Shurmur. Coughlin & Gilbride were huge in Eli’s career & it’s no coincidence they yielded the best results.
It was an absolute thing of beauty when Eli was humming in the Gilbride offense. I think of the game in Seattle in 2010 (I think it was a 42-7 win), the offense was just lethal that day. Removing Gilbride led to a lot of crappy years, but when Coughlin/Gilbride/Eli we’re all humming, it was so fun to watch.
They then moved the the WCO to try and mask the awful line since it instituted mostly short drops and throws within 2 seconds. Ruined the “back nine” of Eli’s career as Reese called it.
Going to miss Eli, just wish they would have surrounded him with more talent in the second half of his career.
They then moved the the WCO to try and mask the awful line since it instituted mostly short drops and throws within 2 seconds. Ruined the “back nine” of Eli’s career as Reese called it.
Going to miss Eli, just wish they would have surrounded him with more talent in the second half of his career.
It's a shame they never hired Norv Turner to be the OC when Eli was in his prime. I've always thought that Turner's offense was perfect for Eli.
I never had a problem with Gilbride, but In hindsight for anyone bashing his system I would think (BY NOW) it has crystallized that we have not had the horses on the OL since 2012.
The horses had clearly left the barn before then. That team was 31st or 32nd in the league in regular season rushing yards, and they damn near got Eli killed.
They then moved the the WCO to try and mask the awful line since it instituted mostly short drops and throws within 2 seconds. Ruined the “back nine” of Eli’s career as Reese called it.
Going to miss Eli, just wish they would have surrounded him with more talent in the second half of his career.
This is closer to the truth.
I admit that I was one of those that was wrong.
I wanted to see Eli in a different offense and thought if he ran something more rhythmic and less reliant on the option routes -- which lets face it did result in a lot of WTF plays -- that Eli would be even better. I didn't necessarily (or at all) want a pure WCO as that's not a NYG style, just something different. Norv's offense would have been ideal.
As WTF as the Cough-bride offense could be at times, and with a poor O-line bad results were especially pronounced, but it did result in some of the greatest successes imaginable and was indefensible when running optimally. I now admit that was probably Eli's perfect system, for the type of QB he is.. and I was wrong about that. The sad part is after the 2011 SB they didn't have the o-line to adequately run that system, and in 2013 the wheels fell off. Eli threw for 18 td's 27 ints and less than 4,000 yards that year.
It's funny cause when McAdoo came I think he helped tailor Coughlin's offense to have less reliance on the option routes, and it was Eli's best statistical seasons, despite the o-line still not being good. The thing was this combo system still retained Coughlin's penchant for down the field throwing. After having an abysmal season in 2013 Eli goes:
2014: 4,410 yards, 30 td, 14 int
2015: 4,432 yards, 35 td, 14 int
Those represented 2 of Eli's 3 seasons at 30 TD's or higher. The other was 2010 when he threw 31 td, but 27 int's. There was a case to be made that it was the right move as he seemed revived, as was public perception of him, even if the record wasn't
It's strange though cause 2014 and 2015 were great statistical years, but the Giants defense was really bad, so a lot of that was done playing from way behind, so the numbers are inflated. Plus, the numbers can be prettier in a WCO, but the results are less effective and the results indicate it. I honestly think looking back now Cough-bride's systems are one of the major reasons we beat the Pats. No f'n way we beat Belechik's Pats running a WCO, it's so much easier to defense for grand chess masters.
I think if the Giants stuck with a version of that 2014 / 2015 offense, kept Coughlin and better rebuilt the o-line and the defense, we could have had a little better ending for Eli.
I know Coughlin's time was running out, but I think he and Eli deserved to finish together.
The biggest crime of all was forcing Eli into a pure WCO the final 3 years of his career, and of course letting Reese and Ross consistently whiff on players and put the absolute dregs in front of Eli to "protect" him.
What could have been.
Under Shurmer, the entire team just sucked. Bad coach, bad staff, bad personnel.
Great coach for those runs. But that system wouldn't work now.
Draft picks didn’t pan out but the Giants did get some FA linemen who played better or are playing better since they moved on.
That is some indictment of coaches for not developing the players brought in by Reese into at least serviceable players.
The horses had clearly left the barn before then. That team was 31st or 32nd in the league in regular season rushing yards, and they damn near got Eli killed.
lol true, I was giving that 2011 SB OL the benefit of a final resurgence. That SF defense was a hella tall order for any OL.
Amazing to think that after Steve Smith, Domenik Hixon, Victor Cruz, MM, Nicks, et al, that we lost faith in Gilbride's ability to develop receivers because of Reuben fucking Randal.
Plus he was the architect of one of the most prolific offenses in history, the early 1990's Oilers with Moon. Gilbride was a very good OC.
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Dude was only OC for 2 Super Bowl winning teams.
Plus he was the architect of one of the most prolific offenses in history, the early 1990's Oilers with Moon. Gilbride was a very good OC.
This is really overlooked. Buddy ryan developed a D that won the '85 Super Bowl and was an anchor for many teams after that, but Gilbride's system was wildly successful as well. If you look at the tenets of his offense, it was about finding big plays by attacking several areas of a defense and was predicated on having one of those areas exploit a weakness.
It required a QB to be able to read the D and see the weakness and a WR that could run a route to exploit that weakness, which is why communication issues were rampant. But there are many coaches who still look at that system as being indefensible, but it is so difficult to consistently run. It is why it left us with some maddening moments. It is also why I don't think many other QB's would have been as successful in it. Peyton, Brady and Brees probably could. I don't see Ben mastering it.