Bock’s Score: The Last Laugh

Ken Murray/Icon Sportswire

Somewhere today, Jason Garrett is chuckling, maybe flat out laughing.

Three weeks ago, the New York Giants identified Garrett as the problem with their anemic offense and dismissed their coordinator. Since then, they have played two games and, with Garrett no longer around to blame, they have scored one touchdown and five field goals.

That’s 22 points in two games, which is what some teams score in two periods. You can bet Garrett is at the very least giggling.

At 4-8, the Giants are stuck on a treadmill to oblivion. And it’s likely about to get worse. Starting quarterback Daniel Jones is sidelined with a neck injury. His replacement, journeyman Mike Glennon, came out of last week’s game with a concussion. That leaves the quarterback position in the hands of rookie Jake Fromm, who until recently was on Buffalo’s practice squad. The next snap he takes will be the first he takes in the NFL.

Running back Saquon Barkley runs as if he’s never recovered from knee and ankle injuries the last two seasons. Newcomer wide receivers Kenny Golladay and Kadarius Toney have been unimpressive when they weren’t injured. Jones remains a conundrum at quarterback, with the Giants still unable to figure out if he is the long term answer at the position.

And all of this was Jason Garrett’s fault?

This would be a sad story unless you compare it to the Giants’ New York football partners, the Jets, who are stuck at 3-9 and have clinched a sixth straight losing season. The last time this team was in the playoffs was 2010, a distant memory.

The Giants’ best player is place kicker Graham Gano, who accounted for five of the 22 points in the post-Garrett era. He makes the Jets very jealous because they will be on their third kicker in three weeks for their next game against New Orleans.

Eddy Pineiro, a former Chicago Bear, is the next man up for Gang Green after Alex Kessman was dismissed following one game. Kessman had been hired after Matt Amendola missed three field goals in two games. Kessman replaced him and promptly missed two extra points following Jets’ touchdowns against Philadelphia. Amendola had inherited the job when the Jets cut Nick Folk, who kicked field goals of 34 and 41 yards for New England in wind gusts that reached 50 miles per hour against Buffalo the other night.

Convinced that Kessman was not the answer, the Jets passed on the extra point kick following their third touchdown, opting instead to try for a two-point conversion. It, too, failed.

So that’s the situation with professional football in New York. It’s rather sad, unless you’re Jason Garrett. Then, it’s kind of funny.

 

 

 

About the Author

Hal Bock

Hal Bock is a contributor with NY Sports Day. He has covered sports for 40 years at The Associated Press including 30 World Series, 30 Super Bowls and 11 Olympics. He is the author of 14 books including most recently The Last Chicago Cubs Dynasty and Banned Baseball's Blacklist of All-Stars and Also-Rans. He has written scores of magazine articles and served as Journalist In Residence at Long Island University's Brooklyn campus where he also served on the selection committee for the George Polk Awards.

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