In Reese We Trust?

In Reese We Trust

Who would’ve thunk that with Halloween still approaching we would have to start thinking about the off season?…

1-6

Just put a fucking bullet in my head.

Is the season over?

Unfortunately not.

But we won last night!!

Very proud of ya, we beat a team more dysfunctional then we are.  I go buy something I like to call the eye test and from what I saw last night I have agita.

Hey, but at least we got Peyton Hillis right? He played well last night…

Jesus, what is taking so long with that bullet?

Thank the Lord thy God that my fantasy team, named KA-KAAAAW,  is 5-2 and primed for a play-off push, because I do not think our beloved Giants are.

It’s been 12 days since that cluster-fuck in Chicago and not even 24 hours after our nauseating first victory.   I refuse to get caught up in dreams of a miracle run to the top of a terrible division until I see something tangible on the field.  Last nights performance was far from convincing me that these Big Blue impostors are worthy to be in the same sentence as the word play-offs.

Play-offs?  Are we really talking about playoffs?   That Jim Mora clip gets me every time.

So until we don’t lose for a month, what do we talk about?

“I’ll give you a topic…Rhode Island is neither a road or an island…discuss”

Ok, ok…another topic.

Where do our Giants go from here? Assuming we all don’t sell our souls to Satan for another run in December and January.

Well since the loss in Chicago all the talk has been about firing Tom Coughlin and Jerry Reese.  That is what happens when you lose 6 in a row and look inept in all areas doing so to open a season.  The fans and the media start to call for your head.  What have you done for us lately?

Now I know this is a subject that conjures up a lot of emotion in all of us Giants fans, I know this because it does with me,  so please try to take my views on the future and where this team should go moving forward with a grain of salt and a open mind.  In the end we all want what is best for the franchise we love.

IN REESE WE TRUST — a saying that New York Giants fans have about their General Manager, Jerry Reese.   The saying started in 2007 when Reese’s first drafted rookie class made major contributions to a Giants team that would go on to beat the undefeated New England Patriots in Super Bowl 42.  The mantra continued up to and following another Super Bowl victory over of those same Patriots in 2011.  Reese’s ability to find “diamonds in the rough” in the NFL draft and during NFL free agency gave Giants fans a sense that whatever Reese touched would turn to gold.  In the 2013 season that all changed when after a 6 game losing streak to open the season,  Giants fans and local media started pointing fingers at Reese and calling for his job.

So where does it go from here?

IN REESE WE TRUST?

I ask this question much like Ron Burgundy does.  Remember, when someone mistakenly adds a question mark to the end of his name while Ron is signing off from a broadcast?  Ron reading off a teleprompter ponders…

“I’m Ron Burgundy?”

I ponder…

“In Reese We Trust?”

I have to say, I’m a little disappointed in my Giants fans.  I never knew we could turn so quickly on our own.

“I know it was you Fredo, you broke my heart.”

This franchise is not the Jaguars, not the Jets, not the Eagles.  We have experienced as a franchise and a fan base success that leaves other franchises and fan bases seething with envy.  Got any friends in Cleveland?  Go ask them what cheering for those sports teams is like.

Now am I saying what has happened this season is forgivable because we have won in the recent past?  No way.  All I’m saying is as a team that has won in the past we should look at the big picture in reference to some things.

I’ve heard some of us in the media and fans on the local sports shows say… “it’s this guy Reese’s fault, look at that guy he brought in and how about that guy…they need to fire Reese.”  

What was Reese supposed to do this year?  If you can think back with me, the Giants were strapped money wise.  Reese had no money to go make any aggressive moves via free agency this year.  He had a veteran team with up and coming young talent at wide receiver and running back.  He had a veteran offense line that was getting versatile Justin Pugh whom was the Giants 1st selection of this years draft.  They had, at least on paper, a fearsome front four, loaded with depth.  If you looked at the roster before opening night in Dallas the questions we had were at LB and in the defensive backfield.  No one saw this coming.

Now, before you go ape shit…please read all of what I am writing and please do not stop after the next sentence.

REESE should be given a standing ovation for this year.  That’s Right!!  I said it.  Come at me bro!

Not cause we are 1-6, but because we are not an 1-6 that will be hard to comeback from.  Again, I’m not talking about this year, I’m talking about next year and beyond.

Reese had a veteran team and no money to spend.  A team that has won two Super Bowls in 6 years.  He tried to plug in holes with players that did not cost much at all.  And thank God he did, cause 1-6 is bad, but 1-6 with bad contracts is crippling.

Look at how much money the G-Men have coming off the books next year.  All the free agent contracts other than Cullen Jenkins were signed to 1 year deals.  Mostly all were at the minimum.

Going into next season the Giants have only 35 players under contact.  The Bears and the Raiders are the only other teams with less.

The total salary of the players coming back is $107,694,673.

Now let us do some subtracting…

$107 MILLION

– KIWI – $7 MILLION

– SNEE – $11 MILLION

– WEBSTER – $2 MILLION

– BAAS – $8 MILLION

– JENKINS – $3 MILLION

– ROLLE – $9 MILLION

EQUALS HOPE — 67 MILLION

No doubt others will be gone as well.  Tuck and Diehl among them.

Call it a clean slate, and the genius of it is, I think Jerry Reese was planning for it all along. He knew Tom couldn’t coach forever and eventually it will be time to start a new.

For those of you that are calling for Jerry Reese to be fired, please but the “crack pipe” down stat.  Jerry Reese is 50 years old and a 2 time Super Bowl champion.  If fired by the Giants today Reese would have another GM job in a matter of seconds.  Has he missed this season?  Yes.  But look how he missed and be intelligent when analyzing the entire situation.

And for as quickly as you can point a finger and say he missed on this this guy and missed on that guy, go back and look at the guys he didn’t miss on.

Kawicka Mitchell – Reese’s only FA signing going into the 2007 season.  Big reason we beat the Patriots in Super Bowl 42.  Played great all year.

Ahmad Bradshaw – Win 2 Super Bowls without this 7th round pick?

Kevin Boss – How’d he do the time he was here?  Super 42 – 1st play 4th quarter — Dig it.

Michael Boley – Criticized FA signing by Reese yet became a integral part of the Super Bowl defense in 2011 .

Chase Blakburn – Remember when Reese signed him off the street around Thanksgiving in 2010 – 3 months later he was picking off  Tom Brady in the Super Bowl 50 yards down field.

Aaron Ross –  I was never a big fan of his but how bout the way he played during those 2 Super Bowl runs.

Victor Cruz – He was an undrafted free agent. To quote Joe Benigno “How bout that?”

Hakeem Nicks – How’d Reese do on this pick?   Win that divisional play-off game in Green Bay in 2011 without him. 10+ catches in the Super Bowl.

JPP – Make the play-offs in 2011 without this guy?  Was a man possessed during that run in 2011.  Won the Dallas game on the road practically by himself.

Now I know what you are saying, the haters out there are screaming.  He missed on this guy, and this guy.  We all know.  What I’m saying is we gotta look at it all.

“YOU TAKE THE GOOD, YOU TAKE THE BAD, YOU TAKE THEM BOTH AND THERE YOU HAVE…THE FACTS OF LIFE..WHEN THE WORLD NEVER SEEMS TO BE LIVING UP TO YOUR DREAMS…AND SUDDENLY YOU’RE FINDING OUT THE FACTS OF LIFE ARE ALL ABOUT YOU…YOOOOOUUUUU”

General Managers in the NFL hit and miss all the time.  More often then not, most of them miss a lot more often then they hit.  However, in the case of Reese it has been the opposite.  He sinks more Battleships then he leaves floating out there in the pool of football talent.  You don’t cut and run at the first sign of trouble, especially after 2 Super Bowls.

IN REESE WE TRUST!

Reese looked at this team last year and I believe this was his thought process…more or less…

“I got a 67 year old head coach who is a two time Super Bowl champion and a Hall of Famer.  I have a two time Super Bowl MVP quarterback in the prime of his career and he is surrounded by a veteran team.  We have won 2 Super Bowls in 6 years.  I have to lock up Victor Cruz, Hakeem Nicks and JPP all within the next two years.  Yet, I have to compete for a Super Bowl this year and I’m strapped cap wise….hmmmm, how the fuck do I do this?   I got it. I will search the land far and wide for bargains on the free agency market.  I will use the draft to get a jump this year on the rebuilding process of both the offensive and defensive lines (Pugh, Hankins and Moore) and I will not commit to stupid contracts that will strap me financially once the window closes on this Era.  I owe it to the Giants organization and our tremendous fan base to try to win this year while looking forward to the years to come.  Cause this is my ship.  If we win this year with the signings we make I will look like a genius…AGAIN.  If we lose, they will come after me like I have never felt before. No play-offs in 4 out of 5 years. But will I have the resources to turn it all around quite quickly if I do this smart. But I owe it to Tom and Eli and the Mara’s to take one more shot with this team, they deserve one more shot at glory for what they have given to this organization and the fans. If they fail, then it will be up to me to turn the page, to finally hire my own head coach and lead this franchise to even a greater decade than the last. With a shit load of cap space”

Can’t you see Reese sitting at his desk.  Twiddling his fingers like Mr. Burns…with every lose maybe he says…“excellent, Jedeveon Clowney is closer in my sights then I ever could have expected…Pat Hanlon, release the hounds.”

IN REESE WE TRUST!! — Exclamation point – No question mark.

We don’t get to say this when things are only going good. What kind of bullshit is that?  If you really think about it, IN REESE WE TRUST actually makes more sense when things are going bad.

Eagles Fan – “Hey the Giants suck”

GIANTS fan – “This year, yes we do, but IN REESE WE TRUST. He has won 2 rings in six years, how many have you won in your history?”

I trust in Jerry Reese.  No GM or coach gets it right all the time.  That is impossible.

He has got it right more times than not and he deserves to be the GM that hires the new coach of our Giants after Coughlin is dismissed or leaves on his own accord, whichever comes first.  Two of the most memorable Super Bowl runs of all time have to count for something.  7 games can not erase a that.

I believe Coach Coughlin’s time has passed.  I think the team needs a new voice.  I firmly believe that Reese wanted to give these coaches and the players one more shot at glory and if it failed he needed to be able to blow it up completely and start over.  He put himself in position to do just that.

Reese should be focused on 3 things right now.

1. Signing Hakeem Nicks and JPP to a long term contracts right now.  The Giants will have ample money to tie both of these guys up, but by doing so now while the Giants have all the leverage may save them a couple of million per year on both salaries.

2. Restructure Eli Manning’s contract.  Eli is slated to make 20 Million next year.  If  Tom “Handsome” Brady can take a pay cut every other year for the Patriots, Eli can for the Giants.  If Eli was to restructure his deal and say make 14-15 million instead of 20 the Giants can use that money to bring in talent elsewhere.

3. Jedeveon Clowney and the rest of the college football class coming out for this years draft.  If we have a top 5 pick, we can not miss in 2nd, 3rd and 4th rounds.

IN REESE WE TRUST!  

Sure we can blast Reese for the 1-6 record.  We can point fingers at a man who doesn’t play on Sundays.  We call for him to be fired all we want.

Or, we can see that maybe the man had a sense all along the time was up on this run.  Maybe that is why he put up the countdown clock to the Super Bowl in the Giants locker room and put everyone on notice at the beginning of the season.  Maybe he wanted to give all the players and coaches one last opportunity  to succeed for what they have done without promising them a future.

Tic-Toc… T-Minus 9 games til detonation.

All great franchises turn the page at some point.  And I for one am happy to know that Jerry Reese is on watch for Big Blue.  I think he had a feeling about Tuck and Kiwi so he drafted Hankins and Moore.  I think he drafted Pugh knowing that he will be adding more talent around the promising Tackle/Guard next year.  I think secretly he is praying that the silver lining at the end of this season may be named Jedeveon Clowney.

Things can turn around in a hurry in this league.  Look what is going on in Kansas City this year after going 2-14 last year.  This season considering how the Cowboys, Eagles and Redskins all blow a little less than we do, can do a 180 before you know it.

We will keep watching and cheering and praying for the bad dream to end.  If Coach Coughlin doesn’t have that magical potion one last time, I’m here to tell you it is going to be OK.  We are led by a man that has made all the right moves before and I’m sure in time will do it again.

IN REESE WE TRUST?

BET YOUR ASS WE DO!!!!  AND WE BETTER…NOW MORE THAN EVER…

#TicToc