Giants defensive end Michael Strahan recently wondered why the team didn’t retire his jersey sooner. Former Giants offensive coordinator Jason Garrett and soon-to-be-former Giants G.M. Dave Gettleman may be wondering why they didn’t do it sooner, too.
With Strahan’s ceremony happening at halftime of a game played only six days after a horrendous showing on Monday night at Tampa against New York nemesis Tom Brady, co-owner John Mara could hear it even more loudly than he did earlier this year, when Eli Manning’s jersey was retired. And Mara definitely heard it; he said so.
“Of course I heard it,” Mara said of the booing, after the September loss to the Falcons.
Is it foolish to think that the Giants fired Garrett and leaked to the media conglomerate they partially own and operate that Gettleman won’t be back next year in part to give Mara a reprieve during his second time facing a stadium full of fans this season? Maybe. Maybe not.
Maybe the moves would have happened even without Mara scheduled to step out from behind the curtain. But it’s hard not to think that the moves became more likely with the co-owner of a 3-7 team poised to face the music with the Giants potentially trailing a surging arch-rival after 30 minutes of action on Sunday.
It sounds strange, I know. But it sounds a lot different when you’re the one who will be walking into a canyon of catcalls. Regardless of whether or not it makes a difference as to the reception he’ll receive, John Mara had to have at least wondered whether they’ll go easier on him for acknowledging the obvious and commencing the process of making changes.
Or maybe he’ll just blame the boos on the Eagles fans who quite possibly have been gobbling up tickets on the secondary market.
Will recent moves give John Mara a reprieve during Michael Strahan’s jersey retirement ceremony? originally appeared on Pro Football Talk