Giants co-owner and president John Mara vowed his support Monday for embattled coach Ben McAdoo, while saying the team's recent performance is "inexcusable and frustrating."
The Giants dropped to 1-8 Sunday afternoon after a 31-21 loss to the previously winless 49ers, and many fans are calling for a coaching change. Mara and Steve Tisch, the Giants' chairman and executive vice president, issued a joint statement Monday afternoon saying the team will evaluate the team's performance at the end of the year
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"Ben McAdoo is our head coach and has our support," the statement read (via ESPN). "We are in the midst of an extremely disappointing season. Our performance this year, particularly the past two weeks, is inexcusable and frustrating. While we appreciate that our fans are unhappy with what has occurred, nobody is more upset than we are.
“Our plan is to do what we have always done, which is to not offer a running commentary on the season. It is our responsibility to determine the reasons for our poor performance and at the end of the year, we will evaluate the 2017 season in its entirety and make a determination on how we move forward.”
McAdoo has made headlines in the past few days for all the wrong reasons. An ESPN report last week quoted two anonymous Giants players as saying McAdoo had "lost this team," and "guys are giving up on the season." That prompted other Giants players to call out those anonymous teammates as "cowards" and vow to find out who'd thrown McAdoo under the proverbial bus.
After going 11-5 in his first season as Giants coach, the team has faltered on both sides of the ball this season, ranking 28th in the NFL in both points scored and points allowed.
Yet the Giants, who were founded by Mara's grandfather, Tim Mara, in 1925, have traditionally not made midseason coaching changes. The Giants have made only one midseason coaching change since 1931, that coming in 1976.