Joe Schoen understands the question. This is a point the Giants general manager made seven times during his first press conference of the season, and that must have made the 20-minute session especially uncomfortable.
The reporters in the room only had one basic question, after all, that we tried to phrase a little differently each time we posed it:
How are you still here?!
Okay, we were a bit more tactful than that. Still, I can’t remember a media availability with a team official that felt less like a question-and-answer session and more like an FBI interrogation than the one that took place in East Rutherford on Tuesday afternoon. All that was missing was an oversized light to shine in his face.
In the face of that scrutiny, Schoen’s performance was much like the Giants themselves on Monday night against the Patriots — hard to watch and, by the end, a little sad.
He acknowledged the team’s 5-25 record over the past 30 games is “not good enough,” even as he hyped its “good young core to build around.” He admitted that the chances of him “batting 1.000 are gone” because of many mistakes. He made the usual collection of empty promises that he is “going to get it right,” even if he couldn’t offer the same assurances that he still has his job beyond the end of this season (more on that in a minute).
In fairness, it would have been next to impossible for Schoen to “win” this press conference even if he ripped off his blue Giants quarter zip and flogged himself. But I left East Rutherford with less confidence that he could fix this franchise than I had when I arrived — and, trust me, that confidence needle was well below “E” when I pulled into the parking lot.
Schoen touted everything from young quarterback Jaxson Dart, to co-owners John Mara and Steve Tisch, to even the “greatest city in the world” when explaining why he is bullish on the future for this woebegone franchise. But he couldn’t offer even a morsel of proof that he is the right person to make those happier days a reality.
He does not sound like a man who actuallyhas a plan, and that’s a problem.
“I’m not going to make the same mistake twice, and we’re going to continue to get better, and we’re going to look at everything,” the man who drafted busts Evan Neal and Deonte Banks in the first round said. “Coaching, coordinators, strength (and conditioning), I mean, every single thing, every part of the organization. We’re going to do everything we can to get this thing going in the right direction.”
Attempts to drill down on his mistakes were, fittingly, nearly as futile as his team’s defense. Schoen was at a loss to explain how a unit ranked 30th in the NFL in total defense last season is in the same spot this year despite using the No. 3 overall draft pick on pass rusher Abdul Carter while investing tens of millions on cornerback Paulson Adebo, safety Jevón Holland and others.
“We’ve got to do a better job of execution,” Schoen said when asked about the defense. “We’ve got to do a better job of finishing games, and I’ve got to do a better job with the personnel.”
All of this is true. But most GMs with his roster-building record are unemployed before they get a fifth shot at free agency and the draft. This is why some variation of that question — why are you employed while head coach Brian Daboll was canned three weeks ago? — was asked in so many different ways.
What the Giants are doing doesn’t make any sense. But are they committed to it? Schoen would not say if he has assurances that he’ll be back next season, although he is clearly operating as if he does. It begs the question of what might happen if the Giants’ now seven-game losing streak continues against a string of bad teams to end this season.
Schoen’s presence, then, might make it hard for the team to hire the next head coach who will lead the team out of this mess. You wonder: Did Mara and Tisch see the impact Mike Vrabel has had on the 11-2 Patriots? If Schoen’s presence became an obstacle to hiring the right man for that job, would they really let him stand in the way?
Mara, who saw what his family’s football team was before Bill Parcells arrived, must understand that better than anyone. He also must see the grim similarities between those dark days of the 1970s and the present, hapless team that Schoen is tasked with fixing.
He is still the GM — for now. How that’s possible remains a mystery, although even Schoen himself understands the question.
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