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The New York Giants made it official on Monday evening by announcing former Vikings offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur as their new head coach.
The hire doesn’t exactly come at the best time for the G-Men. Shurmur is coming off an outing where Minnesota’s offense managed to score a mere seven points in a 38-7 loss to Philadelphia Eagles in the 2018 NFC Championship Game.
Maybe Shurmur will defy expectations like Doug Pederson did, but I’m skeptical of that happening. I’ve said all along that Eagles fans should be rooting for the Giants to hire Shurmur, who is very uinspiring based on my personal experience covering him.
People (read: Giants fans) will try to prop up Shurmur by pointing out his work with Case Keenum, but to that I say look at this:
Pat Shurmur has had clear offensive autonomy in 6 of the 9 seasons he's been an OC or HC. He's finished 32nd, 30th, 25th, 27th, 26th, and 5th (chronologically) in ODVOA. What looks like the outlier?
— Noah Becker (@Noah_Becker) January 15, 2018
Furthermore, it’s not like Shurmur was New York’s top choice. Again, as we saw with Pederson, that doesn’t always matter. But it’s also very possible the Giants missed out on better head coach options. Check out this story from Gary Myers of the New York Daily News:
Just a few days after it got out that [Patriots defensive coordinator Matt Patricia] was taking the Detroit job, a source called to confirm what the Daily News reported: Patricia indeed was the Giants’ first choice and the source added that there was discontent in the organization that it didn’t go their way.
I think Pat Shurmur was second or third on the Giants’ list, depending on how they ultimately viewed Josh McDaniels, who is among the best 2-3 offensive coaches in the NFL, but had so many problems as head coach in Denver that it might have been a deterrent. He is expected to take the Colts job.
Myers was first to note that Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz wasn’t a serious candidate for the Giants job, despite the fact many national media outlets were suggesting otherwise. So it seems like Myers was definitely plugged in to New York’s coaching search.
The Eagles will get to see Shurmur up close and personal twice a year now that he’s back in the NFC East. That’s not an intimidating thought.