National Football League

Did Joe Judge and the Giants scapegoat Jason Garrett?

Published Nov. 24, 2021 2:53 p.m. ET

Jason Garrett is no longer the New York Giants' offensive coordinator.

Following an absolute thumping at the hands of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Monday night, New York wasted little time in making a change to its coaching regime, displacing Garrett of his duties after the Big Blue crew mustered just 10 points in the 30-10 beatdown.

Garrett, who had served as the Giants' OC since Jan. 2020, manned the sidelines for Dallas as its head coach from 2010-20 before joining head coach Joe Judge's regime last season.

But despite arriving with lofty expectations to reignite New York's less-than-fiery offensive attack, the has team sputtered mightily since his arrival. It limped to a 6-10 record last season amidst a haul of injuries, and this season, things project to be even worse: New York is just 3-7 – buried at the bottom of the NFC East with virtually no chance at a postseason this year.

The numbers paint an ugly picture in the Big Apple.

In Garrett's 26 games at the helm of the team's offense, New York has failed to score more than one touchdown in 12 separate outings. That's the highest total league-wide through the span. Meanwhile, the group's posted the lowest cumulative TD number (42) through the same period. It ranked 31st in points scored last season.

This season, the squad ranks 25th in offensive points per game (18.9), 23rd in average yards (322.8), 25th in rushing yards (92.9), 24th in third-down conversion rate (37.3%) and last in red zone productivity (37.3%).

On the team's plans going forward, Judge had this to say:

"It'll be a collaborative in-house effort to fill Garrett's role. Everything is on the table."

However, he refused to reveal who would step in to fill Garrett's play-calling shoes.

"We’ve got a lot of things up our sleeve," Judge added. "Any competitive advantage you want to have, you want to keep to yourself. There are a number of things that could change. In a short week, you’re not going to go ahead and completely blow up an offense and redo things. But you are going to look to use things a little bit differently. Maybe we’ll just draw names. I'm not sure."

Humor might not be the quintessential route for Judge to get himself into good graces with a fanbase that's already been vexed by the team's current situation.

And perhaps disposing of Garrett wasn't the correct plan of action, either. The abrupt move has many speculating whether Garrett was the problem, or if he was just used as a representative scapegoat for their plethora of problems.

Greg Jennings believes it's the former.

"I believe he was used as a scapegoat," Jennings said Wednesday on "First Things First."

"If you're an offensive coordinator-head coach, or a defensive coordinator-head coach, you have an understanding of each side of the ball, because you have to scheme against each side of the ball. In Joe Judge's situation, it's different. He's been a special teams coach his entire tenure as a coach. He has not coached on either side of the ball outside of special teams. That presents a problem. Typically what you'd see is a head coach say ‘I’m going get the play-calls back, and just start calling my own plays.' When you don't have that [experience], you don't really take on the reins. Your skillset is special teams."

Greg Jennings: Joe Judge & Giants have every right to move on from Jason Garrett I FIRST THINGS FIRST

After 26 games as an offensive coordinator for the New York Giants, Jason Garrett has been released. Greg Jennings joins First Things First to decide whether Giants are right to fire Garrett as offensive coordinator or if he's being used as a scapegoat.

Chris Broussard couldn't agree more.

"Joe Judge sees the handwriting on the wall," Broussard concurred. "It says ‘you could be done.’ He's channelling his inner Frank Sinatra: ‘I’m going to do it my way. I'm not leaving it in the hands of Jason Garrett, who hasn't done a thing with our offense. The ship is sinking, and I'm going to make sure that I'm at the helm if it does.'"

Nick Wright believes that Garrett was given the brunt of the blame as well, but said that firing him would do nothing to solve NY's losing dilemma.

"The problem is [Joe Judge] picked Jason Garrett," Wright vehemently stated. "And the problem is the guy backing up Jason Garrett is Freddie Kitchens, the single worst head coach I've seen in all of sports. The first time the Giants played on national television after adding Garrett, one of the broadcasters relayed a story, and said ‘Jason Garrett has explained to Daniel Jones that every drive that ends in a kick is a success.' That’s your offensive coordinator's MO: 'Guys, if we punt the ball, it's still a success.'"

"Everyone is at fault here: [GM Dave] Gettleman for drafting Daniel Jones. Joe Judge for picking Jason Garrett. Daniel Jones for picking football. All of these people have to have some accountability. Yeah, Jason Garrett gets fired first, but they're all gonna be gone soon. Does anyone think they're going to look better now? They're going to look the exact same."

They're going to need a change – of the extreme makeover category – if Judge and Jones want to keep their jobs.

This year, Jones has just three games with a passer rating over 100, and one with over 270 passing yards. He's also got as many turnovers as he does passing TDs, with nine in both categories.

Judge is next in line as far as the "scapegoats to be removed" category is concerned, and Jones isn't lagging far behind. The time is now for improvements, and if they don't surface, the Garrett firing will be as good as useless.

Check out the full "First Things First" debate below.