Heat Increasing Under Giants Offensive Coordinator Jason Garrett's Seat

The Giants offensive coordinator needs to figure out how to get the team more scoring opportunities before it's too late.

Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports

Most sportsbooks odds include which NFL head coaches are likely to be fired sooner than later, and of late, Giants head coach Joe Judge has been listed among those head coaches whose seat has been warming up steadily.

But while Judge is in no danger of losing his position this year, the same can’t be said of offensive coordinator Jason Garrett, whose offense is again off to a slow start scoring-wise and whose 18.7 point average isn’t that much better than last year’s 31st-ranked 17.5 average.

Garrett received a pass this week from Judge, who said there was no plan to change any coordinators, not at least until all avenues of philosophical strategy and game planning changes were exhausted.

“Game plan-wise, we’ll make some adjustments, we’ll do some things that we think we can improve more,” Judge said Monday after putting to rest any brewing rumors that a change was coming at play-caller. “We’ll dive into a couple of focal points to make sure that we finish in the red zone – that’s been something we have to do better as a team.

“There’s a lot of things we need to clean up coaching-wise, execution-wise, but we’re going to stay on the track with it and make sure we get those things right before making any radical changes.”

Garrett, who has perfected his poker face, said he always feels the pressure to be better every week.

“Obviously, we need to score more points. The red zone, I think we’ve been one out of three in each of the three games. Got to get down there more. Then we’ve got to convert. Some of that is self-inflicted wounds,” he said.

“We certainly want to evaluate every aspect of what we’re doing running it, throwing it and in all situations. We’ve got to do a better job scoring points.”

While that all sounds good, the deployment of personnel has been a head-scratcher, as has some of the play calling.

In the personnel department, the lack of usage of tight end Kyle Rudolph in the red zone—he’s had no red-zone targets in two games, and last week he didn’t have any pass targets—has been maddening. So has Garrett's "struggle" to find ways to get a presumably healthy and ready Kadarius Toney into games.

Then there have been the slow-developing plays in the red zone, such as wide runs that opposing defenses have feasted on stopping, or the Giants' failing to take deep shots when necessary that have been equally annoying.

“You try to attack different way,” Garrett said of his scheme’s purpose. “Run and pass is where it starts. I think we’ve done a pretty decent job being balanced over the first few weeks. We’ve been able to move the ball. Situationally, we’ve done a pretty good job except for the red zone.

“At the end of the game, the two-minute wasn’t as good as it needed to be, but some of the other stuff was better – third down, short yardage, goal line. Those were positives. You try to attack with personnel, formation, tempo – been using tempo a lot lately. You try to attack different ways. You try to be balanced. We’re a work in progress. We’ll continue to try to get better.”

Unfortunately for Garrett, time is running out. If the Giants lay another egg Sunday against the Saints—a very good possibility given how tough that defense is—Jude might not have any choice but to make a change.

That change likely won’t be to fire Garrett, a former NFL quarterback who once played for the Giants during their 2000 Super Bowl season and a man that team co-owner John Mara is highly fond of.

But it could mean a reduction in responsibilities for Garrett and an increase for senior offensive assistant Freddie Kitchens. Kitchens took the headset for one game last year when Garrett was forced to miss a game due to testing positive for COVID-19. Against the Cleveland Browns, the Giants only scored six points and had 288 net yards of offense.

This past off-season, Judge re-assigned Kitchens, the team's tight ends coach last year, to more of a bigger picture type of role to where he has more of a hand in the overall offensive strategy. So it would not be surprising if he got the headset next week against Dallas if the Giants struggle again this week.

While at the end of the day Garrett has no control over the execution by the players—he’s not the one dropping passes or allowing sacks on plays that have presumably been designed to work—he knows that he’s not exempt from the offense’s scoring issues.

“We look at ourselves first as coaches, what position we’re putting our players in, how we’re implementing that stuff in practice, and how we can carry that into the game,” he said, adding, “Having a negative play on a sack and a negative play on a fumbled snap, those are hard situations to overcome.” 

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