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Kevin Gilbride blames injuries for Giants’ offensive woes

Kevin Gilbride

New York Giants’ offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride on the sidelines against the Carolina Panthers during the first half of an NFL football game in Charlotte, N.C., Thursday, Sept. 20, 2012. The Giants won 36-7. (AP Photo/Bob Leverone)

AP

Kevin Gilbride retired as the Giants’ offensive coordinator after an unsuccessful 2013 season, but Gilbride says his offensive schemes haven’t grown old.

Although Giants G.M. Jerry Reese said it was time for a change on the Giants’ offense, Gilbride disagreed with that suggestion in an interview with Conor Orr of the Star-Ledger. According to Gilbride, the problem last season was an inability to stay healthy, not an inability to call the right plays on offense.

“I’m kind of surprised to hear him say that,” Gilbride said. “No one had figured that offense out for 24 years. To think that they figured it out this year would be pretty ludicrous. I think it was pretty obvious what the problems were. We had a confluence of injuries, we were very weak on the offensive line. We had some guys who struggled. We started six different offensive tailbacks, three different fullbacks, three different right guards, four different centers. . . . You can say it’s the offense, but it’s pretty clear what the problem was.”

Gilbride hinted that if there was a problem, it was that Reese had put together a roster with holes in it, and those holes weren’t getting filled.

“I certainly have expressed those concerns for a number of years,” Gilbride said. “It wasn’t a matter of if, it was a matter of when it was going to happen.”

Whatever the reasons, it happened in 2013. And if the Giants’ offense is going to get fixed in 2014, it’s going to be new offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo who gets the credit.