Though it wasn’t quite NFLN-on-NFLN crime, a halftime report from Ian Rapoport and Mike Silver of the league-owned broadcast operation painted slightly different pictures regarding the future of Giants coach Tom Coughlin.
Rapoport led off, citing an unnamed, high-level Giants source in support of the notion that Coughlin will be given the opportunity to determine whether he returns in 2014. Silver followed, explaining that, while Coughlin can survive a 4-12 season, a 2-14 disaster could mean “all bets are off.”
The reports aren’t diametrically opposed, but they’re not exactly in harmony, either.
The truth remains unknown, in large part because this 0-6 book has 10 chapters left. And the epilogue could be just as scripted, with Coughlin technically coming to his own conclusion that it’s time to retire after getting pretty strong signals that the team wants to make a change.
Indeed, Coughlin doesn’t seem to be like the type of guy who would want to stay, if he senses that the team prefers that he move on, but that the franchise doesn’t want to fire a guy who has won two Super Bowls.
Regardless of the path taken or the words used to describe its destination, there surely will be accountability if the 0-6 course continues. In August, G.M. Jerry Reese said that, with only one postseason appearance in four seasons, everyone is “on notice.”
As the Giants currently swirl the NFL’s drain, those words will be hollow if a nightmare season doesn’t result in people waking up to pink slips.