The New York Giants on Tuesday fired Jason Garrett midway through his second season as the team’s offensive coordinator.
The move comes one day after the Giants (3-7) struggled on offense during their 30-10 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The Giants turned play-calling responsibilities over to Freddie Kitchens, the team’s senior offensive assistant and the former head coach of the Cleveland Browns.
New York’s 18.9 points per game this season rank 25th in the NFL, while its 322.8 total yards per game are 23rd in the league. The Giants rank last in red-zone offense with touchdowns on 44.4 percent of drives that reach the opponents’ 20.
The Giants have also seen quarterback Daniel Jones fail to progress in his development since he was selected with the sixth overall pick of the 2019 NFL Draft. Jones, 24, has thrown for 2,226 yards with nine touchdowns and seven interceptions in 10 games this season.
Giants coach Joe Judge was asked about the team’s ailing offense after Monday’s loss to the Buccaneers.
“We have got to do a better job scoring points — I know that sounds pretty obvious and to the point with it, but I’m going to keep it very blunt on that right there,” Judge said. “We have to do a better job of putting our players in a position to make plays. We have too many good players and we have to put them in a better position to capitalize, that’s it. We have to make sure we sit down as a coaching staff and understand how we have to play this game and give our players a chance to make plays.”
Kitchens and Judge are close friends. But in a test-drive as play-caller against the Browns, Kitchens’ offense scored just six points. That cameo came last season when Garrett was out due to COVID protocols and Colt McCoy played for the injured Jones.
When asked if he had faith in Garrett on Monday, Judge offered the following:
“I have faith in all the people on our team: players, coaches, everything. But look, we’ll assess everything as a team and make any move we need to going forward.”
Garrett, 55, joined the Giants in 2020 after nine-plus seasons as the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys.
Garrett went 85-67 in the regular season with the Cowboys, but the squad reached the playoffs just three times. Dallas was 2-3 in those postseason games.
After an 8-8 campaign in 2019, the Cowboys moved on from Garrett, and he was replaced by former Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy.
–Field Level Media
