Giants coach Tom Coughlin made changes to his offensive coaching staff after the Giants finished with a losing record in 2013 and he confirmed Wednesday that he’s made changes to his defensive coaching staff after going 6-10 in 2014.
In the team’s official announcement that they have fired defensive coordinator Perry Fewell and cornerbacks coach Peter Giunta, Coughlin, who made it clear that he decided to make the move, called them both “outstanding” football coaches and said that no single person is responsible for all that went wrong on defense for the Giants during the season before going on to explain what he hoped to accomplish with the moves.
“The decision here gives us the ability to revive our defensive people, to introduce, if you will, a new, different system, perhaps not that big a change, but nevertheless there will be some change involved and create an opportunity,” Coughlin said. “I just think it is an opportunity for us, to a certain extent, to stimulate our defensive team due to the fact that you will end up with a new coordinator. Those people will bring a new system, a new focus and a new area of concentration.”
There’s been some early speculation that an old coordinator could wind up as the new coordinator. Steve Spagnuolo ran the defense the first time that Coughlin won the Super Bowl and he’s spent the last two years as an assistant in Baltimore after his disastrous stints as the head coach in St. Louis from 2009-2011 and defensive coordinator in New Orleans in 2012.
There was a slow start to the process, but the Giants’ offensive changes wound up looking pretty good by the time all was said and done. How much of that was because of Ben McAdoo’s scheme compared to the arrival of Odell Beckham is worth some debate, but the Giants are obviously hoping that lightning strikes twice.
