Saquon Barkley told the Daily News Tuesday as a captain and face of the franchise that the Giants’ players are behind embattled GM Dave Gettleman and head coach Pat Shurmur. “Not only me, speaking on behalf of the team, we strongly believe in Coach Shurmur, we believe in this coaching staff, we believe in D.G,” Barkley said at his locker as the Giants (2-8) prepared to get away on their bye week. “Obviously things aren’t clicking the way we would like them to be right now, but we’ve just got to keep grinding, keep working, and we’ll turn it around.” Advertisement Daniel Jones also lauded Shurmur’s impact on his development. The rookie quarterback’s nine touchdown passes the last three games certainly reflects well on Shurmur’s tutelage. “Coach Shurmur has done a ton for me in my growth and development,” Jones said. “He’s been extremely patient with me and supportive of me. I’ve been up and down. I’ve played well at times and not so well at times. He’s continued to support me and continued to coach me hard and give me the points of emphasis. That’s been a huge help for me.” All of this is to say that while Shurmur seems to be on the hot seat from the outside, there are no internal signs he is coaching for his job in the Giants’ final six games. His players support him despite six straight losses. Ownership has not issued any public ultimatum. Shurmur has three years left on his contract. And Shurmur’s primary pupil, Jones, is viewed as a potential franchise QB whose development could be disrupted by Shurmur’s firing. That leaves only one asterisk, then, on Shurmur returning in 2020. One variable that could change and cause ownership’s patience to run out: Wins. Or to be specific, a lack of wins. We don’t know if Shurmur has to win a certain number of the Giants’ final six games to convince John Mara and Steve Tisch that he can get results. Shurmur certainly hinted on Tuesday that victories will be part of how he’s judged, beginning with a Week 12 road game at the Chicago Bears (4-5). The coach was asked if his own roster’s young, deficient composition would be factored into an evaluation of his performance as coach. His answer? “The standard for me is to put a team on the field that wins games,” he said. “Somebody else will have to surmise what that looks like. Unfortunately at this point we haven’t done enough and there’s no excuse for that.” But no one knows if there is a record Shurmur must reach to keep his job. Is 2-14 the breaking point if the Giants lose out? Would 3-13 or 4-12 be a tipping point after a 5-11 record last year? And what if Jones’ turnovers snowball and the rookie QB regresses instead of blossoming? He does have 17 turnovers to go with 17 touchdowns through eight starts and nine games, after all. A major slip-up would reflect poorly on both Shurmur and Gettleman. How Shurmur manages Jones even through this bye is crucial, then. So it’s no surprise Shurmur said of his expectation for Jones’ we
Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley endorse Pat Shurmur, but does the Giants coach have to win to save h
Saquon Barkley told the Daily News Tuesday as a captain and face of the franchise that the Giants’ players are behind embattled GM Dave Gettleman and head coach Pat Shurmur. “Not only me, speaking on behalf of the team, we strongly believe in Coach Shurmur, we believe in this coaching staff, we believe in D.G,” Barkley said at his locker as the Giants (2-8) prepared to get away on their bye week. “Obviously things aren’t clicking the way we would like them to be right now, but we’ve just got to keep grinding, keep working, and we’ll turn it around.” Advertisement Daniel Jones also lauded Shurmur’s impact on his development. The rookie quarterback’s nine touchdown passes the last three games certainly reflects well on Shurmur’s tutelage. “Coach Shurmur has done a ton for me in my growth and development,” Jones said. “He’s been extremely patient with me and supportive of me. I’ve been up and down. I’ve played well at times and not so well at times. He’s continued to support me and continued to coach me hard and give me the points of emphasis. That’s been a huge help for me.” All of this is to say that while Shurmur seems to be on the hot seat from the outside, there are no internal signs he is coaching for his job in the Giants’ final six games. His players support him despite six straight losses. Ownership has not issued any public ultimatum. Shurmur has three years left on his contract. And Shurmur’s primary pupil, Jones, is viewed as a potential franchise QB whose development could be disrupted by Shurmur’s firing. That leaves only one asterisk, then, on Shurmur returning in 2020. One variable that could change and cause ownership’s patience to run out: Wins. Or to be specific, a lack of wins. We don’t know if Shurmur has to win a certain number of the Giants’ final six games to convince John Mara and Steve Tisch that he can get results. Shurmur certainly hinted on Tuesday that victories will be part of how he’s judged, beginning with a Week 12 road game at the Chicago Bears (4-5). The coach was asked if his own roster’s young, deficient composition would be factored into an evaluation of his performance as coach. His answer? “The standard for me is to put a team on the field that wins games,” he said. “Somebody else will have to surmise what that looks like. Unfortunately at this point we haven’t done enough and there’s no excuse for that.” But no one knows if there is a record Shurmur must reach to keep his job. Is 2-14 the breaking point if the Giants lose out? Would 3-13 or 4-12 be a tipping point after a 5-11 record last year? And what if Jones’ turnovers snowball and the rookie QB regresses instead of blossoming? He does have 17 turnovers to go with 17 touchdowns through eight starts and nine games, after all. A major slip-up would reflect poorly on both Shurmur and Gettleman. How Shurmur manages Jones even through this bye is crucial, then. So it’s no surprise Shurmur said of his expectation for Jones’ we
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