The Giants have been here before, and that’s what makes this moment feel so uneasy.
Nearly a decade after New York handed the keys to Ben McAdoo in search of a new voice and a clean reset, the franchise is again leaning on a fresh coach to steady a team that had drifted into familiar bad habits. Back then, the Giants were staring at a four-season playoff drought and a third straight losing year. Now, under John Harbaugh, they haven’t reached the postseason in three years, and only the Tennessee Titans have fewer wins over that span.
The comparison may sound harsh at first glance. Harbaugh arrives with a very different résumé than McAdoo ever had.
He’s a Super Bowl champion, owns 180 career wins, and ranks 14th all-time in NFL history. His run with the Baltimore Ravens stretches close to two decades and carries the kind of weight usually reserved for the game’s most respected sideline figures.
McAdoo, by contrast, was elevated after Tom Coughlin stepped down and had never run a team before. Still, the Giants brought both men in for the same basic reason: to provide stability and a jolt for a roster that already had some talent in place.
In each case, the general manager was under real pressure, and the franchise was trying to claw back from chaos. The Giants’ 3-8 record in one-score games in 2015 and 1-7 mark in such situations in 2025 helps explain why those changes happened.
There’s another uncomfortable overlap too. McAdoo inherited a defense with real pieces, including Landon Collins, Olivier Vernon and Damon "Snacks" Harrison.
Harbaugh’s current group has its own version of that setup, with Brian Burns, Abdul Carter and Kayvon Thidodeaux giving the front seven the kind of punch that can change a game. The positions aren’t identical, but the feel is.
And both coaches walked into situations that came with rookie intrigue. McAdoo had cornerback Eli Apple.
Harbaugh has hybrid linebacker Arvell Reese and offensive lineman Francis Mauigoa. Apple’s Giants stint didn’t amount to much, which at least gives Reese and Mauigoa a low bar to clear.
That’s the part New York has to be careful about, because McAdoo’s early success looked real enough. In his first season, the Giants went 11-5 and made the playoffs for the first time since winning Super Bowl XLVI in 2011.
They finished middle of the pack in total offensive plays, but their defense was elite in one key area, leading the league in points per drive allowed at 1.41. On offense, though, they were 29th in scoring on their own possessions at 1.49.
Then came the boat picture, the one that still hangs over that era. Beckham and several Giants players were shirtless on a yacht, celebrating and posing for the camera.
Not long after, the season unraveled with a 38-13 loss to the Green Bay Packers in the Wild Card round. McAdoo was gone roughly 11 months later, fired during a 2-10 collapse.
That’s the cautionary tale hovering over Harbaugh now. If this version of the Giants gets rolling, the path is easy to imagine: a disruptive front seven, an offensive line and rushing attack built for physical football, and a team trying to win the hard way. But New York has seen this movie before, and it didn’t end well.
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Giants Suddenly Face A Slot Problem Their Offense May Solve Differently
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Isaiah Likely has emerged as one possible way to patch the hole, and that would give the Giants a different kind of slot presence altogether. Using a tight end there would alter how the offense lines up and attacks defenses, but the bigger issue now is finding a replacement who can keep the passing game on schedule without forcing the Giants to reshuffle too much around one sudden loss. [Read more 🡒]