Hiring John Harbaugh doesn’t assure the Giants will win one other Tremendous Bowl quickly and even flip themselves round in 2026.
However what Harbaugh did on Tuesday was provide hope that he could make this a reliable, football-first operation once more.
The phrases he used most in his first official day on the job had been “work,” “team” and “football.”
He set the expectations for his tenure no decrease than a Tremendous Bowl. He wasn’t afraid to make that the barometer for his hiring.
“We’re here with one mission: to become, to earn the right to be called the world champions in New York,” he stated. “And that’s what we plan to do.”
He additionally stated gamers who don’t love soccer may have no place on this staff — that means Harbaugh doesn’t have any time for something that distracts from that day by day precedence and focus.
“If there’s guys around that don’t love football, Joe, we’re probably going to let those guys go play someplace else,” Harbaugh stated, nodding at GM Joe Schoen beneath within the viewers.
Schoen, who will defer to Harbaugh in personnel for so long as he continues working right here, stated Harbaugh likes “big players” coming from the AFC North. And Harbaugh refreshingly famous a distinction between a participant’s title on a roster and the way he performs on the sector.
“I see a lot of really good players when I look at the roster. Well, not the roster so much as the tape,” he stated. “That’s where you look: you look at the tape. That’s what shows you, right, guys? It shows you. It’s on the tape.”
These are encouraging statements, as a result of Harbaugh is providing hope that the Giants would possibly truly develop into a meritocracy as a soccer staff.
In different phrases, the gamers who play the very best and pour probably the most into it is going to make the staff, play probably the most and symbolize the Giants most prominently.
Selections received’t be made due to optics — due to how a participant’s launch or benching makes a GM or place coach look.
Sure gamers received’t obtain favoritism over others as a result of the pinnacle coach is afraid to confront them or needs to be their pal.
The Giants will make choices based mostly on outcomes, based mostly on the football-related habits that gamers reveal day by day, based mostly on what’s finest for the group.
“It will always, always be all about the team,” Harbaugh stated. “The team, the team, the team.”
Not that Harbaugh is assured to get all the pieces proper. Altering the Giants’ tradition, restoring management to their locker room and instilling larger expectations into the constructing might be no simple process.
Particularly with such a younger group of gamers, particularly Malik Nabers and Abdul Carter, who might be in for a impolite awakening in the event that they select to attempt to do issues their method as an alternative of Harbaugh’s method.
Performing possession voice Chris Mara, although, stated one thing that resonated about why the Giants knew Harbaugh was the precise coach for them.
“I have a book with every offense, every defensive coordinator in there,” Mara stated. “I read through every one of them. And every time I read through them all, I said, ‘Who are these guys?’ We knew who John Harbaugh was. We had tried the other way before many times. It just didn’t work out for one reason or the other. And we needed credibility, and he was it.”
Granted, that quote received’t age properly if the Cleveland Browns rent Jacksonville Jaguars offensive coordinator Grant Udinski and return to the playoffs subsequent fall, for instance.
Mara’s level, although, is that the Giants have fallen far sufficient that they wanted to revive a baseline of competence to their total soccer operation.
This was about in search of stability and reliability, with the upside of Harbaugh having lifted one Lombardi Trophy already.
Harbaugh little question has a ton of labor to do to ship on the promise he provided Tuesday.
He’ll convey noticeable adjustments to the Giants’ roster, to varied departments within the constructing, to the Giants’ amenities themselves and to their teaching workers.
He’ll undoubtedly attempt to acquire management of the message popping out of what a pair NFL sources referred to as the “leakiest” constructing within the league this previous week.
However these all might be optimistic adjustments for the Giants’ general operation, even when the method is very uncomfortable within the brief time period.
As a result of what the Giants wanted to do was herald a coach that talked to his gamers like Harbaugh did by way of the media on Tuesday:
“What you can decide on is how are you going to play?” Harbaugh stated. “How exhausting am I going to play? How bodily am I going to play? How a lot am I going to be locked into my task to attempt to do issues the precise method? My footwork, my method, attempt to win my battle.
“Am I wanting to finish the play?” he continued. “Am I going to run all the way to the ball and then arrive there with a real bad attitude and make a statement when I get there? Am I willing to do that every single play? I’ll have to decide, ‘Oh, maybe he’ll make the tackle. I don’t have to run over there.’ No, no. You put your foot in the ground and you start running.”
And what the Giants wanted was a coach who’s direct, and who’s attacking the expectations of his five-year, $100 million contract head on: To win, and to anticipate to take action instantly in 2026.
“Absolutely we can do that, and that’s our plan to do that,” Harbaugh stated. “The plan is to win every game. I mean, one game at a time. You go into every game planning to win that game. That’s our expectation. We will be expecting to do that. But we’ve got to earn the right to expect that by how we go to work and prepare and what kind of a team that we make ourselves into.”
Work. That’s what Harbaugh promised as the inspiration of his model of the Giants. And that’s promising.
As a result of what it means is that subsequent fall, after the Giants play a recreation on a Sunday, win or lose, simply possibly the Giants’ followers will be capable of get up Monday and speak concerning the soccer.
And solely the soccer. And what’s going properly, and what can enhance, to get the Giants again to the place they should be.
Certain, chasing Tremendous Bowls.
However first, being related. Being competent. Being a soccer staff that instructions respect.
