Pete Carroll and Russell Wilson Giants bound?

Not as preposterous as you think

Good morning, all. I hope your week is off to a great start.

I certainly hope your week is going better than the season is for the New York Giants. After another abysmal showing in Los Angeles on Sunday, this once proud franchise continues to sink to new depths. Now owners of a 4-9 record, New York is careening toward a 4-13 finish.

Face it. The Joe Judge experiment has become the latest flop, combined with the disaster that has been General Manager Dave Gettlemen and his draft picks of Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley. It would not surprise me if Gettlemen is gone before the season is over, permitted to bow out “gracefully” by resigning. But what about Judge? And what about the franchise’s future?

My brother, Chris, a bigger Giants fan than I am, has come up with a suggestion that is not as preposterous as it may sound. Why not entice Pete Carroll and quarterback Russell Wilson to come over from Seattle and run the show? Carroll is under contract with the Seahawks through 2025, after signing an extension in Nov. 2020, but 2021 has not been kind to the Seahawks and the fan base just might want a change. Meanwhile rumors have been floating for weeks that Wilson, injured earlier this season, wants a change of scenery.

The Giants will have two, high first round picks in the upcoming draft, having obtained one selection from the lowly, Chicago Bears. In other words, they have the chits available to make a deal with Seattle, if Carroll were interested in capping his Hall of Fame career in New York, where he once coached the Jets. Wilson, of course, also has a New York connection, having been drafted by the Yankees and playing for them in some exhibition baseball games.

Anything is possible. The point is, the Giants need to make a seismic move in order to become relevant, and it will take something such as the scenario described above to turn around this moribund franchise.

And speaking of the Giants
You Tube is a great repository for baseball and football broadcasts from yesteryear, whether it be radio or television. You never know what you are going to unearth. The other day I came across a snippet of a CBS telecast of the Sept. 26, 1965 game between the New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles at Franklin Field in Philadelphia. The venerable JackWhitaker, a Philadelphia native, was on the play-by-play, while the legendary Frank Giffordprovided commentary. Earl Morrall was at quarterback for New York.

To put things in perspective, the Giants were coming off of a 2-10-2 season in 1964, after going to three straight NFL title games and six of the last eight. For the record, they beat the Eagles in this game and finished the 1965 campaign at 7-7.

How’d that McCarthy prediction work out?
Dallas Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy took a lot of heat last week for predicting his Cowboys would defeat the Washington Football Team. The Washington media, team coaches and fan base raked McCarthy over the coals. Turns out, the Cowboys coach was correct. He could say his club will beat the Giants this week, but this time he would get no argument.

Injuries, injuries
Predictions, especially on how a team will fare in a season, are always fun. But you have to play the games on the field or court. Such is the case with the UConn men’s and women’s basketball program. Injuries, in the case of the women, particularly, are proving why predictions are just that. Geno Auriemma’s team lost handily to Georgia last week, before a nice bounce back win over UCLA, which prevented the program from losing back-to-back regular season games for the first time since 1993. The Huskies’ mettle will continue to be tested, but sometimes it takes adversity to test the true character of a team. The UConn women have passed the first test.

Holy Cow! He was a good broadcaster
Finally, as the season’s cold weather settles in, my mind is wandering back to Phil Rizzuto, the late Yankees broadcaster. In a piece on my blog, I make the case that Rizzuto, despite his foibles, was a darned good broadcaster.

Well that is it for today. As always, thank you for your support and have a terrific week.

SPORTSCASTER DAN