Pat Shurmur understands the questions about his future in New York after a four-win campaign that could lead to his firing after two seasons.
"This is a wins business. I get it. I get it," he said Sunday after the Giants' 34-17 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. "We've been talking about this for, I think, six weeks, right? You've been asking me the same questions for six weeks...But that's the reality of this business. When you don't win, that's the line of questioning. I get that."
The Giants have some good young pieces in quarterback Daniel Jones and running back Saquon Barkley, but with an offensive line that struggles and a defensive sieve, Big Blue was a big dud in Shurmur's second season.
After finishing with five wins in 2018, the Giants entered the season with the front office believing they could compete in the NFC East. Alas, Shurmur guided his team to just four wins and just two in the division.
After compiling nine wins in two years, Shurmur still thinks the team is better than when he arrived.
"I think so. I do. These guys battled," he said. "We can talk about the dynamics about how the team was built and where it's going. We're building, we're building a team. A lot of dead money this year. A lot of cap space next year, and some prime picks where we can use the draft wisely and make decisions on making this team better with impact players. You need to have a quarterback, you need to be able to play defense, you need to be able to run the ball. And on defense, you need to have impact players that when the game is on the line can do things. We have some strung throughout this roster and we'll have a chance to get more. I think that's exciting."
Despite owning some good pieces, it's likely that Shurmur doesn't survive to see another campaign. Even with an ownership group that traditionally subscribes to patience, Shurmur's game management and repeated collapses don't provide optimism he's the man to turn it around.
In his postgame presser, Shurmur sounded like a man making a public pitch to ownership to keep his job.
"I haven't had those types of conversations --if and when I do, I'm not going to talk to you about it," Shurmur said when asked if he's heard anything from ownership on his future. "At some point, what is said will be revealed. If I'm back, I'm looking forward to working with this young talent. If I'm not, whoever is coaching this team has got a great group of young players. The dead money goes away, there's going to be cap space, we've got picks. So there's ways to improve the team. So, if I'm not here, that's what the new coach has to look forward to. If I am here, I can't wait to get back to work. So that's about as honest and clear as I can make it."
It seems likely those organizational positives will benefit another coach in 2020.
