Today’s edition of The Mailbag on Giants.com:
Do you feel the Giants play calling under Kevin Gilbride has to change? He is so predictable. Go back and look how many times after an incompletion on first down we run the ball on second down, leaving us in third and long. I’m telling you over 80% of the time. Gilbride truly must change his approach or he will find himself heading towards the door.
-Jim
I never fail to get postseason letters from fans who are unhappy with Gilbride, the Giants’ offensive coordinator. Play-calling is an imperfect art, but I think the criticism is a bit over the top sometimes. While you’re worried about second-down runs, the Giants scored 429 points this season, the sixth-highest total in the NFL and the second-highest total in franchise history. The Giants have scored more than 400 points in a season five times in their 88-year history – four of them under Tom Coughlin and three of them with Gilbride calling the plays. The object is to score as many points as possible (by the way, the Giants were a very respectable 11th in the NFL on third-down conversions). In 2011, the Giants set a franchise record with 6,161 yards, which broke the record set in 2010 of 6,085 yards – they are the only two 6,000-yard seasons in Giants history. Gilbride was calling the plays. He also called the plays in two Super Bowl victories. Under Gilbride, the Giants gain a lot of yards and score a lot of points and players like
