John Mara will walk out of MetLife Stadium around 5 p.m. Saturday, get in his car and make the familiar drive from East Rutherford to his Westchester home where he will celebrate Christmas Eve with his family.
Mara’s mood that night, whether frightful or delightful, will determine the direction of the Giants for years to come.
If his holiday is filled with cheer and good tidings, bathed in a brilliant (and blue-tinged) afterglow of a freshly-minted victory over the Jets, Mara will no doubt raise a glass to Tom Coughlin for a present that keeps on giving.
If, however, Mara can’t shake the sight of Rex Ryan pumping his fist in jubilation, can’t purge the sound of “J-E-T-S … Jets, Jets, Jets!’’ from his ringing ears and can’t shake the feeling of another downcast locker room after yet another late-season disappointment, it is going to be difficult for Mara to eat a festive meal with his stomach in knots. The same goes for Mara’s partner, co-owner Steve Tisch, who won’t be all aglow if the Giants darken his day.
Mara always scoffs at these declarations, shakes his head at the win-he-stays, lose-he-goes stake that gets hammered into the heart of too many games in too many seasons. The history, the track record handed down by his late father, Wellington, is one of stability and continuity. The Giants have had five head coaches in the past 28 years and three general managers in the past 32 years.
Wellington Mara always set as a minimum standard for a season that the Giants play meaningful games in the month of December. If the Giants lose to the Jets and the Cowboys beat the Eagles, the Giants are eliminated from playoff contention and the New Year’s Day showdown with the Cowboys will be a meaningless game in a lifeless stadium. Wellington Mara always said he could take the boos because it was the sound of passion. Apathy was, and is, the true enemy.
Any game against the Jets is unlike the fight with the other 30 NFL teams. There is added significance and emotional surges coursing through the organization whenever the Giants beat one of their division rivals — Ten days ago, Mara’s head nearly hit the roof of Jerry Jones’ football palace when he erupted out of his seat after Jason Pierre-Paul’s blocked field goal at Cowboys Stadium.
There is nothing quite like the Jets to bring out what, at times, feels like a sophomoric yearning for supremacy. These teams are MetLife Stadium business partners in the same vein that Jimmy Darmody and Manny “Munya’’ Horvitz were allies in “Boardwalk Empire.’’ Can you say Unholy Alliance? The Giants don’t mind the Jets — as long as they stay in their place, behind the long-standing and rightful monarchs of the city’s football throne.
“Media, ownership, fans, coaches, players, when those two teams play, it’s a heightened deal, you can’t deny it,’’ former Giants coach Jim Fassel told The Post yesterday. “Just another game? No, it’s not just another game.’’
Fassel did wonders for himself by going 2-0 against the Jets, pounding Bill Parcells’ club in 1999 and winning in overtime in 2003 in what turned out to be Fassel’s last victory.
“Without going into it completely, the first one, when we beat ’em pretty good, ownership was ecstatic,’’ Fassel said. “It was different than just a win.’’
How different? Fassel listed the two regular-season games against the Jets as the second- and third-most pressure-packed games he ever coached with the Giants. The first? The 2000 playoff opener vs. the Eagles.
“It’s still one win or one loss but it’s huge to your fan base,’’ Fassel said of the battles with the Jets. “I mean, it’s unbelievable. It’s undeniable there are some games that are just emotionally a lot more at stake.’’
This is one of those games — all the trimmings of Giants-Jets, plus the playoff implications for both sides.
The appetite for a coaching search is just not there, but two more losses — that would make it seven out of eight — forces Mara to answer the question he always asks of his team: Is the arrow pointing up or down? Three straight non-playoff years and three straight fade-outs down the stretch will strain even Mara’s patience and commitment to Coughlin.
Mara would rather not have to justify the decision to bring Coughlin back — he prefers it come naturally. That means Mara needs something more than a Hess truck (it’s back and better than ever) under the tree this year. A gift-wrapped victory over the Jets is on the list. It’s Coughlin’s job to bring it home.
Coughlin laments lack of locker room leadership
The Vogue buzzwords are out and about, the latest fingering the “lack of leadership’’ in the Giants’ locker room.
Is rookie Prince Amukamara lost in space because Sam Madison isn’t there to guide him or is he just not ready? Does Jacquian Williams make weekly mistakes because he is a rookie linebacker or because there is no Harry Carson on the scene to show him the way? Is Justin Tuck not applying pressure on the quarterback because he’s hurting all over or because Michael Strahan is not all over him?
Brian Williams, a tough guy who played center for the Giants for a decade (1989-99), used to grumble about linking those who talk the most with leadership. Figures you get that from an offensive lineman. Tom Coughlin harkened back to days gone by when he said peer pressure in the locker room is there, just not as forcefully as it used to be.
“I wish there was more,’’ Coughlin said. “I don’t know that necessarily that’s the way that it is in our league anymore, but I wish it was.’’
Tuck was always considered a leader-by-example type when he was getting 12 sacks a season. Now? Not so much. As always, the most effective leadership is getting into the end zone, or making sure the opponent does not.