EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) – A small plane circled MetLife Stadium about 90 minutes before New York is set to play host to the New Orleans Saints on Sunday, asking Giants co-owner John Mara to overhaul the team that has made the playoffs twice. Won the Super Bowl in February 2012.
“Mr. Mara, enough. Please fix this dumpster fire!” The message read as it was towed behind a small plane.
The Giants entered the game with a 2-10 record and riding a seven-game losing streak that put coach Brian Double and general manager Joe Schoen on the hot seat. New York was 6-11 in 2023 after making the playoffs with a 9-7-1 record in the first season of the doubleheader in 2022. It has gone to the postseason since winning Super Bowl 46 in 2016.
The 2022 season was encouraging as the Giants won a playoff game against Minnesota, the first time they had done so since the playoffs following the 2011 season.
This offseason the organization released quarterback Daniel Jones less than halfway through a four-year, $160 million contract. He was released on November 22 when the Giants told him he would not play this season and he asked Mara to release him. The quarterback signed to the Vikings practice squad next week.
A similar incident occurred in the late 1970s when a plane chartered by fans flew over Giants Stadium with a trailing banner that read “15 Years of Lousy Football. … We’ve Had Enough.” From 1973-79, the Giants never won more than six games in a season, with the six wins coming in ’78 and ’79 when the NFL expanded from a 14-game to a 16-game regular season.
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