Jets, Giants should both wait to evaluate their coaches

Optics matter in the NFL. They especially matter in the world of head-coach hirings. The New York Jets and New York Giants play on Sunday. Many are speculating the loser will be looking to replace their coach at the break of dawn come Monday. It’s the wrong move for both sides.

Should the Jets move on from Adam Gase after nine games, how can the franchise sell future coaches on having stability within the organization? Gase has been horrid to be sure, but he has also dealt with a crush of injuries including his starting quarterback for a month. Gase might deserve to be canned come January, but doing so before Thanksgiving would send a horrible message to potential candidates.

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With the Giants, the situation is a bit more complicated. Pat Shurmur is in his second year at the helm, but he also can point to plenty of reasons why the team has underperformed to this juncture. Shurmur was saddled with the corpse of Eli Manning last year before turning over the keys to rookie Daniel Jones. In Jones’ six starts, there have been promising flashes but also a ton of expected mistakes. Can’t blame Shurmur when the raw rookie fumbles because he held the ball too long.

The Giants also have to consider that they fired Ben McAdoo midseason in 2017. Firing two coaches during the season in a three-year period would be a bad look for a team that has long been very careful about the messages it sends out to fans and the league alike.

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While the pressure will mount significantly on the losing coach, the prudent move is to wait. There are seven more games for each side following the tilt, and although it’s unlikely either will Mae a strong push at the end, there’s little reason not to find out. Worse-case scenario? The Giants and Jets end up with a pair of high draft picks, only enticing a new coach even more.

MetLife Stadium is going to be a sad place on Sunday. The Jets were supposed to be a playoff contender this year. The Giants were supposed to be improved. Neither has seen acceptable progress. Come Sunday night, either the Giants will have sustained their worst loss of the year, or the Jets will have lost consecutive games to the Dolphins and Big Blue.

Fans will be shouting. Writers will be calling. The teams have to hang tough, and reevaluate after the campaign.