It’s 1978 all over again.
A plane flying over MetLife Stadium Sunday morning carried a banner with a scathing message for Giants co-owner John Mara:
“MR MARA ENOUGH – PLZ FIX THIS DUMPSTER FIRE,” the black, block letters read across the sky.
“MR MARA ENOUGH – PLZ FIX THIS DUMPSTER FIRE” banner being flown over and around MetLife Stadium before today’s #Giants #Saints game pic.twitter.com/K1adqBWGQT
— Pat Leonard (@PLeonardNYDN) December 8, 2024
Mara saw this 46 years ago on the doorstep of what he once called “no question the low point in the history of the franchise.”
The 1978 Giants had missed the playoffs for a 15th consecutive season, and that wasn’t the worst of it. They had suffered an unfathomable last-minute Nov. 19 home loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on “The Fumble,” Joe Pisarcik’s turnover when a kneel-down would have sealed victory, returned for a touchdown by Herman Edwards.
Fans later protested and burned tickets in the Giants Stadium parking lot. Then one fan flew a rented plane over the field during a Dec. 10 win over the St. Louis Cardinals with a sign that read: “15 Years of Lousy Football….We’ve Had Enough.”
The Giants fired coach John McVay and ended Andy Robustelli’s tenure as director of operations. And that preceded an infamous Feb. 1979 dueling press conference featuring Mara’s father, Wellington, and Tim Mara, John’s cousin.
This comparison obviously puts Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll in regrettable company, but it’s where they belong.
It’s hard to imagine them returning for a fourth season, if they even make it past Monday morning.
Back in 1979, NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle famously recommended George Young as the Giants’ new director of operations and first true general manager because neither Wellington or Tim Mara would accept each other’s candidates.
In reality, Mara confirmed that his father Wellington had been tipped off about Young, the Miami Dolphins’ director of pro scouting, by former Giants Frank Gifford and Tom Scott. And he had suggested that Rozelle pitch Young as an objective party.
Regardless, the point is that when it gets this bad and the fans show this level of disgust, sweeping Giants change follows.
