Another day, another fire to put out in East Rutherford. This much we know for sure—going forward, Marc Colombo will no longer be the Giants’ offensive line coach. News of Colombo’s surprise firing trickled in around lunchtime Wednesday afternoon with explosive rumors, including this doozy from Fox Sports’ Jason McIntyre, making the rounds on social media.
McIntyre’s juicy claim that Colombo and head coach Joe Judge came to blows was instantly debunked with virtually every reporter on the Giants beat dismissing the rumored dustup as pure fiction. That’s probably for the best as Judge would have been at a significant size disadvantage against the towering Colombo, a former NFL tackle for the Bears, Cowboys and Dolphins. Even for the Giants, who are nobody’s idea of a well-run franchise, a physical altercation between coaches would have represented a quantum leap in organizational dysfunction.
With McIntyre’s myth (though admittedly fun to imagine) dispelled, what actually prompted Colombo’s stunning midseason departure? According to multiple sources including NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo, Judge had planned to hire his former Patriots colleague Dave DeGuglielmo as an offensive line consultant, a decision that predictably rubbed Colombo the wrong way.
Jones later reported that Judge and Colombo did get into a verbal argument and the offensive line coach called his boss "one of the dirtiest words in the English language."
After Colombo, who followed offensive coordinator Jason Garrett from Dallas to New York this offseason, made his displeasure known, Judge and company decided to move on. Only two teams in the sport have permitted more sacks than the Giants this season with New York’s offensive line, led by first-round rookie Andrew Thomas, largely struggling to protect its golden goose, quarterback Daniel Jones.
That’s not as sexy a narrative as Judge and Colombo throwing haymakers in the hallway of MetLife Stadium, but it’s significantly more plausible. Judge’s debut season in the Big Apple has been anything but smooth. His hard-nosed approach to practice (including the laughably arcane practice of making players run punishment laps) has garnered eye-rolls while Golden Tate’s erratic behavior of late has also been a distraction within New York’s locker room. Despite the near-endless supply of chaos, the 3-7 Giants are miraculously still within striking distance in what is shaping up to be a historically inept NFC East.
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