EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – A small plane circled MetLife Stadium roughly 90 minutes before New York was 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 since winning the Super Bowl in February 2012.
“Mr. Mara, enough. Please fix this dumpster fire!” the message read as it was towed behind the rear of a small plane.
The Giants entered the game with a 2-10 record and were riding a seven-game losing streak that has put coach Brian Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen on the hot seat. New York was 6-11 in 2023 after making the playoffs in Daboll’s first season in 2022 with a 9-7-1 record. The only other season it went to the postseason since winning Super Bowl 46 was in 2016.
The 2022 season was encouraging because the Giants won a playoff game against Minnesota, the first time they had done that since the playoffs after the 2011 season.
This season the organization released quarterback Daniel Jones less than halfway into a four-year, $160 million contract. He was released on Nov. 22 after the Giants told him he was not going to play again this season, and he asked Mara to release him. The quarterback signed with the Vikings practice squad the following week.
There was a similar incident in the late 1970s when a plane hired by fans flew over Giants Stadium with a trailing banner that read “15 Years of Lousy Football. … We’ve Had Enough.” Between 1973-79, the Giants won no 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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