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Giants fire coach Ben McAdoo and general manager Jerry Reese, source says

Ben McAdoo speaks at a news conference after the New York Giants' loss to the Oakland Raiders on Dec. 3.
(Marcio Jose Sanchez / Associated Press)
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Coach Ben McAdoo and general manager Jerry Reese were fired Monday by the New York Giants less than one year after taking the team to the playoffs for the first time since 2011, a person familiar with the situation said.

McAdoo and Reese were fired a day after the Giants were beaten in Oakland and dropped to 2-10, according to the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the team had not made an official announcement.

The firings cap an injury-marred season highlighted by the loss of catalyst wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. on Oct. 8.

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The moves also came less than a week after the 40-year-old McAdoo made one of his biggest mistakes of his short tenure, mishandling the decision to bench two-time Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning. The move led co-owner John Mara to admit he wished the decision had been handled better.

Reese was in his 11th season as GM, starting in 2007, the season the team won the Super Bowl. The Giants won a title again after the 2011 season, but Reese has been under fire in recent years with the team now missing the playoff in five of six years.

McAdoo posted a 13-16 record, and his firing is the first mid-season head coaching move by the Giants since Bill Arnsparger was replaced seven games into the 1976 season by John McVay.

The 2-10 mark is the Giants’ worst 12-game record since they were 2-10 in 1976, and their worst mark since the advent of the 16-game schedule in 1978.

No one could have expected going into the season that the Giants would be replacing a coach before it finished. They came in with Super Bowl expectations coming off an 11-6 record in McAdoo’s first season.

Those expectations ended quickly as the Giants lost their first five games, the last three after the defense failed to hold fourth-quarter leads.

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With the losses, word started to emerge that McAdoo was losing the team. His one-game suspensions of popular cornerbacks Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and Janoris Jenkins heightened the problem. According to several reports, some players also griped anonymously about having workouts on Saturdays, something the team also did last season.

Mara and co-owner Steve Tisch had come to McAdoo’s defense after an embarrassing loss to the then-winless 49ers on Nov. 12, saying his job was safe until the end of the season. His handling of the Manning benching seemed to seal his fate.

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