EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - New York Giants head coach Tom Coughlin says the team needs to revive their defense, and to that end Wednesday fired defensive coordinator Perry Fewell.
Defensive backs coach Peter Giunta was also relieved of his duty.
New York fielded an improved offensive eleven under new offensive boss Ben McAdoo, though the Giants' stoppers ranked 29th in football, allowing 25 points per game this season, the league's ninth-most, and the fourth-most yards every Sunday (375.8). They also permitted a league-worst 4.9 yards per rush from opposing backs.
"No one person is responsible for what happened in this year," head coach Tom Coughlin said in a team statement. "That has to be loud and clear. If there is any one person responsible, it is me. It is not Perry Fewell. It is not Peter Giunta. Both of them are outstanding football coaches in their own way."
Coughlin was given the authority to restructure the team's coaching staff by general manager Jerry Reese and owner John Mara, who okayed Coughlin's job status soon after season's end.
"These are two outstanding men and outstanding football coaches," the coach added of Fewell and Giunta. "It is very hard in this business to find people that are not only good football coaches but outstanding human beings who are trustworthy, loyal, and honest. Perry and Peter are all that."
According to ESPN, former Atlanta Falcons head coach Mike Smith and former Oakland Raiders boss Dennis Allen are considered possible replacements for Fewell, who spent five years with the Giants, including their Super Bowl run of 2011-12. He previously served four years in the same position with the Buffalo Bills, and was their interim head coach for one season.
"The simple fact of the matter is in the circumstance that we find ourselves, change is necessary," Coughlin said. "That may not be the most eloquent way of saying it, but that is what I am confronted with. The hope always is invigoration. You are going to stimulate. It is with great deliberation over a lengthy period of time throughout a thorough investigation and evaluation of what went on that I came to the conclusion that change was necessary. There are no hard feelings on my part about anything that anybody has done.
"The hard feelings are the six wins. That is the reality. It is unfortunate, but it is true."
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