Giants owners say McAdoo staying as coach until season's end

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) - Ben McAdoo is staying as coach of the New York Giants, at least until the end of the season.

Giants co-owners John Mara and Steve Tisch issued a statement Monday saying while they are frustrated and disappointed with the Giants' 1-8 record, they won't evaluate the team and make any moves until the end of the season.

McAdoo's future has been a major topic the past two weeks in the wake of a 34-point home loss to the Los Angeles Rams a little more than a week ago, then an embarrassing loss to a San Francisco 49ers team that was winless until Sunday.

The owners said the 40-year-old McAdoo has their support. The Giants have not fired a coach in the middle of the season since 1976.

"We are in the midst of an extremely disappointing season," the owners said in the statement. "Our performance this year, particularly the past two weeks, is inexcusable and frustrating. While we appreciate that our fans are unhappy with what has occurred, nobody is more upset than we are.

"Our plan is to do what we have always done, which is to not offer a running commentary on the season," the statement continued. "It is our responsibility to determine the reasons for our poor performance and at the end of the year, we will evaluate the 2017 season in its entirety and make a determination on how we move forward."

The situation got even tougher for McAdoo last week when two anonymous players were quoted by ESPN as saying he had lost the team, some players had quit and that players were angry about an inordinate amount of fines.

The coach also caught some flak for suspending cornerbacks Janoris Jenkins and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie in the last month for violations of team rules. They are both popular with teammates.

McAdoo replaced Tom Coughlin as head coach last year and led the Giants to an 11-5 record and their first playoff berth since the 2011 season. They were blown out by the Green Bay Packers in the wild-card game.

Much was expected this season with a good defense almost entirely returning and the offense bolstered by the signing of free agent receiver Brandon Marshall and the addition of tight end Evan Engram, the first-round draft pick.

General manager Jerry Reese made a calculated risk to keep a weak offensive line together in hopes that the blockers would blossom.

Almost everything went wrong.

Marshall was a bust, then he and offensive catalyst Odell Beckham Jr. suffered season-ending ankle injuries against the Chargers on Oct. 8 in the team's fifth straight loss.

The line has been horrible and banged-up for most of the season.

While the defense has played well at times, it has failed to hold fourth-quarter leads early in the season and given up way too many big plays lately.

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