Keidel: Guys With Plenty Of NFL Cred Applauding Shurmur To Giants

By Jason Keidel
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Once you hit 40 and the pages flip faster down the calendar, you've likely found yourself watching a sporting event next to a younger person. Be it at a bar or a buddy's house, you turn to the younger fella and say about a given player, "I remember when his dad played."

You get that look back from the youngster, a mixed gaze of confusion and sympathy. A look that implies, "Man, you're old."

So when you hear the New York Giants are close to hiring Pat Shurmur, that thought bubble pops up, thinking you know his old man. Actually, it's his uncle, Fritz Shurmur, who was pacing NFL sidelines for a quarter-century as a defensive line coach or coordinator.

His nephew, Pat, the presumed front-runner to lead Big Blue in 2018, is the man behind the offense of the Minnesota Vikings.

Bill Polian, who knows something about building teams, thinks Shurmur is a home run for the G-Men. Polian, a six-time NFL Executive of the Year who was recently enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, says that Shurmur is the perfect blend of brain and experience. Polian is not just a football lifer, but is also from the Bronx, played college ball for NYU and knows the media vortex of the Big Apple.

MORE: 5 Facts About Pat Shurmur

While Vikings fans and beat reporters can speak more adroitly to Shurmur's long-term gridiron deeds, it's hard to argue with the job he's done with the club's offense this year. Minnesota lost their franchise QB, Teddy Bridgewater, to a gruesome injury before the 2016 season. Then they lost his backup, the always-mangled Sam Bradford, to yet another injury in September.

Enter Case Keenum, the ultimate NFL gypsy and backup quarterback. Every week, Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer refused to give Keenum the gig for good, and practically each week Keenum stacked another win on their record. Shurmur has Keenum playing like a franchise QB and has revamped the offensive line that sprung myriad leaks in 2017.

Shurmur not only is winning with a third-string QB, he also dealt flawlessly with the loss of their all-world rookie running back, Dalvin Cook, after just a few games, making it work with Raiders castoff Latavius Murray and Jerick McKinnon. Keenum also just threw perhaps the most memorable pass in team history on Sunday, the 61-yard catch-and-run by Stefon Diggs that beat the Saints as time expired in the divisional round. (The actual name of the play called in the huddle was "Heaven." Seriously.)

Don't be bothered by the fact that Shurmur has a 10-23 record as a head coach. In fact, he should be paraded around the Meadowlands for getting nine wins in two years with the Cleveland Browns, a Lombardian mark considering they've gone 1-31 the last two seasons and have started about two dozen quarterbacks this young century. (He also earned one win as the Eagles' interim head coach in 2015.)

LISTEN: Boomer & Gio React To News That Shurmur Is Expected To Be Next Giants Coach

The NFL is rife with head coaches who found their voice and mojo during their second turn on the sidelines. You don't like to think of your maiden NFL coaching gig as a de facto audition, but it often is. Don Shula, Tom Coughlin, Tony Dungy, Dick Vermeil, Jon Gruden and Pete Carroll are samples of coaches who won Super Bowls with their second teams. As is today's coaching master emeritus, Bill Belichick, who was canned by the Browns in the 1990s.

Shurmur has been coaching NFL offenses since 1999, when he was working with the tight ends and the offensive line of the Philadelphia Eagles, his opponent this Sunday. Polian is not the only former pro football executive to sing Shurmur's praises. Louis Riddick, another former Eagles employee, says Shurmur has the perfect blend of attitude and aptitude to lead the Giants for years.

This space pined for Josh McDaniels to get the Big Blue gig. In the meantime, the Patriots' offensive coordinator was apparently smart enough to take the job with the rare bad franchise (Colts) with a franchise quarterback (Andrew Luck). Reports say the Colts have all but handed the headset to McDaniels, who can't officially sign until the Pats win or lose the Super Bowl. (Yes, they will beat the Jaguars.)

Maybe the G-Men got accidentally better by courting Shurmur. What if Shurmur is indeed the best man for the job? We can predict or project only so much with assistant coaches. Since the miracle TD by Diggs sends the Vikings to the NFC title game, the Giants can't offer Shurmur the head coaching job until his season ends. If it ends with the first hometown team playing in a Super Bowl, then that's more than enough to become the new man of MetLife.

Please follow Jason on Twitter at @JasonKeidel