Thank God The Giants Fired Strength And Conditioning Coach Jerry Palmieri
NJ.com- The Ben McAdoo era has arrived and it has come with changes. McAdoo has shaken up the Giants staff left behind by former coach Tom Coughlin. Among the changes is the removal of Jerry Palmieri as strength and conditioning coach, two individuals with knowledge of the situation told NJ Advance Media. He could be reassigned and remain in the organization in a lesser role.
Palmieri was a longtime confidante of former coach Tom Coughlin. Palmieri worked with Coughlin at Boston College, with the Jacksonville Jaguars and came to the Giants in 2004 with his former boss. But the Giants have been among the most injured teams in the NFL now for three consecutive seasons. They had 22 players finish the season on injured reserve or the physically unable to perform list, after finishing dead last in Football Outsiders’ adjusted games lost to injury metric each of the past two years.
Palmieri, offensive line coach Pat Flaherty and secondary/safety coach David Merritt were the only assistants that lasted Coughlin’s entire tenure from start to finish. Flaherty also will not return under McAdoo. Merritt is expected to be the only original Coughlin assistant retained.
Free at last, free at last. Thank God almighty we are free at last!!! Ben McAdoo you creepy but beautiful bastard. You have finally saved us from the evil clutches of Jerry Palmieri.
Now obviously it is always hard to pin the blame of your team’s injuries on one person, especially in the NFL where it’s basically a three-hour car accident every Sunday. But if your team consistently finishes among the leaders in games lost due to injury, a change should be made sooner or later. Casual fans shouldn’t know the name of their team’s trainers or strength coaches. If they do, there is clearly a problem. I experience this with the Mets too. The name Ray Ramirez angers Mets fans more than any name this side of Aaron Heilman for the same exact reason. Supposed minor injuries become lingering injuries that become season ending injuries. So either the Giants have had tremendously bad injury luck for years and years or another part of the equation is off. So see you later, Jerry and be sure to drop off a copy of your résumé with the Eagles, Cowboys, and Redskins. And I would say take the corpses of Jon Beason and Geoff Schwartz with you, but I’m sure this news will make Jerry Reese think the new strength and conditioning coach can save those two guys. Warm up their I.R. spots now.