Pat Leonard’s NFL Notes: Giants DC Pat Graham expected to receive head coaching interest

The Giants are losing, and when teams lose, their coordinators don’t get head coaching interviews.

Usually.

But when Giants defensive coordinator Pat Graham was left off an NFL list of 11 vetted minority head coaching candidates for 2022, it didn’t add up to many people around the NFL.

“Pat Graham should be on that list,” one league executive with no connection to Graham told the Daily News.

Graham, 42, turned down the Jets’ interview offer last offseason after his defense was the backbone of a resilient 6-10 Giants team that nearly made the playoffs.

Joe Judge’s second Giants season has slipped to 4-11 with two games to play, losing four straight and five of their last six. But the offense has been their downfall.

Graham’s gameplans have kept the Giants in most of the games they’ve lost. And his defense pretty much is solely responsible for three of the Giants’ four wins.

There was the 25-3 snuff-out of the Carolina Panthers on Oct. 24. There was the 23-16 win over the Las Vegas Raiders on Nov. 7, when safety Xavier McKinney returned an interception for a touchdown.

And there was the Giants’ 13-7 win over the Eagles on Nov. 28 when Graham’s defense turned over Philadelphia’s offense six times.

That is why sources still expect Graham to receive head coaching interest for a second straight year, even as the team continues to lose.

Graham has done this without middle linebacker Blake Martinez and strong safety Jabrill Peppers. He’s done it with top corner James Bradberry having a down year. He’s done it with players in and out of the lineup due to COVID-19 and injuries, and with very little edge talent rushing the quarterback.

The early part of the season was messy as Graham tried to incorporate more man coverage and extra schemes, but when the personnel couldn’t handle it, he returned more to the match-zone coverages and zones that served him best in 2020.

“To me, you just keep working, trying to find a way,” Graham said just before Christmas of how he puts a game plan together. “Watch the tape, keep grinding through the tape. I constantly just keep looking at it even the night before. I learned that when I was in New England.”

Judge said Graham’s ability to take away offenses’ top players boils down to the Bill Belichick approach taken from Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War,” which is to attack an opponent’s weaknesses, use one’s own strengths, and protect one’s own weaknesses from being exploited.

Judge (2012-19) and Graham (2009-15) worked together on Belichick’s Patriots staff and now collaborate on the Giants’ weekly defensive game plan and its fit to the whole. Graham spent a year with the Packers’ linebackers and another as the Dolphins’ coordinator before following Judge to New York.

Graham’s work ethic is as revered as his in-game calls. He joked recently that he hates holidays during the season because he just considers them another work day. Captain Logan Ryan said that sounded a lot like his DC.

“Pat is very extreme in that sense, a little Grinch when it comes to those things,” Ryan said with a laugh. “But it’s the truth. That’s Pat. He works and works and works and that’s what he’s known for, and it’s worked out well for him. Pat gives it all for our organization and he’s a great family man, too.”

Would Graham get hired if he interviews? Who’s to say. Would the Giants give him another raise to deter him from interviewing, like they did with the Jets? Maybe.

There is respect for Graham around the league, though, even if the Giants are losing, and even if the NFL inexplicably overlooked him, too.

HEARTBREAK IN CHICAGO

Chicago-based ESPN reporter Jeff Dickerson died tragically of complications from colon cancer at age 44 last Tuesday, two years after his wife Caitlin died of cancer, as well. They are survived by an 11-year-old son, Parker.

So the sports world stepped up this past week to support Parker Dickerson, helping to push the “Parker’s Fund” GoFundMe page over $1 million raised. The Green Bay Packers, Chicago Bears, Washington Football Team and Indianapolis Colts all donated $25,000 apiece, leading the way as several other organizations and owners contributed, including the Jets ($10,000).

ESPN national newsbreaker Adam Schefter promoted the page to his 8.9 million followers to help drive the fundraising, and Schefter committed $5,000 himself to put it over a million total entering the New Year.

SMALL BEN

Ben Roethlisberger said this week that “all signs are pointing to this could be it,” his final game at Heinz Field on Monday Night Football against the Cleveland Browns. Roethlisberger, 39, a future Hall of Famer, is expected to retire at season’s end.

It’s all so anticlimactic, however, for a player who once loomed so large. Similar to the Giants’ reluctance to part with Eli Manning, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ insistence on letting Roethlisberger dictate the timing and terms of his sendoff has dragged the franchise down.

The Steelers (7-7-1) have a chance to make the playoffs but are unlikely to do so. The preferred narrative in Pittsburgh is to blame the oversized personalities of their skill players for the team’s shortcomings. The quarterback has been a problem and it’s past time he goes.

KIRK AND KARMA

Unvaccinated Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins described a “survival of the fittest” personal approach to COVID-19 back in July 2020.

“If I die, I die,” Cousins said then on the “10 Questions With Kyle Brandt” podcast.

Now, Cousins has tested positive and is out for the Vikings’ critical game against the Green Bay Packers, with Minnesota (7-8) the NFC’s eighth seed and first team out of a current playoff spot.

Unvaccinated Indianapolis Colts QB Carson Wentz was fortunate to see the NFL’s COVID policies changed this week with the CDC’s to welcome back any player five days after a positive test.

So Wentz was activated off the reserve list on Saturday and is expected to be available for Sunday’s game against the Las Vegas Raiders.

AROUND THE LEAGUE

Washington head coach Ron Rivera and defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio have a lot to answer for after last week’s embarrassing 56-14 loss at Dallas. Defensive lineman Daron Payne and Jonathan Allen were swinging at each other on the sidelines. There are some people in the NFL who believe the Washington coaching staff bears monitoring if this slide continues. … Cincinnati Bengals QB Joe Burrow completed 37 of 46 passes for 525 yards, four TDs, no turnovers and a 143.2 QB rating in a 41-21 win over the Baltimore Ravens last week. It was the fourth-most passing yards in a single game all-time. The top three? Norm Van Brocklin’s 554 for the L.A. Rams in 1951, Matt Schaub’s 527 for the Houston Texans in 2012, and Warren Moon’s 527 for the Houston Oilers in 1990. The AFC North-leading Bengals (9-6) host the Kansas City Chiefs (11-4), the AFC’s top seed, on Sunday in Week 17′s most intriguing matchup.

THEY SAID IT

“I was going to say eat less, but then I’d feel like Pinocchio.” — Chiefs coach Andy Reid on his New Year’s resolution.