gilbride-manning-coughlin.jpg

Splitting quarterback Eli Manning and offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride, middle, might not be the best solution to the Giants' problems.

(Jim O'Connor-USA TODAY Sports)

NEW YORK – Before the 2013 Giants season began, Kevin Gilbride told his wife, Deborah, that he would retire if he wasn’t offered a head coaching job in 2014.

He had a chance with the Chargers back in 1997-98 and was hoping for just one more. As the seasons dragged on, teams looked at the 62-year-old as a less viable candidate. This much he understood.

As a dismal 7-9 season was coming to a close with the Giants, he knew he would step aside. He said the option for him to return was there, but it was time to move back to Rhode Island and spend time with his family.

“If I wanted to stay coaching I would have stayed with the Giants,” Gilbride said at the PKD Foundation benefit in Manhattan Thursday night. “That’s as close to Rhode Island as I’m going to get, unless I went with the Patriots.”

In his retirement, Gilbride was made a scapegoat of sorts after an injury-riddled offense sputtered to a 28th overall finish (307.5yards/game). But the coach is far from shouldering all the blame for what had happened, or accepting the rumors that he would have been forced out had he not retired – a claim that Tom Coughlin denied.

“I’m kind of surprised to hear him say that,” Gilbride said when asked about general manager Jerry Reese saying it was time for a change. “No one had figured that offense out for 24 years. To think that they figured it out this year would be pretty ludicrous. I think it was pretty obvious what the problems were. We had a confluence of injuries, we were very weak on the offensive line. We had some guys who struggled. We started six different offensive tailbacks, three different fullbacks, three different right guards, four different centers … You’re not going to have anything (with that). You can say it’s the offense, but it’s pretty clear what the problem was.”

Gilbride said he saw cracks in the Giants roster in 2012, and thought it was a matter of when – not if – a pitfall was coming.

“I certainly have expressed those concerns for a number of years,” Gilbride said. “It wasn’t a matter of if, it was a matter of when it was going to happen.”

Combined with a few other issues – Gilbride said he had “one guy playing” at wide receiver, which was Victor Cruz – there wasn’t much room for the system to thrive.

He thought that owner John Mara’s post-season comment about the misuse of wide receiver Jerrel Jernigan – “I’m not sure why it took us three years to figure out he could play” – was a “cheap shot.”

He saw it as some post-season frustration. He admitted that everyone – coaches, evaluators and players – needed to do a better job. But he wasn’t the only one.

“I didn’t understand it,” he said of Mara’s comment. “Because (Jernigan) had chances as a kick returner and he’d played before and hadn’t played well. I think it’s a great tribute to (wide receivers coach Kevin M. Gibride) and (quarterbacks coach Sean Ryan) that developed him and that he got on the field.”