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The same people who hired Ben McAdoo and Jerry Reese and who have fired them will now hire their replacements. What could go wrong?

Giants co-owners John Mara and Steve Tisch thought it would be a good idea to make McAdoo the head coach. It went about as badly as it could have gone. So what will they do next?

The retention of former G.M. Ernie Accorsi to serve as a consultant for the process provides a layer of protection, even if it was Accorsi who handed the baton to Reese, and even if McAdoo traces directly to Accorsi, who hired Coughlin — who hired, eventually, McAdoo. That said, hiring Accorsi to be a consultant means that the Giants eventually will be hiring a friend, crony, colleague, etc. of Accorsi to be the G.M., and the new G.M. may be inclined to recommend someone who will be sufficiently grateful so as to accept and heed any armchair advice from Accorsi.

That still may be better than whatever Mara and Tisch would do on their own. Indeed, common sense suggests it was a failure to protect Mara and Tisch from themselves in connection with the misguided benching of Eli Manning that got McAdoo and Reese fired. Now, Accorsi’s primary job will be to nudge the owners away from making yet another mistake.

For more on this, the Gronkowski suspension, the Vikings, the Ravens, and more, check out Monday’s PFT PM podcast.