It was another one of those marriages made in heaven. This was the adult head coach with head-coaching experience and the offensive chops to give Eli Manning one last hurrah and then at some point nurture and guide the next franchise quarterback — who turned out to be Daniel Jones — to carry the Big Blue torch back to the Super Bowl.
Pat Shurmur was a breath of fresh air summoned to revive a fallen franchise reeling from bad drafts and the botched termination of the icon quarterback’s iron man streak.
The lights went out the day Shurmur was introduced in the auditorium, and he won the press conference when he smiled and joked: “And we’re off.