How New York Giants Head Coach Brian Daboll Can Save His Job
If New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll is truly worried about his job security beyond this season, he’s not letting on as he tries to get the Giants to the finish line of what has been a very difficult–and disappointing 2024 season.
“I think you focus on your team. You focus on our staff, our coaches, players, and going out there to get the kind of performance and result we all want,” he said when asked last Friday about his job security.
“We have a lot of confidence in our people. Obviously, it's not where we want to be by any stretch of the imagination. So, we just keep working hard to fix the things we need to fix.”
Despite the disappointing results, if there were arguments to retain Daboll for another season, one could point to the messy quarterback situation, which has sabotaged the offense's growth for two straight seasons, one due to injuries and the most recent one due to performance.
Another argument for retaining Daboll, who is 8-21 in the two seasons since his 2022 Coach of the Year performance, is that among those 21 losses, 11 have been by two scores or more, with just four of this year’s ten losses falling into that category.
Granted, though, those arguments probably won’t be enough to salvage Daboll unless, perhaps, he’s willing to concede the following changes.
Replace Defensive Coordinator Shane Bowen
Shane Bowen might be a good defensive coordinator with the right personnel, but in his one season with the Giants? The results have indicated that his philosophies haven’t exactly meshed as well with the personnel as all had hoped would be the case.
Why? Because when you see the promise of cornerback Deonte Banks, who thrived in press-man coverage struggle because he’s being asked to play more zone, and you see a fall-off from inside linebacker Bobby Okereke’s performance a year ago, it’s not so much that those players suddenly fell off a cliff in terms of production as it is a question as to whether what they’re being asked to do within the scheme is a fit for their respective talents.
The Giants, remember, looked at multiple defensive coordinator candidates last year after Wink Martindale angrily resigned. There was a report that the Giants “settled” on Bowen after being spurned by other top choices, such as Dennard Wilson, who went to the Titans.
While it’s not necessarily a good look for a head coach to keep cycling through coordinators–don’t forget that the team could very well end up losing offensive coordinator Mike Kafka this coming offseason–if Daboll is retained, he can ill-afford to have the wrong people in place in what would potentially be a make-or-break year for him in 2025.
Adjust Preseason Play Time
One of the biggest and worst excuses a head coach can give for a team’s slow start out of the gate is that the first few weeks of the regular season are “extensions” of the preseason.
That belief needs to be retired because, unlike the preseason games, the regular season games count toward the standings.
That’s why, moving forward, Daboll might want to reconsider how he distributes preseason game snaps to his starters and key reserves. Given the staff's newness and the systems in place, the starters saw more snaps in his first season.
Those snaps gradually shrunk over the next two preseasons. Daboll’s logic was that because players were getting quality work in the joint practices, there was no need to play them in the game; instead, the time could be spent looking at the rest of the 90-man roster.
That has to change. Joint practices, while productive, are held in controlled environments. Quarterbacks don’t have to worry about being hit; sometimes, they develop an inaccurate sense of timing for how long they have to throw the ball.
Defensive players, meanwhile, are urged not to tackle in live drills during joint practices. And how should they sharpen those skills if they can’t practice tackling in live games or practices?
Again, I realize the challenges of evaluating 90 players over the summer. But there is zero reason not to give the starters at least a quarter’s worth of action, as that sure beats having them go nearly a month between the second preseason game and the start of the season.
Rely Less on Analytics
Serious question for anyone out there who might know. What did NFL coaches do back in the day before analytics became a “thing”? Didn’t the game have some amazing coaches and games that came about due to “feel” or common sense back then?
I understand that analytics is the “thing” right now, but how many times has Daboll decided to go for two points or try a fourth down based on analytics that, in retrospect, was the wrong move?
I also get that every play is designed to work and that if a play works, the coach looks brilliant, whereas if it doesn’t, he looks like a fool.
That all said, I can’t help but wonder what might have happened if some of these decisions had been made based on the flow of the game rather than what some mathematical equation that doesn’t necessarily take into consideration the human element has to say.
Final Thoughts: Does Daboll Deserve Another Chance?
Despite the team's struggles over the last two years, I believe Daboll deserves one more season. We all saw what he could do when the team had decent quarterback play in 2022. The Giants haven’t had that since, and the results have suffered.
If this team can settle its quarterback situation and address the deficiencies on the defensive side of the ball, where they need a better scheme and additional help on the defensive line and at cornerback, things will start looking up.
That said, the challenge, if there are any plans to tweak the coaching staff, is whether a coordinator will want to come to the Giants to work for a head coach who, if he has another bad season in 2025, will almost certainly be shown the door.
It’s a difficult decision, and although team co-owner John Mara gave Daboll a vote of confidence earlier this year, the Giants, at the very least, need to be competitive in these remaining few games if Daboll is to be back in 2025.