Giants Country

How New York Giants Head Coach Brian Daboll Handled Team's Training Camp Skirmish

Tempers flared during the team's padded practice Monday, but head coach Brian Daboll handled the situation admirably.

Patricia Traina

In this story:

New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll has said all along that it's his hope to see his team practice in a physical and intense manner this summer.

What Daboll didn't want to see was stupidity, such as what erupted during the team's Monday practice when tempers got the best of the players on a hot and humid day, leading to a bench-clearing brawl.

The incident began with running back Saquon Barkley's lowering his shoulder and plowing into cornerback Aaron Robinson. Inside linebacker Tae Crowder took issue with Barkley's hit against Robinson, so on the ensuing play, the linebacker took out his brewing anger against running back Antonio Williams, who came in for Barkley on the series.

Crowder delivered what was, at least in the estimation of center Jon Felciano, a harder than necessary hit against the running back. Feliciano then went after Crowder and somehow ended up n the ground. 

Then linebacker Cam Brown was seen dragging Feliciano out of a pile by his jersey, further escalating the tempers. Brown and Feliciano were soon throwing punches at each other.

Daboll, while certainly not happy that the players lost their cool, kept his. There was no expletive-laced tirade loud enough to be heard two towns over as there was last year when head coach Joe Judge angrily ripped into his players following a similar type of fracas. 

Daboll is also not believed to have kicked anyone out of practice, nor did he order the team to run wind sprints as a punishment. 

Instead, the head coach treated the team like adults. He gathered them around him for several minutes, in which he presumably issued a stern reminder to be smart during the dog days of summer. 

"The theme of course was the physicality, just showing that we’re a physical team and things are going to happen, again, when it’s hot outside and guys are just putting their nose in the dirt and trying to play ball," said tight end Daniel Bellinger when asked about the gist of Daboll's message to the team. 

"But at the end of the day, he says that, ‘losing teams do that,’ so, at the end of the day we’ve got to come out there and be physical, but we’ve got to be smart as well."

Bellinger added that Daboll didn't threaten the players with any sort of punishment if the fracas carrie over. "He liked the physicality part. He wants to keep going and playing hard--just play smart as well."

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Patricia Traina
PATRICIA TRAINA

Patricia Traina has covered the New York Giants for 30+ seasons, and her work has appeared in multiple media outlets, including The Athletic, Forbes, Bleacher Report, and the Sports Illustrated media group. As a credentialed New York Giants press corps member, Patricia has also covered five Super Bowls (three featuring the Giants), the annual NFL draft, and the NFL Scouting Combine. She is the author of The Big 50: The Men and Moments that Made the New York Giants. In addition to her work with New York Giants On SI, Patricia hosts the Locked On Giants podcast. Patricia is also a member of the Pro Football Writers of America and the Football Writers Association of America.

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