Giants’ Brian Daboll knows he needs to stop blowing a gasket so often
ORLANDO, Fla. — There was one word Brian Daboll kept coming back to in describing the way he attacks his job: Passionate.
Striking the right balance with that passion is something Daboll admits he continues to work on as he embarks on his third year as the head coach of the Giants.
There were shots of Daboll during his first season blowing his stack on the sideline but his team compiled a winning record and so the eruptions were less glaring.
Those emotive incidents increased in frequency and ferocity as the Giants in 2023 lost eight of their first 10 games and finished with an unsightly record of 6-11.
Daboll is who he is but he seems to realize that he can get better results if he chills out a bit.
“Look, every year there’s a self-evaluation process that goes on, whether I was a position coach, a coordinator, in this case a head coach,’’ Daboll said Tuesday morning at the NFL’s annual league meeting. “I’m a very passionate person but yeah, there’s times I wish I had handled things a little bit differently, certainly. So you continue to grow, you continue to evolve and that’s what I try to do every year.’’
Daboll and Giants co-owner John Mara speak regularly and so what Mara revealed a day earlier — “There are times where I wish he would tone it down a little bit’’ — was not news to Daboll. He knows he can be a bit like the contents of an aggressively shaken can of soda — when he is agitated, take cover.
There is also the explosive nature to the aftermath of last season, when defensive coordinator Wink Martindale, angered that Daboll was firing two defensive assistants loyal to Martindale, blew up in a brief and profanity-laced meeting that resulted in the Giants hiring Shane Bowen to run their defense and Martindale eventually landing the defensive coordinator job at Michigan.
Daboll was asked several times during a 30-minute session with the media — his first since the day after the season — about the unsavory way things went down and did not say Martindale’s name once.
“This is 24 years for me in the National Football League,’’ Daboll said. “There’s change every year. I’m excited to have Shane here and some of the new coaches.’’
Asked if he could have handled the situation differently, Daboll said, “I always try to keep things as private as they can, keep it in-house. The end of the season stuff is the end of the season stuff. I understand the question but looking forward to the 2024 season.’’
Bowen is one of seven changes to Daboll’s staff, leading to questions about how Daboll as a “passionate person’’ deals with his assistants. He came prepared with stats: 17 new defensive coordinators, 16 new offensive coordinators and seven new special teams coordinators around the league, although most of those comings and goings were the result of head-coaching changes.
Daboll does have a decision to make with Mike Kafka, the offensive coordinator who returns with a promotion, as Daboll added assistant head coach to Kafka’s job description. Daboll made his mark in the league as a play-caller but in his first head-coaching gig gave up those duties to concentrate his game-day focus on the entire field.
With the offensive line in shambles, Daniel Jones out with a neck injury, followed by a torn ACL and the team forced to use a practice squad player (Tommy DeVito) at quarterback, the Giants averaged 15.6 points a game. — only the Patriots and Panthers were more feeble in the scoring department. During the struggles, Daboll became more involved in the game-day offensive operation.
It is clear Daboll is considering taking over the play-calling on a full-time basis.
“It’s something I’m looking into,’’ he said. “I think there’s 20 head coaches at this time that call plays on both. Might be a little bit more. I’ve been doing a bunch of research but no decision’s been made. I’m still going through that process thinking about what we need to do.
“Whatever I feel is best for the football team, that’s where I’ll go.’’
Daboll said “certainly’’ when asked if he missed calling plays. “I did it for a long time,’’ he said.
It has been an eventful two years for Daboll. He won the NFL’s Coach of the Year award after his debut season and the Giants were non-contenders in his second year. The pressure, Daboll said, comes from within.
“I would say I’m a very passionate guy,’’ Daboll said. “I’m passionate about winning, I’m passionate about our organization, I’m passionate about our team. When we lose I’m very passionate. My focus is always ‘What can I do better? How can I be a better coach? How can I be a better leader?’ … Trying to do the best job I can, try to improve, focus on the things I can focus on to be the best version of myself to help the team, to help the players, to help the coaches and do everything I can do to help us win. And that’s the joy that I get out of it, winning football games. That’s why we all do this.’’
