The Giants have selected Brian Daboll, the Bills’ former offensive coordinator, as their next head coach, the team announced Friday nigh...
The Giants have selected Brian Daboll, the Bills’ former offensive coordinator, as their next head coach, the team announced Friday night. Daboll will join his colleague from Buffalo Joe Schoenwho earlier this week was announced as the new general manager of the Giants, trying to match the success the Bills have had over a period in which the Giants have cratered.
“I have a pretty good idea of how our fans are feeling right now, and I understand,” Daboll said in a statement. “I promise you that we will work hard to put a team on the pitch that you will be proud to support and give us the results that we all want.”
Since the Giants’ fourth Super Bowl victory in February 2012, the team has only made the playoffs once, a first-round exit in 2016, and has only two winning seasons. The past five seasons have been particularly lean, as the team won a total of 22 games during that span and finished the 2021 season with a 4-13 record. The result has been a revolving door at the head coaching job: Daboll will be the team’s fourth signing since 2016, a turnover that has felt particularly turbulent in the wake of Tom Coughlin’s 12 years in charge. of the team.
At Buffalo, Schoen was part of the new regime that ended the Bills’ 17-year playoff drought in 2017. The organizational renaissance continued with the arrival of Daboll alongside one-year quarterback Josh Allen. later. The team has won the AFC East twice since then and reached the AFC Championship Game last season.
Five days ago, Daboll called a Bills offense that had 422 yards and 36 points and came within 13 seconds of beating Kansas City on the road in the divisional round of the playoffs. His work over the past four years develop Allen in one of the NFL’s top young stars was a major selling point for a team hoping to chart a brighter future for the quarterback Daniel Jonesthe No. 6 draft pick in 2019.
Giants co-owner John Mara took responsibility for not creating an environment in which Jones had the chance to realize his potential, telling reporters earlier this week: “We did everything we could to screw up this kid since he’s been here.”
Hiring an offensive-minded head coach should be a step toward providing the kind of stability that Jones, who once played for three offensive coordinators, has lacked in his professional career. The Giants don’t yet know if Jones can be their franchise quarterback – they will decide this spring whether to choose the fifth-year option on his rookie contract — but the team wants to be able to make that decision without the bewildering variable of organizational chaos.
Daboll began his NFL coaching career in 2000 as a defensive quality control coach for Bill Belichick in New England. Nick Saban, with whom he had spent the previous two seasons as a graduate assistant at Michigan State, recommended him for the job. Daboll went on to win a national championship with Saban as Alabama’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 2017 before joining the Bills.
Allen’s raw talent as a rookie offered equal parts promise and draft, but over time he and Daboll produced one of the most exciting offenses in the league. Although Allen has a unique talent, Daboll’s experience with a multi-dimensional quarterback will no doubt come in handy as he tries to build a system for Jones, who was once clocked at over 21 miles per hour. during a game.
A head coach’s responsibilities extend far beyond working with the quarterback, but Schoen made it clear in a press conference this week that the new coaching staff should “build an offense around of Daniel to accentuate what he does best”. Schoen’s work with Daboll at Buffalo undoubtedly informed the team’s assessment that Daboll was the right fit for both the task and the elusive organizational alignment the Giants sought in hires.
One of the Giants’ few constants over the past few years has been starting over. Of all the things the Giants hope Daboll and Schoen can change, this is high on the list.
COMMENTS