Brian Daboll: A Giant Success?

Brian+Daboll+looks+to+be+the+light+in+the+dark+for+the+New+York+Giants.+

Maddie Meyer

Brian Daboll looks to be the light in the dark for the New York Giants.

Over the past several years,  the New York Football Giants have been trying to find the man for the head coach job. Several coaches have come and gone throughout the years, but fans see the most promise in the newest hire, Brian Daboll. 

Daboll has been coaching for 22 years on both the collegiate and professional level. This is his first year as a head coach, and he has shown to be a great fit with the New York Giants.  

The Canadian-born coach has worked with some of the best programs and teams in the country. From 2000 to 2006, Daboll was the defensive assistant coach and wide receivers coach under Bill Belichick and the New New England Patriots. While in New England, he won three Super Bowls  in four years, which was a feat that had only happened once before then with the Cowboys in the 90s. 

He would later rejoin the New England coaching staff after a couple stints with the Jets, Browns, Dolphins, and Chiefs where he got his first true assistant role as offensive coordinator. From 2013 to 2016 he coached with the Patriots again as the tight ends coach and offensive coaching assistant, while winning another two Lombardis. 

Brian Daboll is fired up during Super Bowl XLIX. (Kyle Terada/USA TODAY Sports)

In 2017, Daboll made the switch to the collegiate side of football by joining Nick Saban and his coaching staff at Alabama as the offensive coordinator. Alabama has been a perennial powerhouse in not only the SEC but the country. Daboll joined in with that success as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach when they won the national championship. When he was there he developed NFL rising stars such as Tua Tagovailoa and Jalen Hurts into fundamentally sound elite quarterbacks. 

He made his return back to the NFL when he was hired as offensive coordinator by an impressed Bills head coach Sean McDermott who was stated by ABC News in 2018 as saying, “He is a good coach and a good teacher and has been part of winning programs in the NFL and in college.” Daboll began working with the rookie Josh Allen out of Wyoming and utilized the best abilities of the young gun slinger to flourish into a superstar. The Bills went from the 30th best offense in 2018 to the 2nd best in 2020, which was largely due to the fact that Daboll was on the coaching staff. 

Going into the 2022 season, Daboll was recognized for his work by being hired as the head coach of the New York Giants. The Giants have been trying to get back on track to their winning ways, and first year General Manager Joe Schoen felt that Daboll was the man for the job. Daboll made an immediate impact on the New York Giants and the culture change so far has been monumental. When first getting hired Daboll made it clear that he knows about the Giants struggles, but he was recorded on ESPN this past January as saying,  “I promise we will work our tails off to put a team on the field that you will be proud to support and give us the results we all want.”

Daboll gained the respect of players from day one. He also understands the expectations of the Big Apple and the standard the fans have for their sports teams. During the offseason he pumped the brakes on setting any expectations for the upcoming season because he doesn’t want to create any extra pressure on his coaching staff or his players. The entire coaching staff is new and a culture change takes time. “We [Giants] have to crawl before you walk,” he said to the New York Post. 

Once the season started he gained a ton of respect from the fanbase when he started off with a first career win against the defending AFC South champion, Tennessee Titans in their stadium. He made a gutsy call by going for two to get the lead of 21-20 with barely any time left. That call was what gave him the respect of the fanbase and the players to show that he trusts in his team to get the wins and is willing to bet on them. 

Brian Daboll (middle) celebrates his first win as a head coach. (via Yahoo! Sports)

With a win in the following week against the Carolina Panthers, the Giants were 2-0 for the first time since 2016 when they went to the playoffs. Daboll showed that the culture change was beginning in New York. 

Going into his first primetime and divisional game as a head coach against the Dallas Cowboys, the Giants were ready to show out in front of their fans at Metlife, but the team couldn’t get the win, as they lost to the ‘boys, 23-16. Failed defense, injuries, and bad o-line play have shown to be hurting the team tremendously, but Daboll is ready to go back to the drawing board. 

To many the loss to Dallas is a step back, but depending on how the team can bounce back next week against the struggling Chicago Bears, the Giants can be sitting at 3-1, which if someone was to ask a Giants fan they would have that record in week four they would take it without a doubt. 

Daboll still has a long grueling NFL season ahead of him, but he has made a great first impression on the New York Giants fan base and players. For New Yorkers, they hope that he can be the answer they have been looking for.