Why Brian Daboll should win NFL Coach of the Year
As we inch closer to the Super Bowl, more teams are closing their 2022 chapters and are looking forward to making improvements in the offseason. And before we know it, it’ll be time for the awards in 2023, one of which will be the coveted Coach of the Year.
Across the NFL , there is a lot of competition for the award. There’s Nick Sirianni of the Philadelphia Eagles, a team that looks almost unbeatable unbeatable, as they look to secure their ticket to the Super Bowl later this week.
Then we have Doug Pederson, whose Jaguars team made a sensational return to the playoffs in his debut season, just a year after the disarray of the disastrous Urban Meyer tenure in Jacksonville. Even Kyle Shanahan, who just continues to roll with the San Francisco 49ers, finding success with a 3rd string quarterback in Brock Purdy after Week 14 when after the injury to Jimmy Garoppolo where many would have counted them out.
However, even with all that great competition, in my eyes, there is only one candidate who should be the NFL’s 2022 Coach of the Year. And that is Brian Daboll of the New York Giants.
Why does Brian Daboll stand out?
It’s simple. The Coach of the Year is the person who gets the most out of their squad in a season, and finds a way to exceed expectations in accomplishing that goal.Daboll is the obvious choice only because we’ve seen other coaches try and fail over the years to achieve the same result with the New York Giants.
Exhibit A, Ben McAdoo. Despite immediate success after replacing Tom Coughlin in 2016, McAdoo could only lead New York to a 2-10 record, losing the locker room during his period in charge. Then there was Pat Shurmur, who produced two lacklustre seasons, 5-11 in 2018 and 4-12 in 2019, whilst failing to develop younger players. And just last year with Joe Judge, who went 10-23 whilst at the helm, the Giants were one of the worst teams in the league in terms of total offense and scoring offense, whilst still poor on defense.
It just goes to show what an extraordinary job Daboll has done in his debut year in New York. A first winning season in six years and a return to the divisional round of the playoffs for the first time since their most recent Super Bowl victory over a decade ago.
In the last five years, the New York Giants had the worst record in the NFL (22-59). They were also the only team in the league to never win more than six games in a season in the same time frame. At no point within those last five years did the Giants have a winning record. Never 1-0, or 3-2. Brian Daboll broke this streak in 2022 and the Giants did not have a week this season where they weren’t above .500.
Daboll has now been honored as the NFC Coach of the Year as recognized by the Committee of 101. Daboll is the fourth coach in Giants history to win the award, joining Bill Parcells (1986), Dan Reeves (1993), and Jim Fassel (1997). As far as the odds go for the overall award, Daboll is +250.
Daboll and Giants can only get better
Daboll’s work with starting quarterback in Daniel Jones and running back Saquon Barkley have helped to change the narrative for the Giants. Both players were very highly drafted, but seriously doubted as both stars to perform in 2022. They were also finishing their rookie deals in 2022 and heading to free agency, and given injury and consistency concerns with the pair, expectations were that both were destined to fail. Jones was even listed in the bottom-5 of quarterbacks in the NFL in 2021.
Since Daboll’s appointment, both have transformed into superstars in New York. And despite their being many holes left in this roster, their head coach has taught the team to win. To it in the NFC East, the only division in the NFL to have two NFL teams with 11+ wins in the Philadelphia Eagles and the Dallas Cowboys, is an unbelievable achievement.
Going back to those betting odds prior to the season, the Giants were -275 to miss the playoffs. Their chances of making the playoffs were just 27%. Big Blue covered the spread in 12 of their 16 regular season games, which no other team was able to do that this year.
Overcoming a 27% chance to get into the playoffs? (never mind win a game). Turn around a franchise that was the laughing stock of the NFL the last five years? Play representative football regardless of the talent level of the opponent? Make the plaque. Brian Daboll deserves to be NFL Coach of the Year.
