Brian Daboll can transform the fortunes of the New York Giants
The start of a new NFL season is just around the corner, and the New York Giants are one of many franchises looking to make this upcoming run a flip to their recent disappointment.
Many new faces and decisions have been brought upon the organization, but one thing’s for sure, the Mara and Tisch family sees promise in new head coach, Brian Daboll.
The offensive minded coach helped Buffalo Bills Quarterback, Josh Allen, become the superstar level player he is today, and for many Big Blue fans, the hope is that quarterback Daniel Jones becomes an MVP caliber talent, with Daboll at helm.
Out with the old, in with the new
The last time the Giants let an offensive coordinator run the show was with Pat Shurmur. In Jones’ rookie year, Shurmur showed the potential the Duke product could be, throwing 24 touchdowns on 3027 yards (career highs) .
His longest throw and completion was of 75 yards in 2019, and that aerial attack is what Giants fans wanted to see more of. However, the organization moved on from Shurmur after 2019, and hired special teams coach Joe Judge to take the position. In the past two seasons under Joe Judge, Jones failed to show his real impact as a pocket quarterback.
Though he has the wheels, a quarterback’s most trusted attack is commonly the arm, not the legs. In 2020, Jones was sacked 45 times (fourth most in the league), proving the coaching staff’s inability to find play calls that would get the ball out of his hands quicker.
In 2021, Jones was starting to show flashes under the play-calling of offensive coordinator, Jason Garrett, but the team struggled to put points on the board for a second straight season. The loaded talent of Kenny Golladay, Kadarius Toney, Sterling Shepard, Darius Slayton and of course, Saquon Barkley was enough for just four wins.
A fresh and much-needed offensive mindset
Constant dispute over who was making the play calls led to the firing of Garrett and Judge at the end of the season. The Giants soon hired Joe Schoen as General Manager of the team, and he wasn’t hesitant on bringing in a play caller like Daboll.
They found a talented staff immediately, hiring former quarterback’s coach of the Kansas City Chiefs Mike Kafka, as offensive coordinator of the team. His experience with Patrick Mahomes, and Daboll’s with Allen, should greatly benefit the play of an underachieved Giants quarterback.
His pocket awareness as well as deep ball aggressiveness should be on full display this upcoming season. The defensive side of things is just as exciting, as they hired defensive coordinator Don “Wink” Martindale.
Don is known for being a blitz heavy coach, moving his young talent all over the field, as he did with the Baltimore Ravens unit. All this knowledge on the offense and defensive end of the field should impact Jones come September, but there’s plenty of talent that can benefit this hire as well.
How will Daboll help New York’s stars?
Starting left tackle, Andrew Thomas, should be in complete form, and he is accompanied on the right side by 2022 first round pick, Evan Neal. This exciting young talent should protect Jones long enough from his blind side. But what’s even more critical for Daboll is to make Saquon Barkley a top 10 running back once again. Barkley’s inability to stay on the field is what has sparked many doubters, even some Giants fans.
The running game has been in question for awhile, as it has been Jones who has gotten more rushing yards than Barkley in recent memory. This emergence of the front line can finally make room for Barkley to show his magic, and it should open a creative playbook for Jones in play-action situations.
That’s not to underestimate the fact that Daboll can use Barkley in passing situations, like he did with Devin Singletary in Buffalo. The screen-play is either a home run hit, or a two yard gain, and when you have Evan Neal and Andrew Thomas doing the blocking for the break-tackling specialist in Saquon Barkley. You’ll like your chances in getting six off the play.
It benefits Jones as well, getting the ball out of his hands quickly and letting the talent surrounding him make the play, should move this team to easy striking distance. You’ll need two guys to take down Barkley and Toney, and Daboll is aware that if Jones is facing a talented defense, he should get rid of the ball quicker and let them work.
This hiring won’t have an immediate impact however. Though the talent is there, it takes awhile for players to adjust to a new system, especially since Jones has been thrown in so many. On the contrary, improvement will be made, and expect many of the Giants receivers to get their hands on the ball whether it’s high risk-high reward chances, or dinks and dunks screen plays.
The Giants found a coach that can properly use the talent surrounding Jones, and their recent draft class should all but make this team a threat in the very stacked NFC East.
