When New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll addressed the media on September 24 to officially announce the Week 4 benching of Russell Wilson for Jaxson Dart, he elected to make one thing very clear: This was his decision, not John Mara’s or Joe Schoen’s.
I didn’t leave that Brian Daboll presser feeling like this is a unified Giants front,” SNY’s Connor Hughes stated after attending the Wednesday press conference. Hughes then noted his “two biggest takeaways” from hearing Daboll speak.
“[One,] this is Daboll’s decision,” the NYG reporter began. “Usually, you have coaches talk about how it was collaborative. None of that here.”
Continuing: “[And two,] the report [that] the Giants didn’t want to rush Dart, had ‘no sense of urgency’ to start him, and preferred to stick with Wilson did not come from Daboll — a direct finger point (intentional or not, but can’t imagine this was ignorance on Daboll’s part) to ownership, management. Schefter doesn’t make things up.”
When asked about the Schefter report that Hughes is referencing, Daboll responded that “I haven’t had any conversations, [except the ones had] with players,” hinting that he did not leak that info to the veteran NFL insider.
Giants’ Brian Daboll Publicly Ties His Coaching Future to Jaxson Dart
GettyGiants head coach Brian Daboll takes ownership of the decision to start Jaxson Dart at quarterback in Week 4.
For months now, the expectation has been that Daboll’s NYG future will be tied to the development of Dart. Having said that, it was unexpected to hear Daboll acknowledge that publicly and distance himself from Mara and Schoen in this decision.
Daboll was not willing to reveal any of the specifics of the deliberation process to bench Wilson on September 24, calling them “private conversations,” but he did reiterate that it was “the direction that I wanted to go.”
The Giants HC also dodged multiple questions that attempted to uncover Mara and Schoen’s respective opinions on the matter.
All he was willing to confirm was that he had the “trust” of upper management when it came to this decision. However, he did not say if there was any pushback from the front office or ownership.
In other words, Daboll is now publicly all-in on Dart’s development. If it doesn’t work out, he practically just gave Mara and Schoen permission to fire him.
Daboll Explains What He Expects From Dart After Giants Bench Russell Wilson in Week 4
Although Daboll clearly feels Dart has shown enough to earn the QB1 job, he did acknowledge that there will likely be growing pains — as there is with most rookies.
With that in mind, the Giants HC expressed that he expects Dart to “prepare [and] get better each time he plays.”
“It’s not always going to be perfect, but I do think that he has the right makeup and athleticism,” Daboll said. “And look, we’re going to do everything that we can do to help him be the best player. I know he is as well. It’s not just on one person; it’s on the entire team, and that’s what we’re going to do.”
Later, Daboll stressed that Dart just needs to go out there and “do his job” in Week 4 and beyond, highlighting making “good decisions,” accurate passing, and taking care of the football as a few of the keys for the rookie to have success.
Sounds simple enough, but playing quarterback at the NFL level is anything but.
Giants’ Brian Daboll Takes Unexpected Stance on Jaxson Dart Decision