The New York Giants fell again in Week 2, 21-18, as the Washington Commanders pulled off a victory thanks to seven Austin Seibert field goals. Giants head coach Brian Daboll was visibly upset as the game ended and was caught on camera slamming his headset down on the ground in frustration. The Giants are now 0-2 and face the Browns on Sunday, September 22.
Brian Daboll Slams Headset on the Ground
Fox cameras panned to Daboll after the Giants lost on a walk-off field goal. Daboll can be seen throwing down his headset and walking away, shaking his head. The loss to the Commanders loss marks the first time in Daboll’s three seasons coaching for the Giants that he team has started the season 0-2.
And after Sunday’s loss, sports personality Mike Francesa noticed Daboll’s mood and discussed it on the “Mike Francesa Podcast.”
“I’ll tell you something,” Francesa said on the show. “When I see Daboll now, I don’t see the coach who had a little glint in his eye and a little bit of a swagger in his first year. I see a guy who looks like he wants to jump off a bridge. And I see a guy who just wants to give you short answers.”
Francesa added, “You can tell that he’s up to here with all of it. And he knows he’s looking down the barrels at a long season. That’s what you take.”
Brian Daboll on Not Calling Up Kicker Jude McAtamney
Following the loss, the Giants’ postgame press conference was largely centered on the team’s decision not to call up kicker Jude McAtamney from the practice squad even after Graham Gano hurt his groin in practice. Gano hurt his hamstring on the opening kickoff, and the kicker situation led to a lot of questions about the Giants’ reasoning for not calling up McAtamney.
Darryl Slater of NJ Advance Media went so far to say that “Daboll’s botched Graham Gano decision is the type of mistake that eventually gets a coach fired.”
When asked if he would have made a different decision about the kicker if he could do it all over gain, he replied, “Knowing that he was going to get hurt on the first kickoff, yes certainly. On a pulled hamstring, yeah. Any player gets hurt at a certain position. The quarterback gets hurt, I mean, whatever it may be so certainly. I mean he got hurt, so that’s too bad.”
When asked why he didn’t take extra precautions knowing Gano wasn’t at 100%, Daboll replied, “Again, we felt okay with the decision that we made. Obviously, it didn’t pan out because he pulled his hamstring.”
Switching gears, when asked how he felt quarterback Daniel Jones improved for this game, Daboll said, “He went where he was supposed to go with the football. He saw the field well. Threw it to the guy he was supposed to throw it to. Gave them chances. We had chances on other plays too that we didn’t connect on. I was proud of him. I was proud of the way he competed. I was proud of the way he prepared during the week and I was proud of his mental toughness. I thought he did a nice job.”
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Giants HC Brian Daboll’s Post-Game Meltdown Caught on Camera