Getty Buffalo Bills WR Stefon Diggs.
The Buffalo Bills have been no strangers to tough losses of late. First, it was ending up on the wrong side of a heartbreaking 42-36 overtime thriller in the Divisional Round against the Kansas City Chiefs. If that wasn’t a tough enough pill to swallow, five days later they lost one of football’s brightest minds to the Giants, when New York plucked offensive coordinator Brian Daboll from their coaching staff.
Daboll, who coordinated back-to-back top-three scoring offenses in Buffalo, was officially hired as the successor to Joe Judge on January 28, making him the 20th head coach in Giants history. The 46-year-old Canadian has a long history of success, both in the collegiate and professional ranks. Over his 24-year coaching career, Daboll has notched five Super Bowl victories and one National Championship under his belt. Yet, he boasts no previous head coaching experience, which could understandably give Giants fans reason to pause, considering how the Judge era played out.
However, Bills star wide receiver Stefon Diggs believes Big Blue faithful can rest assured they found themselves a good one.
“As far as being a head coach, I think it’ll translate magnificently,” Diggs told The New York Post on January 29. “They’ve got some good pieces there already and he knows how to get guys the ball.’’
Diggs on Playing for Daboll: ‘You Don’t Want to Let Him Down’
Diggs, who arrived in Buffalo in 2020, has blossomed into one of the league’s premier playmakers under Daboll’s tutelage. During their two seasons working together, Diggs ranked third in receptions (230) and fourth in receiving yards (2,760) amongst all NFL pass catchers.
“I felt like when I got to Buffalo, he made me exceptional. That’s my guy forever. When I tell him that I love him, I mean it because I really appreciate all he’s done for me,” Diggs said of Daboll. “He has that great relationship from players-coach kind of thing. He trusts his guys. He trusts his players to make plays… When you have a coach like that, you want to play well for him. You don’t want to let him down because he puts so much trust in you.”
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Daboll’s History of Elevating Offenses
While Daboll may be easy to like, he’s far from a pushover. Diggs detailed the respect Daboll earned from players within the Bills locker room for his ability to perfectly tread the line of “tough guy” and “player’s coach.”
“I can tell you first-hand that Brian Daboll will never let anybody walk over him. He’s cool, but he ain’t that cool. He’s a tough guy. He’s going to be hard on you. But he’s going to give you that rope and tell you he trusts you,” Diggs noted. “You want to play for those guys, because you’re like, ‘OK, my coach trusts me, I’m going to put that extra time in, catch a couple extra balls, watch 30 more minutes of film.’ That’s the kind of relationship you want with your coach.”
Now in East Rutherford, Daboll will undoubtedly have his work cut out for him — specifically on the offensive side of the football. The Giants have finished second-to-last in total offense and scoring offense in each of the past two seasons. Thankfully, Daboll has experience pulling floundering units out from the depths of mediocrity. When he took over the offensive coordinator role for the Bills in 2018, the team finished that season ranked No. 30 in both scoring and yards per game. In 2021, they ranked No. 3 and No. 5, respectively.