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Brian Daboll is learning a few months can be a long time in the NFL. He was named AP Coach of the Year as recently as February, but now critics are increasing while Daboll presides over a 1-4 New York Giants team.
The coach does have at least one high-profile supporter connected to the franchise’s glorious past. Two-time Super Bowl winner Tom Coughlin believes Daboll is “an excellent football coach” who can “get it done,” per Pat Leonard of the New York Daily News.
Coughlin made the comments during a return visit to MetLife Stadium on Friday, October 13. The 77-year-old was speaking at an event for his charity, the Tom Coughlin Jay Fund to help families facing childhood cancer.
Daboll was in attendance, but Coughlin remarked, “I don’t know if he needs my counsel to be honest,” when asked if the incumbent head coach had sought his advice.
Many may disagree that Daboll doesn’t need the help after the way his team has limped out of the gate this season. The Giants have been below-par in every area. Quarterback Daniel Jones has taken 28 sacks behind an injury-hit and technically inept offensive line, a defense loaded with some big names along the front seven has struggled to generate pressure, while the special teams have been a downright mess.
There’s a lot to fix, but Coughlin is the voice of experience, and his down-to-earth words provide Daboll with a blueprint for recovery: “Keep your nose to the grindstone. Keep your people together. Keep them focused. Tough times don’t last. Tough people do.”
Past Giants Coaches Offer Daboll Hope
Coughlin knows a thing or two about weathering a storm and staying the course. He had to do both more than once during a tenure with the Giants highlighted by beating the New England Patriots in Super Bowls to culminate the 2007 and 2011 seasons.
Before each triumph, Coughlin found himself under no-small amount of pressure. His third season ended in postseason misery when the 2006 Giants lost to the Philadelphia Eagles.
Public criticism from team leaders Tiki Barber and Michael Strahan had Coughlin under fire, but he rallied brilliantly. Eventually, the Barber-less Giants upset Bill Belichick, Tom Brady, Randy Moss and the 18-0 Pats.
Coughlin was again under scrutiny when the 2010 season unravelled after another humbling defeat to the Eagles, the so-called ‘Miracle at the New Meadowlands.’ The Giants entered the following season unfancied, but after backing into the playoffs they beat the Green Bay Packers and San Francisco 49ers, before Eli Manning, Justin Tuck and Ahmad Bradshaw once again got the better of Brady.
That was the last playoff win for the Giants before Daboll’s squad upset the Minnesota Vikings last season, per NFL on ESPN.
Daboll’s fast start was in stark contrast to Coughlin, who went 6-10 in his first season on the job back in 2004. Another legendary Giants coach also had to rebound from a setback before winning the big one. Bill Parcells won two Super Bowls as Giants head coach, but only after enduring a 3-12-1 rookie season that almost got him fired.
Both Parcells and Coughlin reached the playoffs in their second season, but Daboll appears to be trending in the wrong direction. It’s why another former Giants coach is a better comparison.
Underrated Giants Coach Is the Template for Daboll’s Rebound
Like Daboll, the late Jim Fassel was also named Coach of the Year after a stunning debut campaign that ended with the ’97 Giants confounding the critics and winning the NFC East with a 10-5-1 record.
Two seasons without the playoffs followed before the 2000 Giants were 7-4 and Fassel was feeling the heat. That’s when the coach made his famous guarantee.
What followed was an unlikely run to the Super Bowl inspired by an underrated coach who still rarely gets the credit he deserves for the work he did with Big Blue.
Fassel succeeded by rebuilding the Giants on the fly, the same challenge facing Daboll. The latter needs to provoke a response from under-performing core players like Jones, tight end Darren Waller and edge-rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux.
Daboll also needs to refresh the schemes on both sides of the ball. It could mean simplifying a complex, blitz-heavy defense by trusting Thibodeaux and All-Pro Dexter Lawrence to lead a four-man rush.
The streamlined approach could also demand Daboll officially assuming play-calling responsibilities for the offense from coordinator Mike Kakfa. There are things Daboll can do, but he must act fast because what took opponents by surprise last season isn’t working this year.
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