NY Giants HC Brian Daboll Ranked in Bottom Third of NFL Head Coaches in New Analysis

It’s pretty clear that as far as Pro Football Network is concerned, the bloom is off the rose for New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll.

In a new analysis, PFSN analyst Brandon Austin has Daboll at No. 25 among the 32 NFL head coaches, but what’s even worse is that Daboll was the last of the returning coaches ranked before the analysis slotted in the first-year head coaches in what’s a steep fall of the 2022 NFL Coach of the Year.

PFSN’s analysis noted that under Daboll, the Giants have failed to improve on their 9-7-1 playoff season in 2022, the first of Daboll’s tenure. Since then, the team has gone 9-25 over the past two seasons, with last season coming to a franchise-worst 3-14 record. 

It gets worse. PFSN pointed out that the Giants’ offense, an area in which Daboll is supposed to be a specialist, has ranked in the bottom three in scoring in each of the last two seasons, while the defense ranked 31st in PFSN’s Defense+ metric in 2024. 

The scathing analysis concluded with a question of how Daboll survived this past offseason, given the diminishing returns.

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Completing the picture

As with most analyses, PFSN examines the macro statistics but overlooks the microelements that contributed to the outcome. 

We can start with the offense and the poor play by the quarterbacks, which is why general manager Joe Schoen and Daboll, after trying to make it work with Daniel Jones only to realize it was not going to pan out, made over the team’s quarterbacks room.

We can also consider the offensive line, which, for years, has lacked quality veteran depth as well as legitimate young talent that has developed into solid options in the event of injuries. 

Last year, the revamped offensive line looked more than decent through the first six games of the season. However, when injuries began, starting with left tackle Andrew Thomas, it greatly exposed the lack of quality talent the Giants had behind their starters in one of their most valuable units.

Defensively, one might argue that the vast difference in philosophies between Wink Martindale, the defensive coordinator for Daboll’s first two seasons, and Shane Bowen, who took on the job last year, were on opposite ends of the spectrum, leaving one to wonder if the Giants had enough quality talent to run what Bowen aspired to run.

If there’s any doubt about the above points, look no further than the approach Schoen took in rebuilding the roster, addressing the biggest deficiencies on the team–and you can throw in the defensive secondary into that mix as well.

That being said, Daboll is now set up so that there are no more excuses. It’s produce of hit the road, though it’s fair to wonder if he’ll get another mulligan given that he lobbied for rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart, whom he’s been developing.

It wouldn’t be a shock if that were to be the case, but Dart’s presence shouldn’t be an excuse for the overall roster to not show vast improvement over the last two seasons.

And if Daboll can’t get this team to come out of the gate quickly and to play more disciplined ball, then it might be time to rethink whether he’s the right man for the job. 

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