ORLANDO — Brian Daboll wouldn’t revisit Wink Martindale’s explosive resignation, Mike Kafka’s loss of play-calling duties or any of his lowest 2023 moments in the Giants head coach’s first comments since a disastrous end to last season.
“There’s a ton of changes every year. There’s 17 new defensive coordinator openings this year,” Daboll said Tuesday at the NFC Coaches Breakfast, ignoring that the Giants were the only team whose defensive coordinator cursed out the head coach on his way out the door. “There were 16 new offensive ones, seven special teams ones. Excited about the people we’ve added.”
Daboll did say he is focused on “what can I do better, how can I be a better coach, how can I be a better leader.” He also admitted his gameday demeanor needs work at times, one day after co-owner John Mara said “there are times where I wish [Daboll] would tone it down a little bit.”
“Every year there’s a self-evaluation process that goes on,” Daboll said. “I’m a very passionate person, but yeah, there’s times where I wish I had handled things a little bit differently, certainly. So you continue to grow, you continue to evolve. That’s what I try to do every year.”
But mostly, the Giants from Mara on down are committed to sweeping their dysfunction under the rug and seemingly crossing their fingers it works.
Giving promotions to Kafka and QB coach Shea Tierney after one of the worst offensive seasons in franchise history, for example, was an obvious clean-up effort after the Giants prevented Kafka from leaving for Seattle. That would have created three coordinator vacancies on a staff that saw a virtual coaching exodus between numerous firings and voluntary departures.
Yet Daboll was prepared to explain that Kafka’s promotion was related to his professional development, including increased involvement in meetings and exposure to more areas of the team’s operations.
It’s hard to call it a genuine promotion for Kafka, though, obviously, when Daboll is tracking toward taking away offensive play-calling altogether for his third pivotal season with the team.
“That’s something I’m looking into,” Daboll said. “I think there’s 20 head coaches at this point in time that call plays. It might be a little bit more. I’ve been doing a bunch of research, but no decision has been made. I’m still going through that process and thinking about what we need to do.”
The Giants, although Mara didn’t put Daboll on notice this week, of course are counting on major improvement and changes from their head coach this season. So taking over play-calling makes sense for Daboll, if it’s one of things he feels he does best.
He struggled to manage game situations last season, however, when he didn’t have play-calling duties on his plate. And that extra responsibility won’t make it any easier to keep a clear head in critical moments if he does take it on.
GM Joe Schoen ended up listening in on the coaches’ headsets for four games last season when things went south, and Daboll taking play-calling permanently would add another element to the dynamic.
Daboll pushed back on Schoen’s presence on the headsets last season being a method of oversight of a destructive and unraveling process, though.
“Joe and I talk every day so I know what Joe’s doing, he knows what I’m doing,” Daboll said when asked about Schoen listening in last season. “Joe and I are in alignment.”
Meanwhile, Daboll had very little to share on any of his new players, his plans for their usage or anything else. He never even uttered Martindale’s name, even when asked directly about him.
Instead he referred twice to new defensive coordinator Shane Bowen as an “excellent teammate” and “great teammate.” And he expressed no regret for how the Martindale situation played out.
“I always try to keep things as private as I can, so keep it in house,” Daboll said, when asked how he could have handled the end of the season differently so it was less explosive and public. “Look: the end of the season stuff is the end of the season stuff. I understand the question, but I’m looking forward to the 2024 season.”
It’s understandable why Daboll wants to spin this forward, especially since he might be only weeks away from drafting the Giants’ next franchise quarterback.
Mara endorsed Schoen and Daboll picking a QB at No. 6 overall in April or trading up for one, and in the co-owner’s own words, the Giants are enamored with this class.
“They tell me it’s the most talented group to come out in years,” Mara said Monday.
Daboll, therefore, admitted he is “going to a few pro days” for the draft’s top quarterbacks. Then, he said, “we’ll see where we go from there.”
He also presented a thorough look at the traits he prioritizes when evaluating QBs.
“You look for accuracy,” Daboll said. “You get to meet the individual and see how they handle things, their leadership abilities, their communication style. But it’s leadership. It’s accuracy. And then you watch all the games.
“It’s not a cut-up of games where you’re looking at targets or run blocks,” he continued. “You’re watching everything and seeing how they respond in two-minute situations, how they respond after an interception. What’s the play look like after a few bad plays or a few incompletions? There’s no exact science in it. It’s obvious that there isn’t. You do the best job you can.”
There would be no better way for Daboll to resuscitate his Giants tenure than to help Schoen hit on a star quarterback at the top of this draft.
Because, ignoring any of this murky offseason messaging, the only true way for Daboll to rebound is to make meaningful changes when the games start. To win.
“That’s the joy I get out of it, is winning football games,” Daboll said. “That’s why we all do this… The results are the results. So we have to be better at everything.”
GIANTS HIRE FERENTZ TO HELP LINE
Daboll hired recently retired center James Ferentz on Tuesday as the Giants’ assistant offensive line coach, making him the ninth new coach on staff.
Ferentz, 34, the son of Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz, played eight NFL seasons, including the past six for the New England Patriots. He won two Super Bowls: one with the Denver Broncos and one with the Patriots.
Carmen Bricillo, the Giants’ new offensive line coach, coached Ferentz for three years in New England (2019-2021), including the final two as O-line coach. Ferentz now will try to help Bricillo fix the offensive line, an annual problem that Mara called “ridicuolus” and “a continuing source of frustration.”
