Hopes of Jets, Giants fall on coach-QB combos
Giants head coach Brian Daboll, second from right, watches quarterback Daniel Jones (8), participates in a practice at the NFL football team's training facility in East Rutherford, N.J., Wednesday, June 8, 2022. Credit: AP/Seth Wenig
Between the Jets and Giants, there are literally hundreds of people involved in producing the finished product that will appear on game day. Players, coaches, front-office executives, scouts, administrative personnel — it is a long and necessary list of contributors at every level of the organization.
But in the end, only four people ultimately will play the most important roles when these teams take the field for the 2022 season.
That’s right, four. Two for each team.
For the Jets, it’s Robert Saleh and Zach Wilson.
And for the Giants, it’s Brian Daboll and Daniel Jones.
Coaches and quarterbacks have never factored more prominently in a team’s success — or failure — than in today’s NFL, and the two local teams are no exception. The mind of the coach and the arm of the quarterback are the most important determinative variables, especially now that this has become such a pass-driven league.
For Saleh and Wilson, it is Year 2 of a rebuilding plan engineered by general manager Joe Douglas, who brought on both before the 2021 season and hopes the relationship now will begin to bear fruit after a rookie season filled with promise but hurt by inconsistency from both men.
Wilson embraced the starter’s role from the beginning, never shying away from the difficult apprenticeship that lay ahead but also predictably struggling with the quantum leap up in competition from his days at BYU. He was sacked six times in his NFL debut, but it got better . . . eventually.
Wilson threw only four touchdown passes and had nine interceptions before being felled by a knee injury in a humiliating 54-13 loss to the Patriots, missing a month’s worth of games. But he was a better and more careful quarterback upon his return, even if the numbers were muted. He threw only five more touchdown passes, but the absence of interceptions stood as a testament to his improvement; he had only two picks, none in his last five games.
He bulked up in the offseason, visited with many of his receivers in a cross-country tour and seemed to have a better grasp of offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur’s system during practices and minicamp. But with training camp set to begin this week, the rubber soon will meet the road, and we soon will see firsthand if there was legitimate progress.
Saleh also will get a better idea of his coaching acumen as he prepares his players for the journey ahead. While he didn’t make many egregious errors in judgment last season, the defense — his calling card — betrayed him, especially during a midseason swoon in which the Jets surrendered 175 points in a four-game span. Saleh hopes the drafting of first-round cornerback Sauce Gardner and pass rusher Jermaine Johnson will address those issues. It also will help that Carl Lawson, the jewel of last year’s free-agent class, returns from an Achilles injury.
Even with an improved season, the Jets might be the fourth-best team in a division that includes a Super Bowl contender in the Bills, an improved Dolphins team that outbid the Jets for Tyreek Hill, and a Patriots team coming off a playoff run in Mac Jones’ rookie season. But at least there is hope for better than what Jets fans have seen for too long.
Unfortunately for Giants fans, they face yet another rebuilding situation that is far behind where the Jets are right now. And it starts with Jones, who showed flashes of being a worthy successor to Eli Manning as a rookie but has mostly regressed since. His greatest hope is that Daboll, one of the NFL’s sharpest offensive minds, will add a level of stability and competence to an offense that needs both.
It is instructive that the Giants did not offer Jones a fifth-year option that would have guaranteed his salary in 2023. It is a prove-it year for the former Duke quarterback, who was brought in by former GM Dave Gettleman as the once and future franchise passer but who has failed to live up to expectations with inconsistent play and injuries as hallmarks of his 12-25 career record.
The long, hot summer begins for both teams this week as they take the next steps toward their Sept. 11 regular-season openers.
At a time when no one has lost a game, a sense of optimism certainly is understandable.
The best advice for now: Enjoy it while it lasts.
Bob Glauber retired in 2022 after covering the NFL for nearly 40 years. He was selected in 2021 for the Bill Nunn Career Achievement Award by the Pro Football Writers of America, and is a three-time winner of the New York State Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. President of the PFWA for the 2018-20 seasons, he is the author of “The Forgotten First” and “Guts and Genius.”
