Brian Daboll's Giants debut one of best in NY sports history
Head coach Brian Daboll of the Giants looks onward during pregame against the Tennessee Titans at Nissan Stadium on September 11, 2022 in Nashville, Tennessee. Credit: Getty Images
There will be plenty of time for sober perspective in the days, weeks, months and years to come. Heck, you can find some of it just a few hundred words south of here.
But this is not the time or place for that, not after all that Giants fans have been through during the past decade, including 10 losses in 11 openers before Sunday.
So no pumping of brakes here: The Giants’ improbable 21-20 victory over the Titans was one of the best coaching/ managing debuts in New York sports history.
An overstatement?
Not really.
Brian Daboll had said he would be an aggressive coach, and with the first chance he had to deliver on that promise, he did so, to spectacular effect.
With the Giants trailing 20-19 and 1:06 remaining, he ordered a two-point conversion attempt on which Daniel Jones shoveled a pass to Saquon Barkley, and the back-from-the-scrap-heap back converted.
Fans and, more important, players love that stuff, and Daboll earned a huge early dose of goodwill with his decision.
“I think it means a lot as players to know he has confidence in us to make that play at a critical point in the game,” Jones said afterward.
“It’s a good feeling, and it gives us confidence as a unit. He’s been clear from the get-go that he’s going to be aggressive in those situations.”
Daboll said during his day-after news conference on Monday that he got input from his analytics experts in coming to the decision, but make no mistake: It still took guts and instinct from the guy in charge.
There were other good signs from the new boss in town.
Daboll and his staff figured their way out of a nightmarish first half in which the Giants were fortunate to trail only 13-0 and helped Barkley unlock his early career magic.
And what about Daboll’s animated interaction with Jones after he threw a late-fourth- quarter interception in the end zone that appeared to doom the Giants?
Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen might well move on from Jones next offseason, but in the meantime, Daboll will coach him up as best he can.
There was no screaming after the interception but no coddling, either. Daboll confronted Jones with what he did wrong, quickly and firmly. It was a good example of why it was wise to have coordinator Mike Kafka call the plays and let Daboll handle the players and big-picture game management.
Now, for the reality check.
As much fun as Sunday was for Giants fans, Daboll has a long, long, long way to go before proving to be a keeper.
His team has all sorts of holes in its talent portfolio, and he will have to prove patient and wise to become a long-term keeper for a franchise that has tossed its past three coaches after two seasons (or fewer).
Bill Parcells and Tom Coughlin, the Giants’ two Super Bowl-winning coaches, were a combined 9-22-1 in their first seasons here. Ben McAdoo was 11-5.
Weeb Ewbank, the Jets’ only Super Bowl winner, was 5-8-1 in his first season with the team — and the next two after that. Eric Mangini and Todd Bowles both were 10-6.
You get the idea. Schoen and Daboll are trying to build something long-lasting and still have plenty of work to do, shovel pass to Barkley or no shovel pass to Barkley. The Giants know that.
They already would be 0-1 if Randy Bullock, a former Jet and Giant with a career field-goal percentage of .764 between 40 and 49 yards, had not hooked a 47-yarder wide left in the final seconds.
Daboll began his postgame news conference with some bland coach-speak before becoming more animated, and more emotional, as he talked about how he was thinking of his late grandparents, who died last season.
By Monday he was back to trying his best to avoid gushing no matter how hard reporters sought to get him to do so, including about his celebratory dance in the victorious locker room.
“I don’t think I’d call it dancing,” he said.
It’s on to Carolina.
“This league will humble you real quick,” Daboll said after the game. “Trust me, I’ve been humbled a bunch.”
Not on Day One, though.
Enjoy it, Giants fans.
You deserve it.
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
