Giants' Brian Daboll 'feels good' about communications between players and coaches
Giants head coach Brian Daboll during the first quarter against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at MetLife Stadium on Sunday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
The Giants saved all their fire and grit for the postgame Sunday evening, and Monday morning, coach Brian Daboll was reckoning with the aftermath of his players’ frustrations and his own performance.
After a dispiriting 30-7 loss to the Buccaneers on Sunday, various players referred to the team’s effort as “soft,” with Malik Nabers seemingly questioning Daboll’s playcalling – all furthering the narrative that Daboll has lost the locker room and calling into question the coach’s future with the franchise.
Monday, as the detritus settled on the team's sixth loss in a row, and their first in the post-Daniel Jones era, Daboll took responsibility for some of the Giants’ struggles but insisted that the locker room remains united.
“These guys put a lot of work into this, as does everybody involved, and certainly not something that we wanted yesterday,” Daboll said. “We work hard every week to not have that happen, and that was a tough one. So, there's frustration that comes with it, understandable. And we communicate, I think we have good leadership in our locker room. I think we communicate on a daily basis. But certainly, a frustrating game, no question about it.”
Sunday, Nabers publicly lamented about not getting the ball until the team was too far in the hole, adding that “it ain’t the quarterback – same outcome when we had DJ at quarterback” instead of Tommy DeVito. Nabers and Dexter Lawrence Jr. both called the team’s play “soft,” while veteran offensive lineman Jermaine Eluemunor said he “personally [didn’t] think everyone is giving 100%.”
Added Nabers on Sunday: “First, second quarter, I don’t get the ball. I start getting targets at the end. I mean, can’t do nothing. Start getting the ball when it’s 30-0. What do you want me to do?”
Asked why that was the case, Nabers told reporters to “talk to Dabes about that.”
Daboll said he and Nabers spoke Sunday night and Monday morning about the wide receiver’s frustrations. “He's a very competitive individual,” Daboll said. “Again, you want to get the ball in his hands, and I got to do a better job of getting the ball in his hands, early. He's a smart, young guy that is very competitive. When you lose like that, it's a frustrating thing. But we've had good communication, as we always have.”
He said that he didn’t intend to give up playcalling.
Daboll also backed one of Lawrence’s assessments of Sunday’s play: It’s not a lack of effort, he said, but a lack of execution. The Giants, though, won’t have much time to make the necessary corrections as they play the Cowboys in Dallas on Thanksgiving.
“We didn't play well enough,” Daboll said. “Some things, whether it's execution stuff, call stuff, that we just didn't get the job done. But in terms of running to the football, giving effort at the line of scrimmage, those didn't stand out. What stands out was three sacks early on in the first half, 0-for-4 on third down, a variety of missed tackles that caused some big plays. And the missed tackles weren't a lack-of-effort missed tackles. Give Tampa Bay credit. They did a good job, and we didn't do a good enough job.”
And despite the public venting sessions, Daboll said he remained confident that his players remain committed to the course.
“I feel good about our communication with the players, with the coaches,” he said when directly asked if he was concerned about losing the locker room. “Certainly not happy about the results but I expect a lot from those guys, and they should expect a lot from me. And again, there's a good communication process. But when you lose like that, it's a frustrating thing.”
Laura Albanese is a reporter, feature writer and columnist covering local professional sports teams; she began at Newsday in 2007 as an intern.
