Brian

Daboll

Mara commented on the Giants’ state at the premier of late Giants owner Wellington Mara’s documentary. Primarily referring to head coach Brian Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen, Mara said he does not anticipate making changes either in-season, or in the offseason. This is a vote of confidence in Daboll and Schoen’s leadership of the team, though the non-changes may end there. QB Daniel Jones has fallen short of expectations and Mara did not discuss Jones during this conversation. The Giants currently stand at 2-5 and Mara’s comments indicate that at least the leadership at the top - Daboll and Schoen - won’t change any time soon.

Daboll had taken on a bigger role in play-calling during OTAs and minicamp, but he confirmed on Tuesday that he will be calling plays and not offensive coordinator Mike Kafka. It’s not a surprising development since Daboll got the Giants’ head coaching job primarily because of his play-calling in Buffalo as the team’s offensive coordinator. With a lot on the line for the Giants and Daboll following a poor 2023 season, the head coach clearly wants to make sure the offense succeeds or fails with him calling the shots.

Should Daboll retain play-calling duties in the regular season, the offense will likely increase both its passing rate and overall pace of play. With Kafka running the offense from 2022-2023, the Giants ranked 20th in passing rate during one-score games (58.7 percent), 18th in plays per drive (6.0) and 14th in plays per game (65.7). In Daboll’s final two seasons with the Bills (2020-2021), their offense ranked first (69.0 percent), fourth (6.5) and eighth (68.3), respectively. Even moderate shifts toward Daboll’s old methods would increase both QB Daniel Jones and rookie WR Malik Nabers’ fantasy-scoring opportunities. Giants brass seemingly offset Kafka’s play-calling demotion by adding “assistant head coach” to his title.

Speaking on FOX NFL Sunday, Glazer said he doesn’t see the two continuing their relationship after the season. He also mentioned that Martindale could be gone before the end of the season in a mutual parting of ways. The Giants ranked 17th in points allowed last year, Martindale’s first season on the job, but have collapsed to 28th in points allowed in 2023. With New York’s season going down as a complete failure on all fronts, some changes need to be made before they take the field next year. Martindale is all but certain to be looking for a new job in the spring.

In a fierce field, each of Daboll, Kyle Shanahan and Doug Pederson had valid arguments, not to mention Nick Sirianni, who somehow wasn’t a finalist. In the end, Daboll’s first-year wizardry with Daniel Jones and a nearly nonexistent receiver corps won out. Few coaches have done a better job of making lemonade out of lemons, let alone in their first year on the job. Now the trick will be doing it again in 2023, perhaps without free-agents-to-be Jones and Saquon Barkley.

It’s something of a surprise as Giants head coach Brian Daboll came to NFL prominence with play-calling for Josh Allen and the hyper-productive Buffalo offense. Kafka, 34, was Kansas City’s quarterbacks coach over the past few seasons. Presumably he was hired by New York to get the most out of Daniel Jones as the Giants evaluate the struggling fourth-year quarterback. A rough start to the season for the Giants offense could find Daboll taking over play-calling duties.

“Mike’s done a really good job in the spring, which he handled the scripts,” Daboll said Thursday. “Again, we talk on a day-to-day basis on plays and things to install. But he’s been on the headset with Daniel (Jones) and he’ll be doing that through camp. As we get closer to it, we’ll sit down and discuss it.” Daboll made it clear he may take the reins once the season begins. It was Daboll’s elite play-calling more than anything else that got him the Giants job, but Any Reid acolyte Kafka is highly regarded, as well. Regardless of who is actually in Jones’ ear on game day, Daboll will be a signifiant part of the install.

With the Dolphins also intensely interested in Daboll’s services, the Giants swooped in before Daboll could make it to Miami for a second interview. Although Daboll is also a Bill Belichick protege, he is the polar opposite of the man he is replacing, Joe Judge. An offensive mind, Daboll has earned praise for his flexibility and reinvention, whereas Judge seemed stuck in the 1950s. Daboll has also worked for Nick Saban, and seemed to apply all the lessons he learned from the two masters after arriving in Buffalo in 2018 after winding his way back up the coaching ladder following a series of failed NFL coordinator stints for failed head coaches, including Tony Sparano in Miami in 2011. The elephant in the room will be whether Daboll can coax a fourth-year breakout from Daniel Jones the way he did from Josh Allen in Year 3. It’s not likely — despite being an excellent athlete, Jones’ physical gifts are nowhere near Allen’s — but Daboll is the kind of hire this adrift organization desperately needed to make. It’s a good day in East Rutherford.

This has been obvious throughout the process to replace the fire-and-brimstone, defensive-mind Brian Flores, but it’s just the latest confirmation. The ‘Fins are expected to bring back Bills OC Brian Daboll, Cowboys OC Kellen Moore and 49ers OC Mike McDaniel for second interviews next week. The defensive interviews seemingly left out in the cold are Bills DC Leslie Frazier and Cardinals DC Vance Joseph.

Rapsheet reports the Dolphins are in “no rush” to replace Brian Flores. Rapsheet’s colleague Cameron Wolfe reported earlier Thursday that the Dolphins would like to retain most of Flores’ defensive staff. That rarely sits well with incoming head coaches, though perhaps this gaggle of offensive-minded candidates won’t mind as much. It is clearly the side of the ball the Dolphins are focused on after Flores’ wildly conservative offensive era. By all accounts, Daboll is the front-runner.