Giants fire Brian Daboll: Revisiting owner John Mara’s offseason comments and what went wrong

[ad_1] After ending the 2024 season with a franchise-worst 3-14 file and beginning the 2025 marketing campaign 2-8, the Giants fired head coach Brian Daboll on Monday.

At an end-of-season press convention in January, Giants president and proprietor John Mara expressed his disappointment within the staff however maintained confidence in Daboll. Mara, nevertheless, stopped wanting guaranteeing job safety for both Daboll or basic supervisor Joe Schoen.

By Monday, it was clear Mara had reached his restrict. Daboll grew to become the staff’s third head coach fired midseason — and the primary since Ben McAdoo in 2017.

After a 9-7-1 file and a Coach of the Yr award in 2022, Daboll and the Giants went 11-33 over the following two and a half seasons. Together with the firing, the Giants introduced that offensive coordinator Mike Kafka will take over as Interim head coach.

Let’s revisit Mara’s feedback from January and see how these areas look now.

Revisiting Giants proprietor's feedback after Brian Daboll's firing Mara: "That is clearly the No. 1 problem for us going into this offseason, is to search out our quarterback of the longer term. Whether or not that be by way of the draft or buying a veteran, it is going to be as much as them to determine, finally."

Up thus far, it appears clear that the Giants have addressed this problem they usually have Daboll to thank for it. In April, Daboll was the driving power behind the drafting of Jaxson Dart.

By means of his first seven profession begins, Giants followers are enamored with Dart. With 10 landing passes (and solely three interceptions) and 7 dashing TDs, Dart has proved that he may be the staff's QB of the longer term.

The fear: The firing of Daboll may probably hinder Darts' progress. Dart has proven unbelievable promise by way of seven video games and wishes consistency from his coaches.

The excellent news? Kafka was already the Giants' play caller and may count on to proceed for the remainder of the season.

Mara: "Fairly frankly, I did not assume our protection performed very effectively this yr in any respect. I do know that when you may have an offense that performs like that, you are placing extra strain in your protection. However we have to make enhancements there. I am bored with watching groups go up and down the sector on us."

Final season, the Giants allowed the Twelfth-most factors (415), the ninth-most complete yards (5,896) and the sixth-most dashing yards (2,316) within the NFL — whereas forcing simply 15 turnovers, the fifth fewest within the league.

Mara’s frustration was justified. The protection surrendered 24.4 factors per recreation — not the league’s worst mark, however tough to beat when the offense managed solely 16 factors per contest.

This yr, the script has flipped. The Giants are scoring 23.6 factors underneath Dart, however the protection has been even worse, placing added strain on the offense.

By means of the primary 10 video games, the Giants have allowed the fourth-most factors (273), the third-most complete yards (3,830), the fifth-most passing yards (2,309) and probably the most dashing yards within the NFL (1,521) — whereas rating within the backside 4 with simply six takeaways.

The protection has regressed from subpar to dreadful in a yr’s time, placing defensive coordinator Shane Bowen’s job in critical jeopardy. Given these numbers, it’s not shocking Daboll was the primary to go.

Wanting forward, the Giants should overhaul their protection this offseason. They’ve discovered their quarterback of the longer term in Dart — now they want the top coach of the longer term, somebody who can develop alongside him and restore the franchise’s credibility.