EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — It was heading in this direction all spring and summer with New York Giants coach Brian Daboll leading the offensive meetings. On Tuesday, he confirmed for the first time that he’ll handle playcalling duties as well.
“Yeah, I’m doing it,” Daboll said as his team prepared for its season opener against the Minnesota Vikings.
Daboll, who had offensive coordinator Mike Kafka calling the plays in each of his previous two seasons as a head coach, wouldn’t get into specifics about why he made the decision. The Giants, however, went 6-11 last season and averaged just 11.8 points per game while starting 2-8.
Daboll pulled playcalling from Kafka on multiple occasions during the season, sources told ESPN.
Year 3 is an important season for Daboll and his regime. They had a successful first campaign — making the playoffs and winning a playoff game — but last season was a mess from start to finish, on and off the field.
Daboll came to New York known for his work with quarterbacks and his offensive playcalling. The Giants had the 18th-ranked offense while making the playoffs in 2022 and finished 29th in total offense last season.
There was a thought that Kafka could leave this offseason before the Giants promoted him to assistant head coach, but his involvement has visibly decreased this summer. Daboll wore the headset or used walkie-talkies while being the voice relaying the plays to the quarterback through training camp and the preseason. His fingerprints are all over the offense, even more than the previous two seasons when sources viewed it as Daboll’s offense with Kafka calling the plays.
The pressure is now clearly on Daboll for it to succeed. No excuses.
“Yeah, I’m the head coach,” said Daboll, “so I’m responsible for everything, whether it’s the defense, the special teams, the offense.”
It has become the norm for offensive head coaches to call plays. Fourteen of 17 offensive head coaches call their own plays. Only Jacksonville’s Doug Pederson, Philadelphia’s Nick Sirianni and the Los Angeles Chargers’ Jim Harbaugh have their offensive coordinators calling plays for them.
Daboll looked at this all immediately after the season and wanted to put the onus on his own shoulders.
“Almost everybody in the league does it as an offensive head coach,” he said.
The Giants under Daboll put an emphasis on getting the ball downfield more consistently this summer. This plays into their strengths with a speedy receiving corps that is expected to be led by first-round pick Malik Nabers.
New York averaged 6.9 air yards per pass attempt last season. That was tied for 25th in the NFL, with starter Daniel Jones averaging just 5.7 air yards per attempt behind a battered offensive line in his six starts.
The expectation is that should change this season, as Daboll is known for running heavy protections while looking to hit big plays.
“We’ve had a lot of communication over these past few years in meeting rooms and as we gameplan throughout the week. I feel I have a pretty good feel for how he sees the game, how he calls a game,” Jones said. “Obviously, we’ve spent a lot of time since the spring together. I’ve got a lot of confidence and feel good about us being on the same page. I’m excited to be out there.”
Daboll made his mark working with quarterback Josh Allen in Buffalo. The two were known to have an extremely strong working relationship and friendship, and Allen blossomed.
“I think he’s really good about timing up when to call shots,” backup quarterback Drew Lock said of Daboll. “Very conscious of down in distance. I know all playcallers are conscious of down and distance, but some of them sometimes you can get plays called back there where you’re like, ‘He definitely doesn’t play the position if he’s calling this for me right now.'”
With this regime needing to produce better results and with Jones’ future in the air, Daboll has put the offense — and perhaps his coaching fate — in his own hands.