Brian Daboll has been a godsend for the New York Giants — the steadying force they’ve needed for so long after cycling through four head coaches in six years since parting with Tom Coughlin in 2016. In his first year, Daboll adopted a team in shambles and guided them to their first playoff win since 2011, exceeding even the most optimistic expectations.
It’s hard to think of one wrong thing he’s done in his short time as Giants coach, which is why Monday’s season opener against the Dallas Cowboys was so perplexing.
Not only did Daboll’s team seem wholly unprepared for a game in their home stadium against a division rival, the coach also curiously left quarterback Daniel Jones in the rainy game even once the Giants were down 40-0 in the fourth quarter. Jones had already taken a pretty good beating to that point, and it commenced another two drives until Daboll finally waved the white flag on their final possession.
These are the hits Daniel Jones took while down 40-0. pic.twitter.com/sonq4wfB9t
— Bobby Skinner (@BobbySkinner_) September 11, 2023
The most head-scratching part was other key starters had already been pulled, including the team’s best offensive lineman left tackle Andrew Thomas. So things may have been even worse for Jones when the game was the furthest out of reach. As you can see from the clip, Saquon Barkley was also done.
But Daboll left Jones in there to keep dropping back and keep getting hit. In total, Jones was sacked seven times, he threw two picks and fumbled twice. Dallas was credited with 12 quarterback hits.
Daniel Jones needs to be taken out of this game right now before he's murdered… pic.twitter.com/ASnUH6UQHu
— Alex Wilson (@AlexWilsonESM) September 11, 2023
Daniel Jones taking a beating in driving rain while down 40-0 is quite the move by Brian Daboll right now. Absolutely absurdity.
— Jordan Raanan (@JordanRaanan) September 11, 2023
In fairness to Daboll, Jones said in his postgame press conference he wanted to stay in the game. But he also said there wasn’t a conversation about him coming out. In other words, he didn’t have much of a choice.
Daboll confirmed there was never a conversation about pulling Jones, saying he left him in to get something positive going. In case you missed the game, nothing positive came from that decision.
The Giants’ offensive line continued to play the roll of turnstile and Cowboys defenders disregarded them like teenagers in the New York subway.
Daniel Jones says he wanted to stay in the game in the fourth quarter: pic.twitter.com/yUHHtrwqnK
— Giants Videos (@SNYGiants) September 11, 2023
Brian Daboll says he didn't consider taking Daniel Jones out of the game in the fourth quarter until the last series: pic.twitter.com/7z3HeNw3Eg
— Giants Videos (@SNYGiants) September 11, 2023
Luckily for Daboll, Jones didn’t get hurt. Though he played an awful game, the Giants still need him healthy to accomplish their goals for the season. As FTW’s Mike Sykes wrote, it’s too early to give up on any of the bad quarterbacks from Week 1. And the Giants didn’t pay Jones all that money this offseason just for the coach to let him get hurt in garbage time of a blowout.
This was a bad call by Daboll and hopefully a lesson learned. There was nothing to gain from leaving Jones in and a lot to potentially lose besides the game.
