Brian Daboll had his work cut out for him when he took over the reins last year as the head coach of the New York Giants.
Big Blue was in a deep decline having lost 10 or more games in five straight seasons, the worst stretch of football in the team’s 97-year history.
All Daboll did in his first year was turn the Giants into an instant winner, qualifying for the postseason for the first time since 2016 and even winning a wildcard round game. He was named the NFL’s Coach of the Year for that accomplishment.
Now comes the hard part, however. And Daboll knows it. He is under no illusions when it comes to the progress he’s made and the work that still lies ahead for both him and second-year general manager Joe Schoen.
“I thought it was a good start. We laid a foundation. Have a long way to go,” Daboll told Judy Battista of the NFL Network.
“But just to interact with the people in the building, not just on the football side, but the business side, all the different departments. I thought Joe and I tried to establish what we wanted to bring to the table.
“Certainly got a long way to go because this upcoming year, you’re faced with the task again of building a team again. Not just collecting talent. So, 30 to 40 percent of your team is gonna be new. So different challenges. Certainly grateful for the opportunity, but made a lot of mistakes along the way. And (we’re) trying to learn from them throughout the offseason.”
This year, Daboll will hit the ground running, which is to his advantage but he’ll also have higher expectations to live up to as well.
