How Head Coach Brian Daboll got QB Daniel Jones and the New York Giants on track

The New York Giants have won a playoff game for the first time in more than a decade. An important factor in this is the development of quarterback Daniel Jones, which is largely due to head coach Brian Daboll and his coaching staff.

Daniel Jones played “well”, head coach Brian Daboll attested to his quarterback after the New York Giants’ 31:24 win over the Minnesota Vikings in the wildcard round of the playoffs.

“Only good?” was a reporter’s question, to which Daboll replied, “Yeah, he played well. Winning football. Isn’t good a good adjective for that? I mean, I’m not a writer…” This caused laughter. And the Giants had a reason to laugh after their surprising victory, at least from a Vegas point of view, as a (small) underdog. And anyway after a season that opened some eyes in New York and answered some questions.

The biggest question for Daboll and Co. was of course whether Daniel Jones could be the solution for the quarterback position. When Daboll and General Manager Joe Schoen took up their posts about a year ago, they weren’t so sure. The declined option for a fifth year in Jones’ contract was ultimately profound.

Jones had only hinted at what he was capable of in the previous three years. His overall performances steadily deteriorated after a decent rookie year, which was clearly reflected in his Total QBR. And so 2022 became a do-or-die year for the 25-year-old.

New York Giants: Daniel Jones – Statistics in the NFL

The big hope has always been that Daboll could have a similar effect on Jones as he had on Josh Allen in Buffalo in his impressive rise a few years ago.

The biggest difference, however, was that Daboll took over development from Allen when he entered his sophomore year. Jones was three years old, which is usually too late for a quarterback to make any major changes. And all the more remarkable is what Daboll and his coaching staff have achieved up to this point.

2022 saw career highs for Jones in pass rate, passing yards, interception rate, total QBR, and average net yards per attempt. In addition, 2022 was also Jones’ best rushing season of his career by far: 708 yards and 7 touchdowns.

And the latter should also be the key to Jones’ positive development, because Daboll is Jones’ first NFL coach who has really used his athletic abilities in a targeted manner.

New York Giants: Daboll third head coach for Jones

Among other things, Jones has already had three different head coaches: Pat Shurmer, Joe Judge and now Daboll. And prior to this season, the Giants’ offense was down, Jones essentially being a pocket passer who occasionally scrambled the floor when he wasn’t losing a fumble. That has also become less: Jones afforded only 6 fumbles this season – in the previous three years it was 36!

As the performance against Minnesota showed, the run game is now an important part of Jones’ game. It is involved through designed runs as well as through RPOs. And of course scrambles are still a part of the game, they are even desired and cause a lot of respect from the opponents, because of course you can’t plan for them.

Nick Sirianni, head coach of the upcoming opponent Philadelphia Eagles (Sun., 2.15 a.m. live on DAZN), paid tribute to Jones during the week when he compared his running qualities with those of his quarterback: “The good thing is that our defense has many Reps against someone like Hurts had because Daniel Jones is dangerous in the pocket and when he leaves the pocket. He plays really good football. He’s getting better and better. Hats off to him and the coaching staff who made it possible.”

What Sirianni described was also one of the keys in defeating the Vikings. Because as he implied, Jones was not only dangerous outside of the pocket, but also inside, in the passing game. Jones threw for 301 yards in Minneapolis. It was only the third time this season that he broke the 300-yard mark. And it came at just the right time.

The fact that Jones was also his team’s rushing leader with 78 yards and himself provided 6 first downs on the ground was an important part of the overall performance. But the fact that the Giants started out as a running team and then eventually flipped the switch and became a passing team may have taken its toll on the Vikings, who had one of the worst pass defenses in the NFL.

New York Giants: Head Coach Daboll plays to win

It’s this variability in general that makes this year’s version of the Giants so special. Daboll – and offensive coordinator and play-caller Mike Kafka – plays to win and uses every means at his disposal to do so. He appears braver than many others. Against the Vikings he let two fourth attempts play out. And he already showed these tendencies in week 1 of the regular season when they defeated the Titans via two-point conversion at the very end.

At this point, however, it should be mentioned that there is still a lot of room for improvement with Daboll and the Giants, especially when it comes to the 4th down go rate. The Giants are only 28th in the league here – and are even behind Daboll’s former team, the Patriots.

Daboll led the Giants to the playoffs for the first time since 2016 and now to their first postseason win since Super Bowl XLVI in 2012. He could be the team’s first long-term coach since the Tom Coughlin era (2004-2015) and for a long time Bring back lack of stability in the organization.

And he did so with arguably one of the worst receiving corps in the NFL. A symbol of this is Isaiah Hodgins, who shone against Minnesota with 105 yards and a touchdown. He came to New Jersey from the Bills via waiver wire only in the second half of the season and saw the team’s fourth-most targets. Incidentally, the third most went to ex-Niners backup and special teamer Richie James, while Darius Slayton, who was actually almost eliminated, saw the most targets of all wide receivers.

New York Giants: Receiving Yards, Leader 2022

Injuries and lack of form were a major concern for the Giants throughout the season, but creative offensive approaches made sure none of that was an obstacle in the end. And above all because under Daboll there is not only one way to victory. While the Giants were mainly a rushing team in the first half of the season, the tendency has recently been more through the air.

This can be seen above all in Saquon Barkley, who has played his best season since at least 2019. He started the year at around 22 carries per game. Last time it was nine. Not because he was getting worse – injuries certainly played a role in the second half of the season – but more because teams were starting to focus more on him and his game. That opened up space for Jones and his passing game.

Certainly the Giants had this season lucky in tight games time and time again. But they also forced that with their consistent way. And that is primarily thanks to Daboll. And Daniel Jones, who worked hard under the new regime and mastered the challenges he was faced with.

This is supposed to be a report by Tyler Dunne of Go Long said to have already started in the offseason training sessions. Accordingly, Daboll tried to test Jones’ resilience by deliberately announcing difficult plays and previously betraying them to defensive coordinator Wink Martindale. When backup Tyrod Taylor took over, however, he was given simple plays and the defense was not informed in advance. And apparently Jones passed that test.