Brian Daboll might not make it to Monday as the Giants’ head coach at this rate.
Daboll touched the organization’s third rail on Thursday when he used air quotes while referencing the “medical people” in the building.
The Giants‘ head coach was asked why his team was practicing outside on the wet and rainy fields, because he typically keeps the players on the indoor turf when there is inclement weather.
“It’s good for the guys’ legs,” Daboll said. “Instead of going in on turf, we’d rather be out here. I wish it wasn’t slippery, but we’d rather go in here than go in there. And so would the (air quotes) ‘medical people.’”
Taking on head athletic trainer Ronnie Barnes and his department in the Giants’ organization is a good way for a coach to expedite his firing. But Daboll now is acting like he has nothing to lose as he and the winless Giants (0-3) prepare to host the undefeated Chargers (3-0) on Sunday.
He has gone on the offensive publicly two days in a row, distancing himself from Giants owner John Mara and GM Joe Schoen, a pairing that strode slowly in lock step off the practice field on Wednesday.
Daboll repeatedly called Russell Wilson’s benching for Jaxson Dart “my decision,” rather than a collaborative one, during his Wednesday press conference. And he implied that someone else in the organization had leaked 11 days ago that the Giants had “no sense of urgency” to play Dart.
“I haven’t had any conversations but with players,” the coach said.
Daboll then implied again on Thursday that news was getting out of the Giants’ building because of someone other than him.
The Giants’ players said that they found out about Wilson’s benching through social media. Daboll was asked if he would have preferred that happen differently.
“The world we live in. So. It’s the world we live in,” Daboll said, alluding to the leak being out of his control.
The Giants’ building always ends up dividing when it’s time for someone to accept blame, primarily because there are some people who never leave it.
Daboll and Schoen always have been somewhat separate entities anyway, despite their and the organization’s constant effort to present themselves as a collaborative pairing in a cheap shot at the previous regime of Dave Gettleman and Joe Judge.
Remember when Schoen had to get on the headsets for four games to monitor Daboll’s dynamic with his coaching staff in 2023?
But their relationship really took a turn once they met with Mara after last year’s 3-14 season and did an autopsy of their inadequacies.
Once Daboll and Schoen emerged from that meeting, they worked more as separate entities in the early spring than they ever had before.
Daboll even publicly contradicted Mara on whether the owner or the coach had suggested he give offensive play-calling back to coordinator Mike Kafka.
Daboll ended up having enough pull to shift the Giants’ NFL Draft quarterback search away from Shedeur Sanders to Dart, and the coach and Schoen still worked together to assemble a roster for 2025.
Then they put on a show at the start of training camp to pretend everything was fine and they were collaborative as ever.
But Schoen seems to be more protected by ownership. Daboll seems to clearly see that. And in the last few days, he has started to air out the organization’s dirty laundry.
The only way to save himself now is to win. Although after Thursday’s air quotes, that might not even be enough.
Two planes already have been booked by disgusted Giants fans to fly over MetLife Stadium before Sunday’s game, according to NJ Advance Media. And a third plane is tentatively scheduled but not booked.
One of the plane’s messages initially was scheduled to read: “MR MARA ENOUGH IS ENOUGH CLEAN HOUSE.”
Mara and co-owner Steve Tisch have shown more patience with this regime than Schoen and Daboll deserve.
Daboll volunteered himself on Thursday to be the first person in the building — and the first coach in the NFL this season — to see his hourglass run empty.
