In my Tuesday piece discussing potential replacements for head coach Brian Daboll, I wrote that the Giants “have an accountability problem.”
Accountability on a football team, for both the players and the coaching staff, comes directly from the reactions by the head coach to a variety of occurrences.
In thinking about having put that out into the ether, I realized I never explained why I think there is an accountability problem with the Giants. I never gave examples, nor did I offer ways I believe certain situations should have been handled.
Let’s correct that now.
Deonte Banks
In Week 4 of 2024 against the Dallas Cowboys, Banks was heavily criticized for not hustling to try and bring down CeeDee Lamb after giving up a completion that turned into a 55-yard touchdown. Banks was not removed from the game. Daboll said nothing — and, honestly, I can’t find evidence he was asked directly. Defensive backs coach Jerome Henderson was furious, and said so to the media.
Four weeks later, Banks was again criticized for giving up on a play where he could have tackled Jalen Hurts during a blowout loss to the Philadelphia Eagles but simply watched him run by. Again, no removal from the game, nothing said by the head coach. No loss of his starting job the following week.
Mysteriously, Banks was benched at halftime the following week against the Pittsburgh Steelers. No satisfactory explanation was ever given. That benching, honestly, felt like the Giants realizing they had to make a show of somehow holding Banks accountable rather than them actually holding him accountable.
At season’s end, Henderson was fired. Banks is still a Giant, though he did lose a competition for his job to Cor’Dale Flott. Perhaps there is accountability in that.
Still, the person who lost his job is the person who was critical of the player. Daboll has always been tight-lipped in his remarks to the media. He doesn’t like direct player criticism to the press. Henderson, in trying to reach Banks, violated that twice. He got fired. Mostly, in my view, for trying to hold his player accountable.
Where was the accountability for the player in that?
Is it any wonder that Banks, after losing his job to Flott, has spent the season hiding from the media, usually not even entering the room when media is in the locker room? Or that, when asked by a reporter to speak after Sunday’s loss, Banks walked away with his pants around his ankles?
‘I was open’
In the 28-3 Week 8 loss to the Eagles last season, the same one in which Banks was criticized, the Giants offense was abysmal. Daniel Jones went 14 of 21 for 99 yards and was sacked seven times before being lifted for Drew Lock.
Malik Nabers wasn’t thrilled about catching just four passes for 41 yards, and said so.
Daboll’s reaction to Nabers saying “I was open?” Meaning, of course, this was someone else’s fault and not mine.
Daboll didn’t fall back on his “everything is collective” trope. He didn’t say he had talked to Nabers about choosing words that could be interpreted as a shot at the quarterback more carefully. He said this:
“He was open a lot.”
So, players can say what they want. Not have each other’s backs. Not say winning and losing is a team thing. They can just blame someone else and move on.
Got it.
Fast forward to the present
The defense wasn’t the Giants’ biggest problem in 2024. It wasn’t close to good, though. A frustrated John Mara said this about defensive coordinator Shane Bowen’s group:
“Quite frankly, I didn’t think our defense played very well this year, at all,” Mara said. “I’m tired of watching teams go up and down the field on us, so I think that has to be addressed.”
That’s a clear opening from the owner for Daboll to find a new coordinator. He did not.
This year, a defense with a fresh infusion of talent that was expected to be among the league’s top groups, has been far worse than last season’s less talented group.
Bowen clearly has culpability in that. There have been a couple of games — the Denver debacle in Week 7 and last week against the San Francisco 49ers — after which moving on from Bowen for the remainder of the season seemed to be an obvious call. Daboll did not.
The Denver meltdown, 33 points allowed in the fourth quarter, was the second time Bowen was thought to have played too soft at the end of regulation with the Giants protecting a slim lead.
Nor did Daboll explain, when I asked him directly, why he thought Bowen could still get things right after not having been able to do that for a year-and-a-half?
“Nothing’s good enough. Offense, defense, kicking game, we all can be better. That’s what we’re all working towards,” Daboll said. “I know that’s what Shane is working towards. That’s the defensive staff, that’s the offensive staff, that’s the kicking game. That’s what we’re going to try to do. We’re doing everything we can do to try to improve it and I’m confident we will.”
OK, then. So, we’re just going to keep trying the same stuff that hasn’t been working and hope for different results.
Here’s a question: Did Daboll ever actually say he was wrong for going into the medical tent a few weeks ago and interrupting Jaxson Dart’s concussion check? He said he apologized to the Giants’ team doctor, but did he ever say he knows he made a mistake? I don’t think so.
After the $100,000 fine was announced, Daboll was asked for his reaction. Rather than take the opportunity to admit wrongdoing and admit knowing that he and his players have to respect the protocol because it is for their protection, he just said he would keep his thoughts between himself and the league.
When you question Daboll about in-game decisions he almost always gives some variation of “that’s the decision we made” and doesn’t explain. He certainly doesn’t have to, but some detail into the thinking would be nice.
Is it any wonder that a player like Banks walks away from media with his pants around his ankles? That Dexter Lawrence says “I think I’m playing well” after his defense gave up more than 30 points for the third straight week and he clearly is not? Is it any wonder that Graham Gano says of his 45-yard miss on Sunday that it was his “only miss all day.” As if anyone cares about the kicks he made in warm-ups.
It doesn’t matter who the head coach is, or who the defensive coordinator is, or who’s on the roster. Until this team takes real accountability for its failings, things are not going to get better.
See More:
