Brian Daboll got a vote of confidence, not a guarantee
The New York Giants face a difficult task Monday night against the Pittsburgh Steelers? Is it insurmountable? No. Is an upset victory by the Giants likely? Also no. As we wait for kickoff, here are some ‘things I think’ for you to discuss/argue about/rip me for.
John Mara’s vote of confidence
We have been down this road before with Giants co-owner John Mara and midseason votes of confidence in coaches and GMs. If you know Mara’s history, his recent comments preaching patience with Brian Daboll and Joe Schoen mean he doesn’t want to fire them. They mean right now he doesn’t think he has to. It doesn’t mean that three months from now when the season is over he won’t.
In mid-November of 2017, Mara and co-owner Steve Tisch said they would decide Ben McAdoo’s fate at the end of the season. McAdoo and GM Jerry Reese were fired three weeks later with the locker room in disarray and the Eli Manning debacle having angered ownership and the fan base.
In 2021, Mara consistently backed Joe Judge. With a few weeks left in the season, reports were that Judge’s job was safe. Then Judge, with strange six and 11-minute answers to post-game questions, and back-to-back quarterback sneaks from victory formation on 2nd-and-11 and third-and-9 inside their own 5-yard line in the season finale against the Washignton Football Team sealed his fate.
The common denominator? In both instances, the coaches embarrassed the franchise in ways that went beyond fielding bad teams.
Daboll and Schoen should be safe, provided nothing like that happens.
Dianna Russini of The Athletic did sound a warning for the coach and GM:
People around the league aren’t buying that Daboll and Schoen should feel secure even after the endorsement, and the duo — known to be outwardly emotional — probably won’t feel any less anxious if they keep losing. …
It’s a well-known secret around the league that Mara loves former New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick from Belichick’s time as Bill Parcells’ defensive coordinator with the Giants. Many are wondering if Mara would be able to resist if Belichick expressed interest in the job. Though that’s another question: Would Belichick want the Giants job considering how the organization is currently set up? Some around the league believe the answer is no.
My advice to Daboll and Schoen? Handle with care when it comes to locker room situations. Don’t embarrass ownership — with your words or your actions. Oh, and win some games!
Benching Deonte Banks
Speaking of locker room situations, the one with Deonte Banks bears watching.
I have written that I don’t believe Banks is or will become an Eli Apple type locker room problem. Banks has promised that the effort issues that have been problematic “won’t ever happen again.”
Daboll had better hope so. I am bothered a bit, maybe more than a bit, that Banks is not facing any obvious discipline. Banks did not get pulled from last week’s game and will start as usual on Monday. After thinking about it for a while, I have come to agree with those who think Banks should sit for a series or two against the Steelers.
If Daboll isn’t going to discipline a player for repeated lack of effort, where is he going to draw the line? And if he tries to discipline a player at some point in the future, does he risk raising double standard questions among players because he didn’t discipline a first-round pick?
Besides that, how does a player like Brian Burns feel about dragging himself around on one leg — like he did against the Eagles last Sunday — if players who don’t give effort don’t face consequences beyond having to explain themselves to teammates?
‘I was open’
Daboll’s response to Malik Nabers saying “I was open” after getting just four receptions while quarterback Daniel Jones was under siege against the Eagles bothered me a bit, too.
Daboll said “I hope people are frustrated” when you lose, and added that the wide receiver “was open quite a bit.”
Problem is, maybe Nabers wasn’t trying to throw Jones under the bus, but his comment could be interpreted as doing just that. It could also be interpreted as him saying “this wasn’t my fault.” And Daboll’s reaction can be interpreted as a) not taking issue with a player comment that could be considered self-serving and b) not supporting his team’s quarterback.
Daboll can’t afford to give the impression that he doesn’t have control of his team.
The Daniel Jones situation
The Giants seem headed toward having little choice but to draft a quarterback this offseason. With 10 games remaining in the season, the short-term question is how soon will they pull the plug on Daniel Jones to avoid being on the hook for his 2025 injury guarantee?
My guess? They won’t do it until they are officially eliminated from playoff contention. That won’t be soon enough for many in the fan base, but Daboll has been consistent that Jones gives the Giants the best chance to win and Mara is not going to embrace tanking.
In my view the only thing that could hasten a chance, barring a Jones injury, is locker room unrest. Players have not, and will not, criticize Jones. They talk in circles, though, when asked about how to fix the struggling offense because they don’t have answers. There might come a time when Daboll has to make a quarterback change simply to energize the locker room.
A wide receiver question
The Giants have to deal with Steelers wide receiver George Pickens, coming of a five-catch, 111-yard performance against the New York Jets.
This begs a question: Should the Giants have drafted Pickens in 2022 rather than Wan’Dale Robinson? GM Joe Schoen traded back in Round 2 to take Robinson 43rd overall. Pickens went No. 52.
The Giants said they had a plan for Robinson, and now that he has been fully healthy we have finally seen it. He is an excellent possession receiver from the slot with an important role, catching short passes and using his quickness and surprising strength to make defenders miss and earn first downs.
Problem is, that’s really all he is. He’s 5-foot-8, 185 pounds with 27⅝-inch arms — which are zero percentile. He has 4.44 40-yard dash speed, but he is a tiny target down field, which renders him a non-factor on almost anything that isn’t a short throw. To hit Robinson down the field, the quarterback has to be precise.
Robinson averages just 8.4 yards per catch for his career, and just a career-low 7.0 this season. He is on pace for 104 catches, but just 735 yards. Darius Slayton had 770 yards receiving last season on just 50 catches.
Pickens, though, is a 6-3, 200-pound game-breaker. He 1,140 yards receiving a year ago on 63 catches, 18.1 yards per catch. He is on pace for more than 1,100 receiving yards this year. Pickens is a deep threat with the size, strength, arm length, and athleticism to win contested balls.
Pickens, though, can also be a diva. There were questions about his attitude coming out of Georgia, one of the reasons he lasted until late in the second round. There have been questions about his effort at times in Pittsburgh, and reports that Steeler players have at times grown “sick of” Pickens’ antics.
There was, and still is, risk with having Pickens on your roster. Is that, though, a risk the Giants should have taken?
