Big Blue View
There is still much to discuss and learn as the Giants switch quarterbacks
After taking some time to consider the fallout from the New York Giants decision to — finally — move on from quarterback Daniel Jones, replacing him with fan favorite Tommy Devito, here are some ‘things I think’ about the ramifications.
Of course Brian Daboll is “coaching for his job” as head coach of the Giants. That became part of the story on Monday, but it is hardly a news flash.
Daboll’s Giants are 8-19 over the past two seasons. They are 0-5 at home in 2024. Daboll works for an owner who preaches and desires patience, but hasn’t been able to exercise any since showing Tom Coughlin the door after the 2015 season.
Mara warned Daboll after he earned Coach of the Year honors for the Giants’ surprising 2022 season that it wasn’t hard to go from “Bono to Bozo.”
It’s not hard to argue that is what Daboll has done the past two seasons.
As of right now, though, I will agree with Adam Schefter that Daboll and GM Joe Schoen will keep their jobs.
I have said this before, but Ben McAdoo and Joe Judge lost their head-coaching gigs with the Giants as much or more because they embarrassed the franchise with their words and actions rather than their unsatisfactory won-loss records.
Mara learned loyalty, sometimes to a fault, from his father, Wellington. Still, that only goes so far when the owner is embarrassed.
Can Daboll avoid that fate? I would suggest winning a couple of home games. Setting a franchise record for futility by going 0-9 at home, with booing fans trudging to the exits early, will embarrass the owner. A locker room implosion or obvious lack of effort on the field will embarrass the owner.
The next seven weeks are not only a showcase for Tommy DeVito, but for the head coach as well.
With Jones having been benched, there is a lot of chatter about how this is a bad look for Schoen and Daboll. I get it, but I think there are caveats. Especially for Schoen.
I have said over and over that there is no way when he took the GM job that Schoen expected to be three years in and still be dealing with Jones. I know because I have asked him more than once about that.
When a new regime takes over with an existing quarterback like Jones, that QB often gets a year and then the new GM/coach move on and draft their guy. That is certainly what Schoen expected when he refused to pick up Jones’ fifth-year option.
Then 2022 happened.
The Giants somehow won a playoff game. Schoen signed Jones to that four-year, $160 million contract. I still say that giving him only two years of guaranteed money was the best Schoen was going to be able to do.
What else was he going to do?...
