Daboll limits reflection on dysfunction as possible changes loom

ORLANDO, Fla. — Brian Daboll wouldn’t revisit Wink Martindale’s explosive resignation, Mike Kafka’s loss of play-calling duties or any of his lowest 2023 moments in the Giants head coach’s first comments since a disastrous end to last season.

“There’s a ton of changes every year. There’s 17 new defensive coordinator openings this year,” Daboll said Tuesday at the NFC Coaches Breakfast, ignoring that the Giants were the only team whose defensive coordinator cursed out the head coach on his way out the door. “There were 16 new offensive ones, seven special teams ones. Excited about the people we’ve added.”

Daboll did say he is focused on “what can I do better, how can I be a better coach, how can I be a better leader.” He also admitted his gameday demeanor needs work at times, one day after co-owner John Mara said “there are times where I wish [Daboll] would tone it down a little bit.”

“Every year there’s a self-evaluation process that goes on,” Daboll said. “I’m a very passionate person, but yeah, there’s times where I wish I had handled things a little bit differently, certainly. So you continue to grow, you continue to evolve. That’s what I try to do every year.”

But mostly, the Giants from Mara on down are committed to sweeping their dysfunction under the rug and seemingly crossing their fingers it works.

Giving promotions to Kafka and QB coach Shea Tierney after one of the worst offensive seasons in franchise history, for example, was an obvious clean-up effort after the Giants prevented Kafka from leaving for Seattle. That would have created three coordinator vacancies on a staff that saw a virtual coaching exodus between numerous firings and voluntary departures.

Yet Daboll was prepared to explain that Kafka’s promotion was related to his professional development, including increased involvement in meetings and exposure to more areas of the team’s operations.

It’s hard to call it a genuine promotion for Kafka, though, obviously, when Daboll is tracking toward taking away offensive play-calling altogether for his third pivotal season with the team.

“That’s something I’m looking into,” Daboll said. “I think there’s 20 head coaches at this point in time that call plays. It might be a little bit more. I’ve been doing a bunch of research, but no decision has been made. I’m still going through that process and thinking about what we need to do.”

The Giants, although Mara didn’t put Daboll on notice this week, of course are counting on major improvement and changes from their head coach this season. So taking over play-calling makes sense for Daboll, if it’s one of things he feels he does best.