I’m starting to get Odell “vibes” from Daboll.
Rookie Odell Beckham Jr. was a phenom. He was firey and emotional, but he was lighting it up, which is the reason the Giants were in the games they were in. Then he started to struggle in big spots, and that same firey emotion had him punching equipment and walls, and many fans turned on him. In 2014, Odell was almost universally loved. By the 2019 off-season, fans were split at best. Eventually, the team decided the emotional outbursts combined with his high price and solid. Still, for what he had been underwhelming production, there was more than they wanted to deal with, and they shipped him out unceremoniously.
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It’s feeling eerily similar to Daboll. “DaBalls” was the feeling he had that first year. Just firey and decisive, but, most importantly, a winner with a roster that didn’t seem to have much talent. Guys played hard for him, and fans adored him. Then, last year, we heard the rumblings about him and Wink, and his emotions got the better of him. I saw the team struggle, and I think people started to wonder.
Now we see a roster that looks much more talented than 2022 on paper and has been much healthier in critical spots through 2 games than last year’s team, and guys, especially on defense, are just not seeming to play with that fire you’d expect an emotional coach to pass along. Daboll neglected to use a practice squad elevation on Jude McAtamney despite knowing Graham Gano struggled with injuries in practice this week.
You could say hindsight is 20/20, but popular Giants content creator and host of the New York Revival podcast el Jefé (@JefePil on Twitter) was one of a few people I saw questioning the move, or rather lack of one, before the game even started. It wasn’t like Gano was 100% healthy, and it was some freak accident. He was, at best, banged up coming in, if not technically injured.
Had Daboll kept calm at the end of the game, he opened his presser and said, I cost us the game because I thought Graham would be fine for the whole game, but I was wrong. I should have come in with a contingency plan. I will do my best to ensure we never lose due to a personnel decision on my end again.” it could have been water under the bridge. Instead, Daboll got short with the media members and showed his frustration without taking the blame for his decision. He did say the roster call was on him but also did that thing you do when you argue with someone and go, “Yeah, but…” which always reads like you refusing to take the blame for your end of things.
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He showed no leadership in the press conference. And that lack of leadership may have a trickle-down effect. Last year, we saw Xavier McKinney call out his Coordinator Wink Martindale in the press, and Evan Neal famously called his detractor’s burger flippers.
This year they’ve played just two games, and we’ve already seen Dexter Lawrence, the most beloved guy on this team by the fans, say he doesn’t respect fans who boo, and Kayvon Thibodeaux blows off, beat reporter Jordan Raanan and refuse to answer his question.
It’s starting to feel like this Giants team is at war with the media and fans and more angry at us than the guys they’re supposed to be hitting. That lack of accountability and self-awareness, combined with the way the team fell apart last season before the Tommy Cutlets run and a horrible 0-2 start to this season, should have Daboll, despite being 2022 Coach of the Year, feeling that fire-moving from his gut to underneath his chair.
During the 2023 off-season, Giants co-owner John Mara said you can go from Bono to Bozo real quick in this town. Brian Daboll is on track to go from Odell to Odell even faster. Can he recapture 2014 Odell, or is he doomed to a similar exit to Odell’s in 2018? Time will tell.
