On the day the New York Giants finally decided to fire head coach Brian Daboll, plenty of reactions flooded in around the football world. But, not all of them hold the same weight.
Appearing on ESPN's "Monday Night Countdown" a few hours after the firing, franchise legend and former NFL quarterback Eli Manning was asked about the situation at hand.
“Football is a great game but it’s a brutal business," he started out saying.
"Everybody knows Coach Daboll is a great coach. Just a few years ago he was coach of the year, leading the giants to a playoff win. You felt the excitement this year, having the quarterback that he wanted with Jaxson Dart, some excitement going around.
"...they just haven’t been able to win too many games. It’s a sad day."
There it is. It's a sad day for Daboll the human being. This is true. But, the reality is, the Giants have not been able to win that many games under his watch as of late.
Eli Manning perfectly stated the truth in the aftermath of Brian Daboll's firing
Manning isn't wrong. Back in 2022, Daboll led the Giants to a playoff victory after the team went 9-7-1 during the regular season. A playoff win was cool, sure, but the regular season record and ultimate Divisional Round loss wasn't.
After barely inching their way into the postseason that year, Daboll's Giants went 6-11 in 2023.
It got worse the next year, as New York finished 2024 with a record of 3-14.
And of course, this season, Daboll's Giants were 2-8 at the time he was let go. All in all, Daboll held a record of 20-40-1 as the Giants' head coach.
Four seasons and a winning percentage of .336 -- yeah, I'd say it was time. Regardless of how you felt about the future of Jaxson Dart under Daboll, the record is what it is and there was no beating around the bush. The writing was on the wall for this eventual exit.
Now, Manning did go on to say he reached out to Daboll and knew the coach would land on his feet to continue coaching in this league. And, there should be no doubt about that. But, Daboll may very well end up being one of those names who go down in the category of "great coordinator, not a great coach."
And that's OK. For Daboll's sake, hopefully he is able to do exactly what Manning predicts him to do, en route to a very long career in the NFL.