Following another you-had-to-see-it-to-believe-it fourth-quarter collapse on Sunday, the New York Giants parted ways with head coach Brian Daboll.
The G-Men took their (lack of) talents to Chicago in Week 10 and left with a 24-20 loss that pushed them to start the season 2-8, for the third time in three years. The numbers are bad enough, but the context was worse.
It was their fourth double-digit road lead blown this season. To make matters worse, rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart suffered a concussion during the game — and wasn’t evaluated until a drive later than when the injury appeared to happen. Talk about a fireable offense in real-time.
Dabs unceremoniously finished his career at 20-41-1 as HC and is officially on the market. It’s unclear whether he’ll look for work ASAP — he has a year and a half left to be paid on his contract — but what we do know is that if he ends up in any of these spots, it’d be a worst-case scenario for Giants fans.
4 potential Brian Dabol destinations that'll grind Giants fans' gears
Tennessee Titans
Tennessee could overlook the lack of team success under Daboll with how electric Dart has looked through his first seven starts. The Titans drafted quarterback Cam Ward No. 1 overall but haven’t yet found a coach who can get the best out of him. Enter Dabs.
The Titans already fired former head coach Brian Callahan, which makes this a pretty easy fit. If the 50-year-old coach really is the QB guru he’s supposed to be, him going to Nashville to elevate Ward and Co. would earn a pretty big eye roll from Big Blue Nation — though not the worst.
New York Jets
Oh, the sibling rivalry. It’s color wars at its finest — Big Blue vs. Gang Green. You either root for the right New York team, or you’re a sad Jets fan. Unfortunately, the battle for NYC… North Jersey has become a losing fight on both ends. Neither team is exactly thriving, but watching Dabs head to Florham Park to upstart the new Jets under head coach Aaron Glenn would be tough.
Glenn’s squad is just as bad as the Giants’. They sit at 2-7, with major question marks surrounding the quarterback position. The Jets are very familiar with Daboll — he coached the QBs under Eric Mangini in 2007 — and from his time with the Buffalo Bills, jumpstarting Allen’s impressive career. Gang Green could buy into offensive coordinator Brian Daboll for their next franchise quarterback hopeful.
And if he's successful like he was with Allen... well, that'd be a nightmare.
New England Patriots
Pretty self-explanatory here. New England already has the quarterback Daboll wanted to draft in 2024 on the roster. Drake Maye has also taken an incredible leap in Year 2, garnering serious MVP consideration. What if the 50-year-old went back to his old stomping grounds to recapture the Patriots’ dynasty days? Yuck.
Daboll won five Super Bowls in 11 years with the Patriots throughout his two stints. He comes from the Bill Belichick coaching tree, which would fit right into head coach Mike Vrabel’s and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels’ mentality nicely. His fit with the Pats would be a bit wonky, but his admiration for Maye and previous success in Foxborough could be enough to pull him back into the darkness.
Anywhere in the NFC East (but especially Philadelphia)
Giants fans are about to find out how vindictive Brian Daboll really is. Because if he goes anywhere in the NFC East, it’ll be safe to assume he’s out for blood. After all, the fanbase only told ownership to fire him for two-plus seasons with airplane banners flying over MetLife Stadium... I’m sure he’s a reasonable guy.
The Washington Commanders would be a tough watch — working with Jayden Daniels, one of the league’s brightest young stars. The Dallas Cowboys would be pretty savage as well. Dabs never beat the Cowboys as Big Blue’s head coach, going 0-7 in three-plus seasons. Thinking he could contribute to the Giants’ ridiculous trend of losing automatically to Dallas would really stink.
And then there are the Eagles. They’d be the worst, because they are the worst. I have no doubt in my mind that Daboll would run Saquon Barkley and the tush push down New York’s throat relentlessly. He knows defensive coordinator Shane Bowen could do nothing about it, too. The proximity of the best city on planet Earth to Philadelphia makes the rivalry one of the fiercest — and one that would make Daboll’s arrival even worse.