The Giants’ surprise run this season has earned first-year head coach Brian Daboll plenty of praise, and on Thursday he received his first piece of hardware. Daboll was named Coach of the Year by the Professional Football Writers of America after leading the Giants to a 9-7-1 record and their first playoff win since 2012.
Daboll is the third Giants coach to be given the Coach of the Year honor from the PFWA and joins the likes of Bill Parcells (1986), Dan Reeves (1993) and Jim Fassel (1997). Daboll won the PFWA Assistant Coach of the Year award in 2020 while he was still with the Buffalo Bills.
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Daboll became the fifth coach in Giants history to lead a team to the postseason in his first year, along with Allie Sherman (1961), Reeves (1993), Fassel (1997) and Ben McAdoo (2016).
The Giants underwent a massive turnaround under Daboll this season and he helped jumpstart the New York offense. The Giants finished fourth in the NFL in rushing yards per game (148.2), fifth in rushing yards per play (4.84) and set a new franchise mark by scoring a rushing touchdown in their last 15 regular season games
“I appreciate all the people that had a hand in this year,” Daboll said during the final press conference of the year. “Obviously, it didn’t end up where we wanted to end up. But it took a lot of work. It took a lot of energy. It took a lot of people in all areas of our building. The offseason started the day after we lost, unfortunately. That’s where we’re at. We’ll do the best job we can of building up our team the best way we can, our organization, and then going out there and taking it day by day.”
In addition to Daboll’s Coach of the Year nod on Thursday, he is also a finalist for the Associated Press’ NFL Coach of the Year award.
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