The Giants are on their way back to the playoffs for the first time since 2016 and first-year head coach Brian Daboll is a big reason for that, but surprisingly that doesn’t seem to be enough to make him a favorite to win Coach of the Year honors. Considering what the Giants were expected to do this year and the success they had, it seems surprising that Daboll isn’t a favorite to win the prestigious honor.
As it stands, San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan (+175) and Philadelphia Eagles coach Nick Sirianni (+175) are the favorites to win the award going into the final week of the regular season. It would be hard to say that Shanahan, who has led the 49ers to a division title and a 12-4 record, or Sirianni wouldn’t be deserving of the honor, but considering the situation Daboll (+300) was dropped into the Giants’ head coach should be the favorite.
In fact, when you look at the turnaround that has taken place for the Giants this year, there hasn’t been one as drastic in this town since Barry Trotz turned around the Islanders in 2018-19. What’s more impressive is that Daboll has turned the Giants into a playoff team in the first year of his first NFL head coaching job.
“I mean I don’t think he gets enough respect of how competitive he is,” Saquon Barkley said about his coach on Sunday. “He always talks about competitive stamina, competitive mindset, and it kind of starts with your coach. It kind of started Week 1 when we scored a touchdown and you go for two. I think it starts there. It shows the trust that he has in us, the belief that he has in us.
“And when a guy like that is your head coach, showing him that as a player you don’t want to go out there and let him down, you want to enhance your level of play. And he’s been doing that all year from start to finish—from once he came in, just the energy he was able to bring to the facility, not only him, but (General Manager) Joe (Schoen) too, all the coaches, they’ve been doing a phenomenal job and I think the players are feeding off that.”
When Barkley was asked if he thought Daboll should be Coach of the Year he responded, “I think so.”
The Giants have gone through plenty of adversity this season and Daboll has guided his team through it impressively, especially the wide receiver corps which was dealt a heavy blow this year.
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What’s been equally as impressive as his play calling for most of the season has been his ability to get the players to buy into his message from Day 1. And that is not an easy feat, but from the moment training camp started the messaging sunk in and it has shown throughout the season and has helped get the Giants to this point.
Shanahan and Sirianni are some of the best coaches in the NFL, but when it comes to the Coach of the Year this season, Daboll should be the front-runner.
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