The New York Giants fell to the Washington Commanders for the second time in Week 9, dropping them to 2-7 on the year.
After the game, first-round rookie wide receiver Malik Nabers spoke with reporters, and he talked about the Giants’ future amid what appears to be another lost season.
“Malik Nabers said he’d rather build something from the ground up because ‘it feels better when you come from the mud and you start winning successfully,’” New York Daily News beat reporter Pat Leonard relayed on X.
“Asked if the Giants can do that here,” Leonard continued, “Nabers said: ‘Yeah, you’ve just got to build. You’ve got to build up. You’ve got to put the right people in place to be successful. You’ve got to get the right keys. You’ve got to get the right guys on the team to win.”
“Obviously, the Commanders have done that,” Nabers added (via Leonard). “They’ve got the right guys that they want to be on the team, and they’re winning.”
Is Daniel Jones More to Blame for Giants’ 2-7 Start, or Brian Daboll?
Giants quarterback Daniel Jones has taken a lot of the blame for the team’s 2-7 start. Whether that’s true or not may not matter for much longer, however, being that Jones likely won’t be the starting QB if the losses continue.
Jones has an injury guarantee in his contract for 2025 and if the playoffs fall out of reach, it will make very little sense to play him outside of pride. At that point, the more important question will be — is Brian Daboll the correct head coach to lead this turnaround?
After Week 9, SNY’s Connor Hughes posted: “Brian Daboll’s Giants offense is literally worse (statistically) than Mike Kafka, Freddie Kitchen and Jason Garrett’s.”
Hughes also questioned Daboll’s ability as a play-caller during the game.
“Brian Daboll took over play calling this season,” he said. “Considering how the offense has regressed, you wonder if he should consider giving them back to Mike Kafka. Yes, many offensive head coaches call their own offense, but Daboll might be better suited as CEO.”
From more of a macro perspective, Daboll has also been very unsuccessful inside the NFC East during his time in New York.
“Everyone in the NFC East is undefeated in the division because they all beat the Giants, who are 0-4 this year already. Washington did it twice,” reminded ESPN’s Jordan Raanan following the loss. “The Giants are now just 4-12-1 in NFC East action since Brian Daboll and Joe Schoen took over.”
For Nabers’ vision of the future to come true, that will all have to change under Schoen and Daboll.
Giants Must Evaluate Brian Daboll Without Daniel Jones at Quarterback
On October 23, Giants president and CEO John Mara made it very clear that he plans to give Daboll the opportunity to prove he can turn things around both in 2024 and beyond.
“Obviously, we’re all very disappointed with where we are right now, but I’m going to say one thing: We are not making any changes this season and I do not anticipate making any changes in the offseason either,” Mara said at the time, via ESPN.
The key word in that statement is “anticipate.” Mara may not fire Daboll before the end of the season, but he gave himself some wiggle room after the 2024 campaign is over.
That was smart, and it gives the Giants a chance to evaluate Daboll without Jones.
Whether it’s Drew Lock or Tommy DeVito, Big Blue must once again test this offense out with a different QB under center. Daboll had some success with DeVito running his system in 2023, similar to Jones the year before. Can he repeat that level of success with Lock or DeVito in 2024?
With Nabers as a new weapon for whichever Giants signal-caller ends up leading the offense, that already gives Daboll a leg up on prior seasons.
