The Giants were doing well, even though they were thrashed in Week 1. People wanted the manager to explain. They wanted to know why things had gone so badly, so utterly, so depressingly. They wanted the manager to explain.
“We have to play better in every phase,” the coach said. “We have to coach better in every phase.”
The next day, people were given 24 hours to examine the evidence on video multiple times, and then they returned to the bus, seeking wisdom, insight and an explanation for the resounding bang. And this time the bus opened up and told them everything.
“We need to play better,” he said. “We need to coach better.”
That was Tom Coughlin saying it on September 9th and 10th, 2007. If that sounds a lot like the no-answer, no-context, no-denial denial that Brian Daboll will say on September 8th and 9th, 2024… well, it is pretty much the same.
You see, Coughlin was not a John Madden type of guy who would always utter his honest opinions. He was, well, a little bit like Daboll, a little impatient, but at the same time, he looked like he was about to completely transform into Michael Douglas as William “D. Fence” Foster in “Falling Down.”
Now, let me stop here completely: we are in no way comparing the 2007 Giants, who lost not only Week 1 but Week 2 and were trailing 14-0 in Week 3, but then rallied to win the Super Bowl, to the 60 minutes of the 2024 Giants we've seen so far.
I won’t insult the hallowed memory of Eli Manning by reminding you that in Week 12 of that year, he had the worst game of his life, throwing four interceptions and throwing three interceptions in a home game against the Minnesota Vikings. That’s just a coincidence.
Or imply that if the Giants had somehow allowed Eli back in his day to have the embarrassing postgame procession that Daniel Jones did on Sunday night, walking from the locker room to his car and being pelted with every insult from irate fans, by the time Eli put the key in the ignition that day he would have looked like Sonny at the toll booth.
Here's the thing: When things go wrong, like they did Sunday, fans want answers. And their frustrations multiply when the coach piles on the non-answers, leading one player to say he “doesn't respect” the booing. And when an easy target like Jones (newsflash: he didn't play poorly on purpose) blissfully walks his way through a string of ugly insults without even realizing it, it can all boil over and come to a head.
But are there more than answers?
What the fans want is what the players want and what Daboll wants: better football.
You'll remember that Coughlin spent much of the 2007 season as a fired coach. He couldn't be distracted by explaining his team's problems like a professor in tweed. He had to solve them. And he did. A fragile defense that allowed 94 points in the first 10 quarters of the season completely thwarted New England's historically powerful offense. Manning had written the first chapter of an enduring legend.
It would have been the same even without the Lombardi Trophy, by the way. Just considering the Giants' improvement from Week 2 to Week 17 shows the power of good coaching in the NFL. The Giants, of course, could have lost any of their four playoff games. Should Even if they lost the last three games, Coach Coughlin would have done a great job as a coach.
That's the problem Daboll has now, in his third year. Nobody expects a Super Bowl. Only the most optimistic person envisions a .500+ season. If you want your postgame or next-day comments to be bland and ordinary, if you keep insisting that “we have to watch the film” — it's hard on the reporters with empty notebooks and the fans who go home empty-headed after witnessing a major loss.
But it's all just noise. Being colorful is fun. Rex Ryan was colorful. Years later, Jim Mora still gets a chuckle when he says, “Playoffs?” and Dennis Green still gets a chuckle when he says, “The Bears are exactly what we thought they'd be!” That should go in the books. All three would gladly trade that memorable moment for a Super Bowl ring.
Let's not forget this, Daboll will too. If the Giants turn things around under Daboll's watch, nobody will care if he's a boring quote. Last I checked, Tom Coughlin isn't in the “Bartlett quotes” either, but he is in the Giants' ring of honor.
