This isn’t new in the industry, but it will be new for Giants guard Brian Daboll.
It’s common in the NFL for the head coach to dictate the offensive plays on game day.
The league’s most successful head coach, Andy Reid (now without Bill Belichick at the helm), has done it throughout his long career and is looking to win his third straight Super Bowl with the Chiefs. Kyle Shanahan of the 49ers has done it too, and his operation runs smoothly from top to bottom. Sean McVay is a Super Bowl-winning head coach and play-caller with the Rams.
This happens just about anywhere, but it hasn’t happened with the Giants the past two seasons.
Daboll was hired in 2022 and, as a first-time head coach, decided it was best to focus on running the team as a whole, delegating play-calling duties to offensive coordinator Mike Kafka.
Some of those roles will change late in 2023, with Daboll exclusively dictating play so far this spring and summer.
He did so during two joint practices with the Lions this week and again Thursday night in the Lions’ preseason opener at MetLife Stadium.
“That’s what the preseason games are for,” Daboll said, “to go through the process. Every team we play this year has one offensive head coach who calls the plays. I’ve talked to a bunch of guys. I want to go through the preseason process, how it works, the communication with the guys, all three phases and then the guys that help with game management. So that’s something that’s very necessary.”
There’s every reason to believe Daboll will be wearing a headset and barking instructions to starting quarterback Daniel Jones in the Giants’ season opener against the Vikings on Sept. 8.
This is nothing new for Daboll, but this time he is also serving as head coach in addition to his role as the offensive play-caller.
Daboll rose through the ranks of NFL coaching ranks and even won a national championship with Alabama in one season, but it was primarily due to his ability to design an offense and dictate plays for that offense.
His best NFL performance came during his four years in Buffalo, where he helped Josh Allen develop into a top-tier quarterback while directing one of the league’s top offenses.
Following the 2020 season, Daboll was named the Associated Press NFL Assistant Coach of the Year, while Allen finished second in Most Valuable Player voting.
In 2021, the Bills were third in the NFL with an average of 28.4 points per game, a year after Daboll led the Giants as head coach.
Daboll hired Kafka as offensive coordinator, even though they had never worked together before, and was so impressed with Kafka’s development under Reid in Kansas City that he gave the play-calling job to Kafka, even though the former NFL backup quarterback had never called plays at any level before.
Kafka and Jones bonded in 2022, as the Giants won nine games and another in the playoffs. Jones threw just 15 touchdown passes but had the lowest interception rate in the league.
Jones appeared in just six games in 2023 before a season-ending ACL tear left the Giants with three different starting quarterbacks.
Star left tackle Andrew Thomas injured his hamstring in the season opener and missed the next seven games, leaving the offensive line in shambles.
The offense stumbled, averaging just 15.6 points per game — only the Panthers and Patriots were worse — and Daboll took over some of the play-calling late in the season in a losing effort.
Daboll has been the play-caller throughout the Giants’ preparations for 2024. Kafka will continue to serve as offensive coordinator, and Daboll said Kafka will again be in the booth during games but won’t be calling plays.
Daboll spoke with some respected colleagues to gauge the difficulty of balancing play-calling with all the other responsibilities a head coach has on game day.
“I’ve talked to them about how to manage the game, manage the defense, the kicking game, decision making when talking to the offensive line,” Daboll said, “but it’s very similar to how we’ve been doing it other than communicating with the quarterback during the offensive series. We have a great guy that we can rely on during the series to communicate when the defense is on the line and stay on the line, communicate with special teams when the situation calls for it.”
Daboll explained that he has another line of communication on game days “with two people who are supporting me,” namely Ty Siam (director of football data and information) and Cade Knox (offensive assistant and game manager), and he has worked hard this summer to perfect that communication system.
“That’s the goal,” Daboll said. “It’s a little trial and error going into preseason to see how it goes here, but I’m confident.”
In training camp, Daboll called for more deep shots in the passing game, and perhaps that’s a sign of things to come.
