Two new key figures in the NFC East.
The New York Giants hit rock bottom in 2021.
They didn’t finish with the league’s worst overall record. That honor went to the Jacksonville Jaguars, who were 3-14. But they certainly weren’t far off at 4-13.
And the Giants were easily the NFL’s most incompetent team down the stretch. They averaged just 9.9 points through their last eight games. Brutal.
Such embarrassing ineptitude seemingly inspired the Giants to scrap their original plan to retain Joe Judge (lol) and realize that they need a new head coach to pair with a new general manager.
The Giants now have their new pieces in place. They hired Bills assistant general manager Joe Schoen to lead a coaching search that resulted in the hiring of Buffalo offensive coordinator Brian Daboll.
These hires have inspired confidence in Giants fans, if the reaction from our enemies over at Big Blue View is any indication. An excerpt from a post titled “Valentine’s Views: Giants make the right move in pairing Joe Schoen, Brian Daboll”:
Schoen, as assistant GM, and Daboll, as offensive coordinator, worked together for the last four years in Buffalo as the Bills went from laughingstock to legitimate contender. That’s a path the Giants want to follow, they have seen how it was done, and should begin with common visions how the Giants can turn their fortunes around.
It seems like the right choice for quarterback Daniel Jones and the Giants’ 18th-century offense.
The Giants have finished 31st in the NFL in offense in each of the past two seasons. The stench of their Week 18 back-to-back quarterback sneaks won’t leave the franchise for a long, long time. They have not scored 30 points in a game since Week 16 of the 2019 season.
Jones, rightly or wrongly drafted No. 6 overall by the franchise in 2019, is entering his fourth season. Partially because of injuries and his own inconsistency, but mostly because the Giants have yet to put a truly functional offense around him, the Giants enter the final season of his rookie contract not yet knowing if Jones can be their quarterback for the next five to 10 years.
They have to find out. Daboll, the only offensive-minded head coach in the Giants’ candidate pool, gives them their best chance.
It is unfair to both quarterback and coach to expect Daboll to turn Jones into Josh Allen, who is easily one of the league’s top five quarterbacks. Jones isn’t the powerful runner Allen is — but he certainly can run. He doesn’t have the howitzer of an arm Allen has — but he has enough arm strength to make every throw.
So, should the Philadelphia Eagles be worried about the Giants’ new hires?
Perhaps.
This route is certainly less preferable than the Giants sticking with Judge and merely promoting in-house candidate Kevin Abrams to replace Dave Gettleman as GM. Schoen assisted in building a quality Bills roster and Daboll played a part in Josh Allen’s development.
Of course, there’s no guarantee that their success in New York will carry over to North Jersey. The Giants being tied for the league’s worst record since the start of 2017 isn’t just an accident or a case of an extremely bad luck. They don’t deserve automatic benefit of the doubt. It’s quite possible they got it wrong once again.
But having hit rock bottom like they did, there’s really only room to go up for them. The Giants have a long way to go but it is fair to wonder if they might actually be on the right track. The Eagles will hope that’s not the case.