New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll seized play-calling duties from assistant head coach and offensive coordinator Mike Kafka this past season but the results were far from desired.
The Giants dropped from 29th in the league in yards per game (2023) to 30th in yards per game (2024), and from 30th in points per game (2023) to 31st in points per game (2024).
Needless to say, neither situation was ideal and it speaks to a limited roster.
On Monday, after announcing that Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen would be retained, Giants co-owner John Mara revealed that the topic of play-calling came up during their exit meeting.
“Maybe he makes some other changes in the way he operates going forward. I talked to him about, ‘Do you really believe that it’s in our best interest for you to continue calling the plays?’ I said, ‘I’m not going to demand that you do one thing or the other. But are you better off letting somebody else call the plays?’ That’s a discussion that we’re going to continue to have.
“There are issues like that that we have to have some further discussion about. But at the end of the day, he’s got to make the decision on whether he does that, on whether he wants to make replacements in the staff. That’s got to be his decision at the end of the day.”
During his year-end press conference, Daboll claimed he was the one who initially brought up play-calling duties to Mara.
“I brought that up,” he said. “I brought that up to him in the meeting. Again, there’s no decision that’s been made. We’ll sit back and take a look at everything and do what we need to do.”
Mara won’t force Daboll to give up play calling, which would likely fall on the shoulders of Mike Kafka or a new offensive coordinator should he take a head coaching job, but it’s clearly a desire.
Ultimately, Daboll would not commit it one way or the other.
“Well, I’m not saying I’m giving it up or not giving it up,” he said. “We won three games. So, I’m going to consider every option to try to be better.”
The question about play-calling will likely linger throughout the winter, spring, and then into the preseason.
