It’s been an interesting couple of days in East Rutherford. It started with the end of the Giants’ workweek, on Friday, and how first-year coach Brian Daboll chose to address his players. It was with a question:
Daboll got nods and smiles—especially from the players who’ve been around long enough to know how hard the past five years hit a proud franchise.
That he didn’t say the word was no mistake, and his players knew it. Which is why, when he gathered them again Saturday night, less than 24 hours before kickoff against the Colts, at the team hotel, with a willingness to spit out the P word, it caught more than a few people in the ballroom off-guard.
, Daboll bellowed to the ballroom Saturday night. .
“That’s the first time I said to them,” Daboll confirmed, driving home Sunday. And yes, true to his promise, the Giants are in the playoffs.
It happened Sunday thanks to a 38–10 thrashing of the sad-sack Colts, with what Daboll called “our best complementary game.” But, of course, in reflecting on how far the Giants had come, just before lighting up a victory cigar, this was about so much more than just one day for the first-year coach. It was about the 11 months he and GM Joe Schoen, who came over from Buffalo with him, have built toward it. It was about the people involved. It’s also about where he thinks they’re going.
“Look, everybody wants [to win],” Daboll says. “But I think handling the players and people in the building the right way even when you don’t get the results you want, and to keep on pushing forward with a positive mindset and approach, I think helps. Obviously, the fast start helped those guys to believe, .
“And that’s really all it is. I think our guys understand that each week; there’s a few things that we need to do to give ourselves a chance.”
In short, Daboll tried to get them to value the process over the result, and the playoffs, as he sees it, are in the results category—with no need to focus much on it. Except, that is, for a day like Sunday. Or when you get to where your team can handle it.
