John Mara has stepped up to put an end to the saga that was Brian Daboll’s tenure as coach. His decisive action signals an opportunity for the Giants to start fresh, but the task is far from complete. To truly rejuvenate the franchise, Mara must consider replacing Joe Schoen as General Manager.
In the wake of Daboll’s dismissal, with Schoen still at the helm, the narrative around the Giants is slowly shifting. National discussions now seem to focus on the potential talent within the team’s roster. The consensus is that the Giants possess some strong components; they just require the right leadership to harness their potential. The belief is that, with a capable coach, these players could achieve more than their current record suggests.
This line of thinking echoes last year’s rhetoric from Schoen and the Giants. Back then, the argument was that the players were better than their performance indicated, and that Daboll’s coaching was not the issue. Instead, the blame was placed on the quarterback, with Daniel Jones identified as the weak link.
Yet, even after bringing in the promising young quarterback Jaxson Dart, the anticipated turnaround has not materialized. The Giants continue to struggle, indicating that the problems run deeper than just coaching or a single player’s performance. It’s a complex situation that requires thoughtful leadership and decisive actions from the top to navigate successfully.
This lowering of standards and manipulation of the Giants‘ reality and expectations, however, cannot and should not fly.
It is Schoen and the Giants recycling last year’s argument that the players and Daboll were much better than their record; they just needed a new quarterback, because Daniel Jones was the problem.
How did that shake out? Even with promising young quarterback Jaxson Dart added to the equation, the Giants never win.
So now it’s only the coach? It’s not a coincidence that somehow it always becomes someone else’s fault. It’s calculated.
Mara, who is waging a battle against cancer far more important than any football game, admirably put his foot down on the nonsense he was seeing on the field this fall despite his compromised condition.
The Daily News has been told by multiple sources that the Nov. 4 report from reporter Nikki Gist on ‘X’ — that Mara wanted to fire Daboll after the Giants’ Oct. 19 collapse in Denver but was talked off the ledge temporarily — was true.
Mara, 70, a good man, does not fire coaches that early in seasons. But when nerves are agitated by a health battle, and patience is running thin with an embarrassing product on the field, it is more than understandable that Mara had that reaction after that unthinkable loss to the Broncos.
It wasn’t a knee-jerk reaction at all, either. That loss was one of many confirmations for Mara that Daboll was not the right leader for the team, that the way Daboll operated and the team lost consistently embarrassed the organization, and that the results were not going to change.
Most importantly, Mara’s impatience after the Denver loss made it possible for the Giants to do the right thing three weeks later by firing Daboll. It turned the heat up in the building and put everyone on notice in a constructive way.
Daboll, therefore, knew he was cooked after losing to the Bears on Nov. 9. A source actually said Daboll didn’t even give a postgame speech after that collapse. He just got everyone together in the middle of the room to break it down and told them to stick together. Break.
Schoen stood on the fringe of that scene and watched. That was it for Daboll. He was canned the next day.
Daboll’s firing was too late to save Dart from the inevitable serious injury that was going to result from Daboll’s desperate attempt to save his job, but it was early enough to send a message that ownership has had enough.
Now, there is a strong chance that the Giants (2-9) — who have lost five in a row entering Sunday’s game at Ford Field against the Detroit Lions (6-4) — are about to be the first team eliminated from playoff contention for the second straight season.
That is hard to do.
They will be eliminated officially if they lose to the Lions and either the Dallas Cowboys beat the Philadelphia Eagles, the Minnesota Vikings beat the Green Bay Packers or the Seattle Seahawks beat or tie the Tennessee Titans.
The Giants also enter Sunday’s game with an 0-6 record on the road this season. There is a good chance they will be 0-8 in road games this season after next week’s Monday night visit to the New England Patriots, before traveling to face the Las Vegas Raiders on Dec. 27.
Making despicable history is nothing new for Schoen.
Last season, his 3-14 Giants entered their final home game with an 0-8 record at MetLife Stadium and had to beat the Indianapolis Colts in their final try to finish 1-8 at home and avoid the franchise’s first winless home season since 1974.
On Schoen’s watch, the Giants set a new franchise record last season with 10 straight losses overall. And they set a new franchise record this season with 11 consecutive road defeats dating back to October 2024.
They’ll make it 12 with a defeat in Detroit on Sunday.
Under Schoen, the Giants have a 3-20 record in their last 23 games, a 5-23 record in their last 28 games, a 5-17-1 record against NFC East opponents, a 2-14-0 record against the Eagles and Cowboys and a 20-41-1 overall record in four regular seasons.
They made the playoffs in his first season of 2022, went 1-1 in the postseason, and haven’t been anywhere close to back since.
The Giants are better than this. They’re better than Schoen.
Mara, deep down, must know that. But this situation is more complicated than it normally would be.
Mara’s brother, Chris, a Giants senior player personnel executive, has been the ranking member of the Mara family on recent road trips as John remains home to wage his fight. Mara’s nephew, Tim McDonnell, the Giants’ director of player personnel, is a prominent voice in every conversation and a strong advocate of Schoen’s.
And to the best of The News’ knowledge, the final conversation about whether Schoen will stay or go hasn’t happened yet. That is expected to happen at season’s end as the ownership dialogue and coaching search evolve to include more voices with vested interests in the franchise’s direction.
While co-owner Steve Tisch, new minority Julia Koch and the rest of the Mara family are also charged with shepherding the Giants into the future, though, everyone knows that John is the heartbeat of the Giants.
He is their conscience. He is their leader. He knows what they are, what they have been and what they deserve to be again.
He knows what has to happen. He already went halfway there to save the franchise by firing Daboll.
It’s time to finish the job.
