Skip to main content
New York Giants homepage
Advertising

Giants News | New York Giants – Giants.com

Coach Daboll Weekly Q&A

Presented by

Coach Brian Daboll 1-on-1: Thursday Night Football Edition

BRIAN-DABOLL-MOODYS

Coach Brian Daboll sits down in his office with Giants.com for a weekly conversation about the latest at 1925 Giants Drive. This week, the coaching staffs in East Rutherford and Philadelphia take their turn with the Thursday night time crunch leading up to their meeting at MetLife Stadium.

Q: I can see you're living what my first question is about. Do Thursday games feel like a race?

Daboll: "You don't sleep. I don't know how many coaches slept here. It was quite a bit. But I would just say on Thursday games, both teams have the same amount of time, so you spend a lot of time meeting extra with the players and doing a little bit more walkthroughs and trying to use every ounce of time you can use."

Q: You don't have much time to dwell on last week, but how do you address the turnovers in this situation?

Daboll: "The guys know what they need to do. We practice ball security from OTAs until – we practice it every week. And we've got to do a better job of holding onto the ball when you have it."

Q: On to the Eagles, who don't give the ball away. They don't rank low in a lot of areas, but one that caught my eye is first down. They average the second-fewest yards on first down and have the highest three-and-out percentage. How much pressure is on early downs, especially knowing what they do on third- and fourth-and-short? They're the best in those categories.

Daboll: "They're important every week to try to get teams into unfavorable downs and distances offensively, so you can try to make them more one-dimensional. That's always a goal. On the other side, it's always trying to skip third downs or some of those long-yardage situations so you basically have your entire playbook to attack the defense."

Q: What can you build off from the run defense last week with this challenge ahead?

Daboll: "I thought we did a good job against a really good running back (Alvin Kamara). We're going to have to do that this week. Run defense takes all 11. It starts at the line of scrimmage, controlling the blocks and resetting the line of scrimmage, setting the edges, filling gaps, secondary support, tackling. I thought we did a good job of that last week. We're going to need to do it this week."

Q: [Defensive coordinator] Shane Bowen talked about getting the math in your favor.

Daboll: "Every running play has different blocking assignments. Some are zone doubles, some are gap doubles, some are down and around, some are toss crack, gap cancelation plays, draws. The defensive line has to do a good job of reading the blocking they're getting but really doing a good job of attacking and trying to reset the line of scrimmage to get the back to stop his feet. Make it cloudy for them."

Q: How much did it help in that area to get Nacho (defensive lineman Rakeem Nunez-Roches Sr.) back from injury?

Daboll: "A great teammate, a good leader for us. It's always good to have your good players out there."

Q: On the younger side, Darius Alexander has seen his snaps increase on the defensive line since he was inactive for the opener. What have you seen from him?

Daboll: "He's making progress. I've seen him getting better and better each week the more he plays. For young players, you see it once, maybe it gets you. Then the next time you see it, you've got a better understanding of it. I think he's playing faster, stronger. He's got good length. He's continuing to improve. I'd say all of those four young players that have played quite bit – D.A. and Abdul [Carter] and Jaxson [Dart] and Cam [Skattebo] – there are going to be growing things that come up, but man, I like all those guys."

Q: The quote that stuck with me on the final night of the draft is you thought you added "toughness all the way through" the class. Are you seeing that play out?

Daboll: "Absolutely. This draft class, their mentality – they've been everything we hoped they would be when we took them."

View photos of the New York Giants' 2025 roster as it currently stands.

Q: Red zone scoring has been an issue. The Eagles have the third-best defense there, but they have also allowed the most points outside of the red zone in the league. Can that factor into how you dial up some shots or can you not think that way?

Daboll: "These guys do a good job. Two of the big plays against Tampa were 70-yarder scramble plays by Baker [Mayfield]. He made unbelievable plays on both of them (a 77-yard touchdown to Emeka Egbuka and a 72-yard touchdown to Bucky Irving). They gave up a 50-yarder on a running play [to Dallas] but then did a good job of holding them. This is a defense that historically doesn't give up a lot of big plays with the way they play. They force you to execute your plays. They do a good job in the red zone and tighten up and try to hold the offense to three. That's an area we've been working on. I thought there was improvement on both sides last week, but it'll be big for us this week."

Q: You've talked about a lot of firsts for Jaxson …

Daboll: "Short week."

Q: … division, primetime, all that …

Daboll: "He's looking forward to it."

Q: And with Jalen Hurts on the other side. Dart has talked about his respect for him and you have a connection there. Have you shown clips of him and talked about how he goes about his business?

Daboll: "We're kind of grinding on our stuff right now. I know he has a lot of respect for Jalen, as do I. All the man has done everywhere he has been is win. That's the name of the game for a quarterback – not how many 300-yard passing [games], how many touchdowns. It's finishing games and winning games. I don't know if there are many guys who have done it better than Jalen."

Q: You spent only that one year at Alabama, but somehow it seems like you are connected to every player through that one year. And it ended with a freshman, DeVonta Smith, scoring the game-winning touchdown in the national championship game.

Daboll: "Great player, great person. At a young age, you could tell this kid was going to be successful in whatever he chose to do – just the way he handled himself. But his abilities, making plays in big moments, he's a good player, man."

Q: You want to help a young quarterback as much as possible. How important has Andrew Thomas' return been for Jaxson?

Daboll: "You like all your best players to be out there. We missed Andrew early on, now missing Malik [Nabers]. Those are guys you'd love to have out there to help a young quarterback in his growth and development. He's a good player for us."

Q: Along those lines, tight ends can be good friends for quarterbacks. Is Theo Johnson rounding into form?

Daboll: "He can run. He's big. He can catch. It was good to see him make that contested catch down there in the red zone. He has some good run-after-catch. He can block on the line. I'd say he's a young tight end that can do multiple things. That is harder and harder to find nowadays. And he's got a good rapport with Jaxson."

Q: Daniel Bellinger had the most catches since your last game against the Saints. What can you say about his journey since he got here?

Daboll: "Belly has been a true teammate. We called on him last week relative to where we were situationally with some of the other skill guys. He's a guy that we have confidence in."

Q: Last one, I know you're in between meetings. How much of a weapon has Jamie Gillan been with not only punting but also directing kickoffs? Lowest punt return average in the NFL, fourth-lowest on kickoffs.

Daboll: "Awesome, awesome job on the kickoffs. Our special teams units have really done a good job this year all the way around, from our coverage to our specialists to our returners. [Deonte Banks] had a big one again. We're going to need to continue to do that. It's one-third of the game for us. That'll be important this week, particularly with their field goal rush."

View rare photos of the historic rivalry between the New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles.

25_ScheduleRelease_SingleGameTickets_1920x1080

Tickets on sale now

Limited 2025 Giants single game tickets are now available

Related Content

Advertising