Brian Daboll Seeks to Separate Giants Preseason Fact and Fancy

Is the New York Giants' preseason success a sign of things to come or a series of mid-summer nights' dreams?

The answer could determine head coach Brian Daboll's fate.

With their preseason triple completed, the Giants are one of the undisputed success stories of the NFL exhibition slate with two days left on the slate.

Entering Friday night play, the Giants (3-0) are the only team to have broken the century mark in scoring and won each stanza of their trio by an average of 20 points.

Having already brushed off the sterling scoring output following a 42-10 shellacking of the New England Patriots, Daboll hinted at venturing further from the box score through a series of rhetorical queries as he prepares to trim the roster to a fateful 53 that will suit up for the 2025 season opener against Washington next month.

"Our focus is on [if you're] executing your responsibility at a high level," Daboll said. "Are they doing the things they need to do to help the offense, the defense, the kicking game be successful? ... Are you tackling well? Are you improving in your tackling? Are you running to the football on defense? Are you getting ball disruption and pass defenses?

"Are you catching the ball when it’s thrown to you? Are you reading the play the right way when you’re a running back and gaining yards after contact? Are you making the proper decision at the quarterback position and throwing the ball where it needs to be, on time, in rhythm? Are your combination blocks going to the right linebackers?"

Daboll no doubt sits on one of the warmer seats in modern football, so what transpired this summer offers at least some form of stability and assurance. The Giants experienced several bittersweet breakouts, notably in positions where they had sterling performances (i.e., running back Dante Miller) or summer heroes who were cut short by injury (defensive back TJ Moore).

The song of the summer, however, was no doubt penned under center, where quarterback Jaxson Dart lived up to the initial hype generated when he was chosen with the 25th pick in last spring's draft.

Dart created a talking point with his stellar play, completing over 68 of his passes and earning four total scores. That's more than likely not enough to get Daboll to budge on his immediate declaration that Russell Wilson will start the year, but the issue will likely persist until Dart fulfills his Garden State destiny at the top of the Giants' depth chart.

Daboll kept things short when it came to specific questions about Dart, but hopes that his example of taking advantage of all opportunities will carry over to the rest of the regular season roster, plus the last chance, last effort men that are also invited back to the practice squad.

Daboll did somewhat praise the immeasurable energy present on the Thursday sideline, even among those that donned street clothes for the final hour.

"I was happy about the veterans that did not play that were into the game [on Thursday], that were helping the other guys, communicating on the sideline, which is the most important thing, but then showing some support for those guys when they did well," Daboll said.

"They were showing support for Moore when he went down, but this season or this game is a week-to-week game, so we have to put everything we got into it for each week, and one week doesn’t carry over to the next week, just like one season doesn’t carry over… It doesn’t really matter.

So what does matter, then?

"The only thing that matters is your preparation and ultimately how you perform the one time a week you do play a game," he said.

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