Giants Country

Giants Players Appreciate Brian Daboll's Fiery Demeanor

Daboll can sometimes lose his cool, but it's all good according to his players.
Patricia Traina|
Giants Players Appreciate Brian Daboll's Fiery Demeanor
Giants Players Appreciate Brian Daboll's Fiery Demeanor

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New York Giants

Given the time an NFL team spends together throughout a season, it’s only natural for the environment to develop into a family-like atmosphere.

At the head of the "family" is the head coach, who is hired mainly for the Xs and Os, but who also needs to be able to read the room and adjust accordingly—even if that means unloading a string of colorful language in the heat of the moment if they screw up.

Giants Hall of Fame head coach Bill Parcells was a master at motivating his players. He had a gift for knowing how far he could push a player with verbal jabs to bring out the best in him.

Former Giants defensive lineman George Martin, in an interview for The Big 50: The Men and Moments that Made the New York Giants, recalled how Parcells singled him out in practice after a fellow teammate kept jumping offside.

Parcells ripped into the team, telling them mistakes were unacceptable. He then said if it happened again, he’d personally hold Martin, a team captain who was not the offender, responsible, a statement that shocked and angered the defensive co-captain at the time.

Martin smiles about the incident these days, but his demeanor when it happened was one in which he said he had smoke coming out of his ears. He recalled later meeting with Parcells—still fuming. The head coach explained that he wanted to show that no one player was above his wrath, even if that player was held in the highest regard by the head coach.

Current Giants head coach Brian Daboll is cut from a similar cloth. He publicly comes across as a guy who one might want to hang out in a bar for a beer and a game of darts. But make no mistake: under that "go with the flow" demeanor he puts forth in public is a fiery, competitive spirit that picks and chooses when to unload verbally at a person or situation.

In the regular-season opener against the Titans, Daboll was caught on camera unloading on quarterback Daniel Jones after Jones threw an ugly interception.

Several weeks later, against the Texans, Daboll very animatedly gave offensive lineman Jack Anderson a piece of his mind after Anderson committed a drive-altering false start.

“He’s a passionate guy who's kind of a kid at heart, in terms of that competitive drive and spirit he has,” said safety Julian Love, who credits Daboll for helping him take his competitive spirit to a new level. “That’s shown throughout the team. He is one way with some people and shows his heart with the guys because he cares a lot about this team.”

Daboll's way of connecting with his players appears consistent regardless of who he’s dealing with. The best way to describe it is that he’ll rival any passionate fan in the stands who will cheer endlessly when a player makes a big play but who will also quickly unleash a string of harsh words if the player screws up.

Left tackle Andrew Thomas, who usually delivers a pristine, error-free game, recalled when he was put on blast by the head coach.

“I think it was the Chicago game. I had a mental error--went the wrong way. It could have been a big play, and he was on me,” he said.

Thomas said he had no problem with what he characterized as Daboll’s “vibrant” yelling because “I have pride for myself, so I’m already frustrated before he even says anything. I try to have a high level of expectations for myself regardless of what coaches may say.”

He added, “That’s what you want from your leader, to hold you accountable.”

“It’s just his spirit, he’s fieriness showing itself,” Love said. “Whether it’s on refs, whether it’s on (quarterback) Daniel (Jones)--any of these guys--it’s all love.”

“I wear my emotions on my sleeve,” Daboll said earlier this year. “I talk to my players all the time or my coaches--there are some things I’d like to help, but I can’t help sometimes.

"I’ll even get that way with myself. I talk to myself, thinking when I make a [dumb] decision or do something I shouldn’t have done. I don’t think about it; it just happens naturally.

"I understand mistakes happen. At that particular time, I'm just not happy, and whatever I say, I say. And then I think I apologize later.”

It’s all good as far as his players are concerned.

“Football is an emotional game. He puts a lot of time into this. We all put a lot of time into this, a lot of effort into this,” receiver Darius Slayton said.

“When you’re playing in a game, you’re in a highly contested game like most of the games that we’ve been in this year, it’s going to be emotional. 

"You’re going to be excited sometimes. You’re probably going to be disappointed sometimes. You’re going to be angry. I think that’s just part of the ebbs and flows of the game.”

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Patricia Traina
PATRICIA TRAINA

Patricia Traina has covered the New York Giants for 30+ seasons, and her work has appeared in multiple media outlets, including The Athletic, Forbes, Bleacher Report, and the Sports Illustrated media group. As a credentialed New York Giants press corps member, Patricia has also covered five Super Bowls (three featuring the Giants), the annual NFL draft, and the NFL Scouting Combine. She is the author of The Big 50: The Men and Moments that Made the New York Giants. In addition to her work with New York Giants On SI, Patricia hosts the Locked On Giants podcast. Patricia is also a member of the Pro Football Writers of America and the Football Writers Association of America.

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