Giants Just Fired Brian Daboll Mid-Season Who’s Getting Blamed Next?
By Jason Bolton November 11, 2025 05:17
The Meadowlands echoed with a hollow finality Monday afternoon, the kind that follows a 45-10 evisceration rather than a victory lap. Brian Daboll, the gravel-voiced tactician who once turned the New York Giants into playoff pests with a 2022 miracle run, was unceremoniously dumped midseason the first such firing in franchise history since Dan Reeves in 2003. Ownership, led by co-owner John Mara, pulled the trigger after a 2-8 start that has the Giants outscored 248-142, their defense hemorrhaging 32.4 points per game like a sieve in a monsoon. "This was a tough call, but necessary for our future," Mara said in a terse statement that landed like a gut punch. "Brian gave us everything, but we need a spark now."
It's the kind of seismic shift that reeks of desperation in a market where patience is as rare as a Lombardi Trophy in Jersey. Daboll, 50, arrived from Buffalo in 2022 as the anti-Gettleman: cerebral, adaptable, a coordinator's coach who squeezed 10 wins out of a roster that looked like it belonged in Canton’s reject pile. That year, he masterminded upsets over the 49ers and Vikings, capping it with a divisional-round thumping of Minnesota. His 2023 encore? A playoff berth despite a minus-12 turnover margin. But 2025? Catastrophe. The Giants rank dead last in total offense (248.7 yards per game), 31st in points scored (14.2), and their once-vaunted pass rush has ghosted, mustering just 11 sacks through 10 weeks -- fewer than the expansion Carolina Panthers circa 1995.
The autopsy is brutal. Quarterback Daniel Jones, extended for $160 million in 2023, has regressed into a human interception machine: 12 picks against four touchdowns, a 54.2 completion percentage, and a league-worst 48.1 passer rating. The run game, Daboll's calling card, is DOA Devin Singletary averaging a pathetic 3.2 yards per carry on 112 totes, with the O-line yielding 42 pressures. Defensively, coordinator Shane Bowen promoted internally last offseason has overseen a unit that allows 5.8 yards per rush, the NFL's worst. "We believed in the process," Daboll rasped in his final presser Sunday, eyes hollowed by 3 a.m. film sessions. "Sometimes the tape doesn't lie, and ours... it's ugly. I own this. Wish the guys the best."
Players, predictably, rallied around the fallen coach. Edge rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux, the fifth overall pick in 2022 whose 9.0 sacks that rookie year now feel like ancient history (just 3.5 this season), posted an Instagram tribute: a black-and-white photo of Daboll diagramming plays, captioned "Coach D built us. NYG let him down. #DabollStrong." Wideout Malik Nabers, the 2024 sixth-overall steal who's caught 42 balls for 512 yards but zero scores, was more pointed in the locker room: "Brian's the only one who fought for us every day. Firing him midseason? That's on the suits upstairs. We're bleeding because of drafts, not play-calling."
So, with Daboll's office cleared out by dusk his Buffalo Bills memorabilia boxed like relics from a bygone empire the spotlight swivels to the next sacrificial lamb: general manager Joe Schoen. Hired alongside Daboll in a post-Gettleman purge, Schoen's three-year ledger is a house of cards: 17-31-1 record, zero winning seasons, and a draft class that's produced more busts than breakthroughs. His crown jewel? Trading up for Thibodeaux and safety Kyle Hamilton (now a Raven), but the misses sting quarterback Jacob Eason in 2023 (waived), running back Tyrone Tracy Jr. in 2024 (solid but unspectacular), and this year's cornerback Quinyon Mitchell, who's allowed a 68 percent completion rate in coverage.
Schoen's free-agent swings have fared no better. Signing Jones to that megadeal now looks like malpractice; the QB's $47 million cap hit next year could force a post-June 1 release with $69 million in dead money. Then there's the $37 million splash on edge rusher Brian Burns in March 2024, who leads the team with 4.0 sacks but has vanished in run support (missed tackles up 22 percent from Carolina). "Joe's vision was clear: rebuild through the trenches," said ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky on Monday's Get Up. "But the trenches are collapsing. If Mara's serious about contending, Schoen's the architect who needs to go or at least get a co-GM to fix the scouting blind spots." Oddsmakers agree; FanDuel lists Schoen's ouster odds at +150 by season's end, trailing only an interim coaching carousel at -110.
Whispers from Big Blue's war room suggest interim head man Mike Kafka the offensive coordinator elevated for the bye week is already auditioning. The former Jets QB, 38, lit up Kansas City for 31 points in relief last year, but his unit ranks 30th in DVOA this season. Kafka's postgame vow? "We're scheming smarter, getting back to identity. No excuses." Yet the rot runs deeper. Jones, benched briefly for Tommy DeVito in Week 8 (a 17-13 squeaker over Washington), returns as starter but with a leash shorter than a chihuahua's. "Danny's our guy, but results matter," Schoen hedged Monday, his Penn State pedigree no shield from the heat. If the skid hits 2-10 after Thursday's Thanksgiving tilt with Dallas, expect Jones' $45 million salary to become public enemy No. 1 or, more likely, the trade bait that nets a third-rounder and a prayer.
This isn't just a firing; it's a fracture. The Giants, once the NFC's gritty underdogs, now embody dysfunction: a $500 million stadium upgrade juxtaposed against a payroll that's 22nd in the league, per OverTheCap. Fan frustration boils -- season-ticket renewals down 18 percent, per Nielsen and Mara's legacy, tied to the Eli Manning glory days, teeters. "John's dad built a winner; John's building excuses," griped WFAN's Evan Roberts. "Daboll was the scapegoat. Schoen's the problem. Fire him, draft a QB in '26, or we're Philadelphia North."
As snow flurries dust the practice fields, the Giants limp toward relevance. Kafka's first test: a Monday nighter against the Eagles, where Saquon Barkley returns as the prodigal son (already 1,028 rushing yards for Philly). Win, and Schoen buys time. Lose, and the blame game escalates coordinators, scouts, maybe even Mara's inner circle. In Gotham's gladiator pit, no one's safe. Daboll's exit is the overture; the symphony of scapegoats is just beginning.
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