NFL
Giants Brian Daboll Just Locked up NFL Coach of the Year Award After Week 5
Tim Crean started writing about sports in 2016 and joined Sports7 in 2021. He excels with his versatile coverage of the NFL and soccer landscape, as well as his expertise breaking down sports media, which stems from his many years downloading podcasts before they were even cool and countless hours spent listening to Mike & The Mad Dog and The Dan Patrick Show, among other programs. As a longtime self-professed sports junkie who even played DII lacrosse at LeMoyne College in Syracuse, New York, Tim loves reading about all the latest sports news every day and considers it a dream to write about sports professionally. He's a lifelong Buffalo Bills fan from Western New York who mistakenly thought, back in the early '90s, that his team would be in the Super Bowl every year. He started following European soccer — with a Manchester City focus — in the early 2000s after spending far too much time playing FIFA. When he's not enjoying a round of golf or coaching youth soccer and flag football, Tim likes reading the work of Bill Simmons, Tony Kornheiser, Chuck Klosterman, and Tom Wolfe.
Get to know Tim Crean betterUpdated09 Oct 2022
When the final whistle blew in London after the Week 5 New York Giants vs. Green Bay Packers game, the Giants were ahead 27-22. That gave them a massive upset over Aaron Rodgers and the Packers, last year’s NFC regular season champions, and moved the Giants to 4-1 on the season. It also should lock up the 2022 NFL Coach of the Year Award for first-year head coach Brian Daboll who’s miraculously pulled the Giants out of the gutter in under nine months.
Brian Daboll 2022 Coach of the Year Award
The New York Giants have had four head coaches (three full-time and one interim) in six seasons since Tom Coughlin retired. These four men — Ben McAdoo, Steve Spagnuolo, Pat Shurmur, and Joe Judge — had a combined record of 33-64.
Brian Daboll is 4-1 through five games.
The former Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator showed up in New Jersey at the end of January in a snowstorm and has quickly changed the losing culture around the Giants.
He’s done it by minimizing the team’s weaknesses at the quarterback and wide receiver positions and maximizing the team’s strengths of running and defense. After creating a high-flying, pass-heavy offense with Josh Allen and the Bills, many pundits didn’t see this coming, even though Daboll told the media this is exactly what he planned to do.
The Giants had the second-worst passing offense heading to London in Week 5 and the No. 1 rushing offense. Most importantly, though, Daboll’s team is figuring out how to win close games late.
With the win over the Packers, the Giants’ four victories have come by a total of 17 points.
There is a lot of season left to play, but after Week 5, with what Daboll’s done already, he deserves the 2022 NFL Coach of the Year Award. And the win over the Packers in London is a perfect example why.
Giants vs. Packers was a perfect example of a well-coached Giants win
The Giants and Packers traveled to London to play a Week 5 game between two (somewhat) unconvincing 3-1 teams. Neither set the world on fire in their first four games, but the records were good, and that’s what counts.
The Packers quickly went up 17-3 in the first half, and that’s when the Giants of the past six seasons would have packed it up and started planning their flight back across the pond.
Under Brian Daboll, though, that didn’t happen.
The G-Men got into the red zone and, on a 2nd-and-goal, ran an incredibly creative play to get them back in the game. Daniel Jones handed to Saquon Barkley, who lined up in the slot, and the running back handed to rookie tight end Daniel Bellinger on the double reverse. The TE then had an option to run or throw and used his legs to punch it into the end zone.
That play rejuvenated the Giants, and down 20-13 in the second half, Jones led the team on a 15-play, 91-yard, eight-minute, seven-second touchdown drive to tie the score. After a three-and-out by the Packers, Jones connected with Barkley for a 41-yard pass play that ultimately led to the winning score.
The confidence, the creativity, and the perseverance Daboll has brought to the Giants were all on display in this game, and that’s why the NFL should give him the Coach of the Year Award now.
Like Sports7 on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter @sports719 and subscribe to our YouTube channel.
RELATED: Brian Daboll Continues to ‘Change the Culture’ as Giants Stay Undefeated
