ARLINGTON, Tex. — Multiple NFL sources told the Daily News that Brian Daboll‘s offense was “predictable” and “lacked creativity” in the Giants’ season opening 21-6 loss at Washington.
Running back Tyrone Tracy Jr. publicly criticized the play calling, telling reporters the players believe they should have run the ball on the goal line rather than calling a play action pass intended for rookie fifth-round tackle Marcus Mbow.
“I have to do what’s called, but I definitely said we needed to run the ball on the 1-yard line,” Tracy said Thursday. “I feel like everyone felt the same — whether it’s offensive line, quarterback, running back. To do the play-action pass off the 1-yard line, you have to run the ball first.”
This is why Joe Schoen’s Giants have failed to score a touchdown in eight of their last 35 games for the first time since 1996-99, per Elias Sports Bureau.
This is why the Giants are the first team in 83 years to have six or fewer points in three straight season openers, per ESPN Stats and Research.
This is why the Giants (0-1) have lost seven straight NFC East games and are expected to make it eight in a row Sunday against the Dallas Cowboys (0-1) at AT&T Stadium:
They do not have a competent offense.
“It’s just really week to week here,” a meek Daboll said Friday, when asked how ownership reacts to the Giants’ horrendous showings in the division. “And what we need to do this week against this team.”
What they need to do against Dallas — against everybody — is score more points.
They ranked 30th out of the NFL’s 32 offenses in 2023 averaging 15.6 points per game. They ranked 31st last season averaging 16.1 points per game. Now they’re this season’s lowest scoring team in the league after one week at six points per game.
So if Sunday starts spiraling early, that could mean pulling quarterback Russell Wilson for Jaxson Dart and giving the rookie his first real NFL snaps.
“I’m confident in myself,” Dart said Friday. “So whatever opportunity happens, or whatever may happen, I’m preparing for that opportunity. I feel like I’m going to go out there and succeed anytime I’m on the field. So that’s just kind of the approach that I have.”
Rookie running back Cam Skattebo should be featured more regularly no matter who is playing quarterback. The Giants need to control the line of scrimmage to score on Matt Eberflus’ defense and keep up with Brian Schottenheimer’s offense.
Something has to change. It’s getting that late early for Schoen and Daboll at the start of their fourth season.
Schoen and Daboll have never beaten the Dallas Cowboys.
They are 0-6 against Dallas since they arrived in 2022, getting outscored 187-88 head-to-head. That includes an 0-3 record at AT&T Stadium with Dallas outscoring the Giants 104-57 in the Cowboys’ building.
Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott boasts an absurd 13-2 career record against the Giants with 29 touchdown passes and eight interceptions.
Schoen’s and Daboll’s overall NFC East track record is just as jarring.
The GM and coach are 4-15-1 against the Giants’ division opponents, getting outscored 512-332 for an average loss of 28.5-18.4.
Offensive line coach Carmen Bricillo pushed back Friday when asked if there is any panic in his position room, saying “I don’t know if the sky is falling.” But this team is teetering on disaster.
Daboll had second-year receiver Malik Nabers jawing with him in frustration on the sideline in the first quarter of the Giants’ first game. And now he has a second-year running back second-guessing the play calling of Daboll and offensive coordinator Mike Kafka.
That required Daboll to deliver a vote of confidence in Kafka on Friday.
“I’ve got a lot of confidence in [Kafka] and the coaches,” Daboll said. “Kaf puts a lot of time and effort and energy into what we think is going to be the right thing, and have full confidence in him.”
It’s difficult to hear those words, however, without thinking about how little confidence and patience Daboll has shown with Kafka in the past.
The last time Kafka called offensive plays in this Cowboys stadium on Nov. 12, 2023, Daboll took it away from him in the second half and gave it to quarterback coach Shea Tierney.
The head coach took over full-time play calling duties last season, but co-owner John Mara suggested he give it back and focus more on the big picture.
A lot of good that did in Week 1.
The result was so bad, Daboll’s primary work this week was damage control. And he showed all the signs of a head coach on the hot seat scrambling for answers and allies.
He completely changed up his Wednesday press conference approach. He shifted from an 11-word Bill Belichick impersonation in Week 1 to a 700-word soliloquy this week on the Giants’ injuries, the Cowboys’ strengths as a team and Dallas’ Week 1 loss to the Eagles.
He had the audacity to say “I think [Dallas] held Saquon [Barkley] to 3.3 [yards per carry], 60 some yards,” citing an MVP candidate who just led the Giants’ biggest rival to a Super Bowl after New York let him leave.
And both Daboll and Wilson tried to sell the Giants trailing Washington 14-6 early in last Sunday’s fourth quarter as a positive.
“This game was 14 to 6 with like six, seven minutes to go,” Wilson said, stretching the truth past the 7:09 mark when Deebo Samuel sealed the deal for the Commanders.
But selling an eight-point deficit in a 15-points loss as reason for optimism is a losing mentality.
It’s insulting to tell the fans that the Giants, especially on offense, were anywhere close to winning a football game in Week 1.
This team has to put a better product and more points on the board Sunday. Schoen and Daboll desperately need a win.
If that means playing Dart earlier than the organization would prefer, so be it.
Everyone’s job is on the line.
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