February 03, 2022
It's been a while since we checked in on the rest of the NFC East, so let's quickly round up news surrounding the New York Giants, the Washington R Football Team Commanders, and the Dallas Cowboys.
To begin, the Giants hired former Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll to be their new head coach.
Daboll has been credited with helping develop Josh Allen from a talented but raw prospect into the elite quarterback he has become. He has also coordinated an offense that has finished with the following rankings since he became the Bills' OC in 2018:
| Bills O under Daboll | DVOA - offense | DVOA - pass | DVOA - run |
| 2018 | 31 | 31 | 29 |
| 2019 | 21 | 20 | 19 |
| 2020 | 5 | 3 | 22 |
| 2021 | 10 | 13 | 9 |
As you can see, there's tangible improvement. Part of that has been the stable coaching staff that has been in place, but probably the bigger reason is that they have gotten much better players over that span.
Daboll has also had three short stints as the offensive coordinator of three other teams in a span of four years:
| Brian Daboll other OC jobs | DVOA - offense | DVOA - pass | DVOA - run |
| 2009 - Browns | 24 | 29 | 13 |
| 2010 - Browns | 21 | 22 | 16 |
| 2011 - Dolphins | 20 | 18 | 28 |
| 2012 - Chiefs | 31 | 32 | 23 |
Those teams went a combined 18-46, though in fairness, the quarterbacks who started for Daboll during those years were Brady Quinn, Derek Anderson, Colt McCoy, Jake Delhomme, Seneca Wallace, Matt Moore, Chad Henne, and Matt Cassel.
Daboll is kinda-sorta the Giants' second consecutive "Bill Belichick hire," after whiffing on Joe Judge. Daboll got his start in the pros under Belichick in 2000 as a defensive assistant and coached in New England for a total of 12 years, with other jobs including wide receiver coach and tight ends coach, though he wasn't hired directly from the Patriots this time.
The Giants hope that Daboll can begin to get Daniel Jones going in the right direction, given his success with Allen. We know that Daboll can coordinate an offense, but can he lead a team? I do think there's some "Peter Principle" potential with Daboll as a head coach. We'll see.
Of course, Daboll was chosen over former Dolphins head coach Brian Flores, who somehow led the Dolphins to a 24-25 record over the last three seasons despite being dealt an often-dreadful roster. His aggressive defensive scheme often confused and battered opposing quarterbacks and helped serve as something of an equalizer against more talented teams. He was a surprise firing at the end of Miami's 2021 season.
Thinking he had a real chance for the Giants' head coaching job prior to an interview, Flores received a text from Belichick, who congratulated him on earning the Giants' job, except, uhhhhh, boomer Belichick got his Brians confused, and thought he was texting Daboll.
Texts from Bill Belichick to Brian Flores, congratulating Brian for landing the #Giants job.
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) February 1, 2022
Belichick thought he was texting Brian Daboll. He was texting Flores by mistake. pic.twitter.com/Y686XcjYC3
Oooooof.
Flores subsequently sued the NFL, the Giants (for allegedly setting up a sham interview), the Dolphins (for a litany of offenses), and the Broncos (again, alleged sham interview).
The most serious allegations are against the Dolphins, who allegedly attempted to pay Flores for losses.
They also allegedly tried to force him to tamper with other players under contract with other teams:
The Broncos were accused of not even pretending to have any interest in hiring Flores, but only interviewing him to satisfy their "Rooney Rule" obligation.
This story has the potential to dominate offseason NFL coverage, as it should, given that there is only one black head coach remaining in the NFL, a situation that was already indefensible, and is now much worse.
The "classy" Giants will be right at the forefront.
Personally, I liked "Football Team" better. Washington sort of stumbled their way into a cool name, and then were like, "Nah, let's change it to this definitely worse name."
The uniforms are OK.
This crest (or whatever you'd call it) is funny to me, because the years displayed on it are not the seasons they won titles. Rather, they indicate the years during which the title games were actually played. For example, it's well-established that they won Super Bowls during the 1982, 1987, and 1991 seasons. However, the crest shows 1983, 1988, and 1992.
It would be like the Eagles unveiling a crest and having 2018 on it instead of 2017. Morons.
The Cowboys have mostly been quiet since getting bounced from the playoffs in embarrassing fashion. Defensive coordinator Dan Quinn got some sniffs around the league as a head coaching candidate, but he returned to Dallas, and was rewarded with a contract extension. Offensive coordinator Kellen Moore has gotten some head coaching interest as well, like he did last offseason, but his hype has been dimmed a bit this year.
The good news for the rest of the division is that Jerry Jones said that Mike McCarthy's job status as the Cowboys' head coach was never in question.
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