In the aftermath of defensive coordinator Wink Martindale “parting ways” with the New York Giants, several reports have surfaced suggesting that head coach Brian Daboll is erratic and irrational, and regularly dresses down his assistants in a personal fashion.
Those reports continued on Monday with Pat Leonard of the New York Daily News peeling back the curtain on the Giants’ internal strife even further.
In a deep dive into the deteriorating situation in East Rutherford, Leonard revealed several new details, including Daboll placing blame for the poor offensive performance on other coordinators and a complete refusal to accept any blame for the regression in 2023.
Leonard reveals that Daboll repeatedly took over play-calling, often losing his temper with coordinators for doing what he asked, all while deflecting any responsibility.
In Week 11, Daboll reportedly slammed Martindale for allowing the Washington Commanders to remain in the game despite that unit’s solid performance.
It was a repeat offense for Daboll.
Wink Martindale’s defense had forced four turnovers. Thomas McGaughey’s special teams unit had forced another. And Mike Kafka’s offense, with Tommy DeVito at quarterback, had scored two of its three touchdowns on short fields off those takeaways.
But now Washington’s offense was driving, aided by a Kayvon Thibodeaux roughing the passer penalty outside the red zone. And that’s when Brian Daboll started playing the blame game on Martindale and the defensive staff:
“You’re gonna lose this game just like you lost us the Jets game,” Daboll griped on the headset, according to numerous sources in the building.
Daboll was blaming the defense for the Giants’ infamous 13-10 overtime loss to the Jets on Oct. 29, in which the offense had thrown for -9 yards and Daboll’s late-game mismanagement had opened the door to a full-scale, team-wide meltdown.
