Brian Daboll wants Giants to focus on the things they can control
Head coach Brian Daboll of the New York Giants against the Seattle Seahawks. Credit: Mike Stobe
The Giants are 1-3 and are staring at the possibility of 1-5 with tough road games coming up at Miami on Sunday and Buffalo next week.
They allowed 11 sacks last week, and it’s possible their offensive line may be even more challenged by injuries this week.
Their coach answered questions this week about throwing a tablet and berating his quarterback during last week’s game. One of their few healthy offensive linemen apologized twice for disparaging Giants fans and fast-food workers in an unfortunate rant.
They won’t know until just before game time if Saquon Barkley (ankle, listed as questionable) will be able to play.
Oh, and the Giants will be facing a team Sunday that scored 70 points two games ago and has blazing fast offensive weapons. And it’s supposed to be 88 degrees with 70% humidity at game time.
To coach Brian Daboll, it’s all part of the business of life in the NFL. And it can be cured by only one thing: beating the Dolphins.
“That’s the goal every week, to put the best product out on the field,” he said. “We haven’t done that. I own that. But you’re going to face adversity in this business 100% of the time. I don’t know when it’s going to happen, but that’s inevitable. How you choose to handle adversity is optional. You try to be strong in your leadership, tell things the way they need to be said, improve and get ready to go out there and play another game.”
Some of the Giants’ issues are self-inflicted, some are not. Daboll, not surprisingly, said he’s focused on “the things that we can control, which there’s a lot of them. Certainly, we’ve got to do a lot better and that’s what we’re aiming to do . . . I think the challenging part every year is just focus on the next week, whether you win or lose. I don’t think you can live in the past. You have to focus on the future. You have to focus on the things that you can control and go out there and prepare and practice to the best of your ability to give yourself a chance and ultimately play well and coach well on game day. That’s what we always strive for.”
The Giants clearly are frustrated, but the players say they are not frustrated with each other, just with being 1-3.
“I’d say [there’s] frustration at the result,” tight end Darren Waller said. “I don’t think there’s any frustration at people. It’s just the results of the way the season started. It’d be a little puzzling if guys weren’t frustrated because it’s something that we’ve got to fix and turn around. You don’t turn it around all at once, you don’t get to .500 all at once, and things like that. It’s one day at a time, unfortunately. It’s a climb, and the change and the progress you’re going to see in the locker room before everybody else in the world sees it.”
Notes & quotes: On Barkley being a game-time decision, Daboll said: “We’ll let it go as far as we can let it go . . . He’s done stuff in team [drills] and some individual stuff. I think he’s made progress. We’ll just give him another day and see where he’s at.” . . . LB Micah McFadden (ankle) was listed as questionable after getting hurt in practice on Thursday . . . Offensive linemen Andrew Thomas (hamstring), John Michael Schmitz (shoulder) and Shane Lemieux (groin) are out.
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
