Brian Daboll won the hearts of Giants fans last season when the first-year head coach broke the team’s five-year playoff drought and led them to the Divisional Round. He was named Coach of the Year for his efforts and the future looked bright.
But a year later, the Giants missed the playoffs after finishing 6-11. Afterwards, rumors of tension within the coaching staff seemed to be confirmed when Wink Martindale parted ways with the team after reportedly storming out of the building and cursing out Daboll.
Speaking at a Guiding Eyes for the Blind event in Manhattan on Tuesday, former Giants quarterback Eli Manning commented on the coaching changes.
“That’s just football,’’ Manning said, via the New York Post. “Coming to New York, it’s a tough place and if you don’t do well they’re gonna want change and want to do everything. I think obviously last year was unbelievable and the turnaround, this year hey, it wasn’t the best, they still had a number of games they could have won, the record could have been a lot better than what it was — the Jets [game], the Bills on a last-second play, the first Philly game, all of a sudden those are three games. It’s always winning those close games, and they weren’t able to win a lot of those close games this year and that was the difference in making the playoffs and not making the playoffs.’’
Manning came to the Giants in 2004, which was Tom Coughlin’s first season as head coach.
“With coach Coughlin, he understood, made some changes, I think it was because he knew he had great leadership in a lot of guys who had been around for a number of years, been used to his system and he could let us take over some of that leadership responsibilities with the team,’’ Manning said Tuesday. “Daboll, hey, you got to be yourself though, you got to coach the only way you know how to coach and I think he does a good job, and you can’t let one tough season impact the way you’re gonna be or the way you’re gonna coach.’’
