The New York Giants weren’t supposed to be in the playoffs. The first year of Brian Daboll’s tenure as head coach was supposed to be the start of a rebuild — 17 games to assess who goes and who stays from the failed Joe Judge/Dave Gettleman regimes.
Instead, the Giants went 9-7-1 and made it to the postseason anyway. They upset the Minnesota Vikings on the road in the Wild Card round. Then they looked like a team that wasn’t supposed to be in the playoffs seven days later.
Daniel Jones’ breakthrough season ended with a disheartening performance against an elite defense. He threw for 135 yards and more interceptions (one) than touchdowns while the Philadelphia Eagles sprinted out to a 28-0 halftime lead en route to a 38-7 Divisional Round win.
New York’s nightmare put all its worst tendencies on display. Daboll brought his team to the postseason despite some glaring flaws. He able to outrun those issues for one week in the playoffs, then got pantsed by a division rival to end the season.
So what went wrong? And how can the Giants fix it?