It sure sounds like even Brian Daboll knows he should be fired

The start of the Brian Daboll era was magical as he guided the New York Giants to a 9-7-1 record in his first year that included a playoff victory over the Minnesota Vikings. That victory was the high point of Daboll's tenure to date. The Giants are 8-21 since they took the field in Philadelphia for the Divisional Round, including Sunday's disastrous 30-7 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that saw Baker Mayfield mock Giants' starting quarterback Tommy DeVito's touchdown celebration.

The Giants' players weren't happy after the game, with several veterans noting that the team was flat for this game and others, including rookie receiver Malik Nabers, arguing that this result proved that former starter Daniel Jones wasn't the issue with the Giants' offense.

The locker room discourse wasn't a positive sign for Daboll, who is firmly on the hot seat despite a vote of confidence from owner John Mara earlier this season. A poor finish to the year could lead to an outcome that Daboll viewed as a strong possibility in the start of training camp.

Brian Daboll knows he's coaching for his job

SNY insider Connor Hughes shared some insight on Daboll's mindset after the game, when he cited a source who indicated that Daboll knew he was coaching for his job prior to the season. The results, which have seen the Giants' offense regress significantly despite Daboll taking play calling responsibility into his hands, are a damning indictment on his ability to lead this organization forward.

Having an offensive background and leading the team to the worst offensive season (in terms of points per game) in franchise history is not a strong selling point for Daboll to keep his job. Mara has said to want to avoid a rash decision with Daboll after a string of three straight head coaches who failed to reach a third season prior to hiring him and GM Joe Schoen, but more embarrassing performances and images of fans streaming from the stands in the middle of the third quarter could incentivize Mara to make a change for the sake of change.

The decision is fraught with peril for the Giants, who only found themselves in this situation because Daboll did such a good job coaching Jones in 2022 to the point they wanted to keep him. Instead of using the franchise tag to make Jones prove his worth again, Schoen extended him instead, beginning the process that essentially walked star running back Saquon Barkley into free agency and the waiting arms of the Philadelphia Eagles.

There is a strong argument to make that Daboll deserves the opportunity to pick a quarterback of his own to work with after inheriting Jones but that argument will be moot if he loses the locker room over the back half of the season. This quarterback class also isn't as strong as last year's draft crop, leading to a risk that a Schoen-Daboll regime needing to win force a pick of a quarterback who doesn't develop into a long-term answer, setting the franchise back even further.

Firing Daboll and keeping Schoen also could lead to more problems since the GM would be on a different time table than the new coach, who would be looking to establish a program while Schoen would want to win to keep his own job. If Mara is interested in maintaining some sense of stability, the pair either needs to be granted another year together or sent out together to start the whole program over.