SEPTEMBER 8, 2025 BRIAN DABOLL PRESS CONFERENCE…
New York Giants Head Coach Brian Daboll addressed the media on Monday (VIDEO):
Q: You kind of left it hanging out there, so I think you have to start here. Do you intend to start (quarterback) Russell Wilson this week?
DABOLL: Yes. Yep, and after a game, you know, it’s an emotional game, it’s a tough game. Didn’t play particularly well, I would say, collectively, but in terms of making any of those decisions, really at any position or schematic changes, I’d like to do it with a clear head and watch the tape. Again, like I said yesterday, that game doesn’t fall on Russell Wilson. We’ve got to do a better job collectively, coaching, playing, but Russ will be the starter.
Q: Was that even ever really a decision for you?
DABOLL: Well, again, it’s right at the end of the game, so…
Q: I mean when you went back and watched it.
DABOLL: No, no, Russ will be the starter.
Q: What did you think of the offense when you went back and looked, like what did you see and what do you believe is the top culprit for the struggles?
DABOLL: Well, I’d say it was a collective effort. Again, we just we never got into a rhythm in the early part of the downs, which affected it. The line of scrimmage, there was a play here, a play there, a block here, a read there, that we just kept getting behind the sticks and could never get into a good enough rhythm. And then down in the red zone we had plenty of plays down there, it’s a close game. It’s a 14-6 game with seven minutes left in the fourth quarter. Had two opportunities down there in the red zone, really low red zone and just didn’t punch the ball in. So, have to do a better job in those areas. I’d say early down production, and that’s everybody, and then red zone.
Q: Real quick, also I know we didn’t get to this yesterday. Why did (punter) Jamie Gillan do the opening kickoff and what went into you going with (wide receiver) Wan’Dale (Robinson) as a kick returner? Things we hadn’t seen.
DABOLL: Yeah, I think Wan’Dale’s good with the ball in his hands. We had a couple chances there if we could just sustain on a block a little bit longer. I think he’s good with the ball in his hands. And then Jamie is good at some of those kicks with this new kickoff rule and where to put it. So, we’ve been working on that between Jamie and Graham (Gano) on kickoffs, particularly for that first game.
Q: What’s the update on (inside linebacker) Micah McFadden?
DABOLL: Yeah, I’m gonna talk to the medical people. I’ll have more on that for you tomorrow.
Q: They put an air cast on him. Do you have a feeling it could be (bad)?
DABOLL: I think he thought when he was out there laying on the ground, he thought he broke his leg. I know he didn’t do that. But get some other things looked at here.
Q: What’d you think of the job that (cornerback Paulson) Adebo did, traveling pretty much with (Washington Commanders’ wide receiver) Terry (McLaurin)?
DABOLL: Again, I thought he played well. Terry’s a really good player, explosive offense, but you know that’s something we’ve been working on as well. Thought he did a nice job throughout the entire game.
Q: How much of a difference does that make to have that guy? Obviously, (Dallas Cowboys’ wide receiver) CeeDee (Lamb) is coming up and then probably 15 other great number one receivers. How much of a difference does it make to have that kind of guy for the defense?
DABOLL: Well, anytime you can have good players, I think it helps. Again, that’s what we did for this week. Again, we’ll see down the road once we get going on these other teams. But I thought he did a nice job in a number of areas for his first game for us.
Q: What’d you think of the edge rotation now that the snap counts are out? I think (outside linebacker Brian) Burns played like…
DABOLL: 48?
Q: Yeah, then (outside linebacker) Kayvon (Thibodeaux) played 50 and (outside linebacker) Abdul (Carter) played 30-something. What’d you think of that?
DABOLL: Abdul played 38 and then he was on our punt block team too. So, he had a total of 43. You want to rotate those guys, try to keep them as fresh as you can. We knew that Abdul was going to be on that punt team and again, just trying to keep those guys as fresh as we can with the packages that we have.
Q: So, you’re saying, did you limit Abdul’s snaps on defense because of the punt block role?
DABOLL: Well, he had 43 total snaps. Burns had 48 and I think Kayvon was what, low 50s or mid 50s. So again, we want to keep those guys as fresh as we can. I think they did a pretty good job relative to the roles. A couple things we can improve on in that area, but those three guys are going to play a lot. Try to balance out the numbers the best job you can so they can be as fresh as they can be.
Q: The punt on fourth and four from midfield, just what was the thought process there?
DABOLL: I thought we’d pin them down in there and have a chance to stop them and get the ball back.
Q: I wasn’t going to ask this originally, but with that defensive outside linebacker rotation, there were very few snaps with all three of them on the field together, right? Is that a good problem to have and is that something that maybe you want to see those guys on the field together or can they really not play all together for an extended period of time?
DABOLL: Yeah, I think again, that’ll be dictated upon game. Again, early on in the season, to keep these guys as fresh as we can keep them, that’s something we’re going to do.
Q: Do you think those guys can be together on the field for multiple snaps in a game?
DABOLL: Yeah, I think it depends. So, they’re all capable to play different spots, if you will, and if we think that’s the best and that’s what we’ll do.
Q: You always wear a lot of hats as a head coach, team psychologist or psychiatrist is obviously one of those hats you have to wear. Was this game, after this game, did you find you needed to put that hat on a little more firmly after this game? Because the expectations, especially on offense, were so high and the results were not there that you needed to calm the troops a little bit or do anything you needed to do with the troops?
DABOLL: The game was 14-6 in the fourth quarter. You’re going to have games like that relative to… You’d like not to have them. We didn’t score enough points offensively. It wasn’t good enough. But you make a few plays here or there and it’s a much more close game, if you will, particularly down in the red zone. So, again, what I try to do is be consistent. Here’s things that we tried to get accomplished, here’s why we didn’t get them accomplished, here’s some of the things we did well and here’s plenty of things we didn’t do as well. Everybody, coaching, playing, and then you meet as an offense, defense, kicking game, you go through those things.
Q: When you talked Abdul and the rotation, just one more thing on this, just from his perspective, because he was a rookie, did you want to not put too much on his plate or did that not even factor into the rotation and how much you wanted to use him?
DABOLL: No, we have a lot of confidence in Abdul. Again, they’re 43, 48, 55. Maybe next week it’s a little bit different just based on how the game’s going and the series. But try to keep them, again, try to keep them fresh.
Q: Then the other thing would be from an offensive line perspective, was it a combination of physical mistakes and mental mistakes? Did you see one thing that you could point to and say, you know what, we just need to improve this this week, and we think we can eliminate some of the problems that we had? Because (offensive lineman Jermaine) Eluemunor said afterwards that again, it’s one of those, one guy makes the mistake, and the group suffers for it and then the next play another guy will make a mistake, and the group will suffer for it. Did you feel that? That it’s one of those things where you watch the tape and you think you can fix some of these things that maybe went wrong yesterday?
DABOLL: Well, yeah, you’re going to go out there and you’re going to fix them, but let’s give credit to Washington and how they played as well. But again, there was a number of plays where one play it was this, the next play it was this, the next play it was this. They made some good plays too, credit them, but overall just not consistent in terms of the execution part of the phases that we needed to have. And we’re going to fix it.
Q: Do you envision any changes in personnel up front?
DABOLL: No.
Q: We saw (offensive lineman) Evan (Neal) was a healthy scratch. Just kind of curious, what went into that thought process?
DABOLL: Yeah, the guys that we brought to the game, we felt comfortable with those guys and Evan was inactive.
Q: With the run game, obviously there was so much focus on Russ, but I assume making those goal line situations, those decisions not to run the ball. I know (running back Cam) Skattebo had one carry for negative yardage. Just how do you look at how the run game was established?
DABOLL: At the line of scrimmage, they had some guys in the backfield. We had a couple of perimeter plays, if you will, down there, the screen to (wide receiver) Malik (Nabers) that they played well. Again, overall, just run game in general, if you have 15 carries for 30 yards with the backs, we need to be better.
Q: You mentioned first and second downs, obviously the Commanders played a role in that, but just when you look back at those second downs, what did you see that needs to improve on just trying to get more stops on second down?
DABOLL: Talking about our defense?
Q: Yes.
DABOLL: Yeah, I mean they made some good plays. We’re going to have to go back and look in terms of that area of the game, second down and long. They made some nice plays. We got to make sure we’re doing everything we can coaching wise. Collective effort, just like everything else. Again, what I was proud of is it’s a tough team offensively and we’re not producing, I’d say, offensively the way we needed to produce. Held them to 14 points there in the fourth quarter. There’s some good things that come out of that, but we have to do a better job collectively playing team football and put some points on the board.
Q: We’ll wrap up where we started with Russ, I guess. What did you see when you went back and watched the film that made you stick with him?
DABOLL: Yeah, I’d say he made good decisions. Again, we’ve missed on the one-on-one matchups. Sometimes it’s a throw, sometimes it’s a competitive catch. It’s a collective. It’s not just Russ when you talk about this whole thing. It’s the entire offense. Everybody, as far as me, coaches, players, we got to do a better job collectively. That’s what we’ll do.
Q: I think the world is very excited to see (quarterback) Jaxson (Dart) play. I’m sure there’s a part of you that is, too, at some point. How do you balance that with the decisions on who you’re going to play at quarterback each week?
DABOLL: Yeah, I have confidence in Russ and we’re doing everything we can do each week to develop Jaxson. He spends a lot of time in the building. He spends a lot of time after practice going through things that he needs to go through to prepare himself if he gets called upon to be ready to go. And that’s what we’re going to do.
Q: Will your decision be based on where Jaxson is or where Russ is?
DABOLL: Yeah, we’ll just do what we think is best for our football.
THE PLAYERS SPEAK…
Transcripts and video clips of the media sessions with the following players are available in The Corner Forum and on YouTube/Giants.com:
WHAT’S UP NEXT…
The players are off on Tuesday and there is no media availability to the team. The players return to practice on Wednesday.