Thread by @DanSchneierNFL

If you want the TLDR, #Giants Brian Daboll is the obvious Coach Of The Year b/c he made the playoffs w/ THIS roster.
But having analyzed the tape of every game (check out the YT show linked at end of thread!), there's a non-TLDR case to be made.
So here's my thread on that(1/?)

Most of the Daboll COTY talk focuses on his roster maximization. Gettleman left him with more than 25% of his cap allocated to players off the roster or not playing. AND he burned multiple 1st-round picks (Baker, Toney). But I want to focus on his actual coaching so.. (cont)

The key to Daboll’s success has been his (w/ help of Kafka/Tierney) development of DJ. We’ll get to that. But his decision in Week 1 to go for the win (2-pt conversion call) was momentous. The #Giants hadn’t had a winning record at any point since 2016 before that W (cont)

Daboll's development w/ DJ stands tallest. It starts w/ Daboll’s recognition of DJ’s biggest weakness on tape and his solution for it. What did he recognize? In the past systems, DJ had a tendency to sit in the pocket and lock into reads, often waiting for a WR to get open (cont)

This tendency led to sacks, forced fumbles, late throws that got tipped and at times intercepted and not a lot of successful plays. So the first thing Daboll did was hammer home: if you don’t like what you see, check the B gap and if it’s open take it (as a runner) (cont)

As @BenjaminSolak did a great job pointing out earlier, EPA on “scrambles (non-designed runs)” is higher than just about anything else. So Daboll took away the long waiting periods in the pocket that led to sacks&turnovers and morphed them into scramble runs. That's not all(cont)

There was a focus in camp on drills that required DJ to move his feet, leave the pocket & keep his eyes down the field. The latter is key here. It’s impossible to watch DJ film this year and not notice a massive jump in his ability to create plays off platform with his ARM (cont)

The biggest difference is that DJ is now keeping his eyes down field the entire time on the move + not moving at 100%. He patiently moves out of the pocket (mostly right, he’s righty), keeps his eyes downfield and allows things to develop (cont)

And it’s no coincidence that #Giants WRs have developed a plan now for when DJ is on the move. Darius Slayton talked about this w Art Stapleton. Each WR has his own plan for scramble plays and DJ and his WRs are perfectly in sync (cont)

W/ this plan. That hasn’t been the case at any point from 2019-2021 under two diff coaches. It showed up almost immediately under Daboll. Those are the main areas Daboll has developed DJ but not the only ones so here are a few more (cont)
#Giants

Improvements:
- Less burping the baby (specifically as of late)
- Better footwork (he used to have a drifting issue in the pocket under pressure, now he steps through and either runs or flows right)
- Faster eyes post snap (DJ confirming the safety&second level defenders)
(cont)

Overall, the job Daboll and staff have done revamping a QB’s game in Year 4 is in a lot of ways unprecedented. The improvement he helped DJ make w/ pocket manipulation and off script play success are enough alone for me, but taking this #Giants roster to the playoffs is it (cont)

If you enjoyed this thread, please consider checking out the Big Blue Banter #Giants podcast and YouTube show. You’ll find Xs and Os film based analysis from myself and @nickfalato
#TogetherBlue
Links:

open.spotify.com/show/38eY2hw59…

youtube.com/channel/UCJ5Jx…