Fans have enjoyed watching Brian Daboll rattle off his offense’s verbiage during NFL Draft quarterback meetings in HBO’s ‘Hard Knocks.’
But it might help the team if Daboll simplifies his calls and assignments as the expected full-time play-caller this season so that his offense can actually function and score points.
Wide receiver Darius Slayton’s recent explanation of why Daboll’s play calls can be confusing carried on a theme from the spring: this is not an easy system to learn and execute.
Assistant GM Brandon Brown alluded to it twice during his press conference in the spring, as well.
Brown said quarterback Drew Lock was getting adjusted to the scheme and added: “Obviously our offense is not simple.” And Brown praised rookie wideout Malik Nabers for a “seamless” adjustment to playing various positions even though “our offense is not easy to grasp.”
Nabers also was the topic that prompted Slayton into a deeper explanation of Daboll’s system on this week’s ‘All Facts No Brakes with Keyshawn Johnson’ podcast.
“For us, our system, the biggest hiccup as a rookie is trying to get down all these terminologies that Daboll has for us,” Slayton said.
Slayton then explained that the amount of motion, and the receivers’ detailed responsibilities in the wordy play calls, sometimes makes it difficult to keep track.
“We move a lot — that’s really what messes people up is that there’s a lot of movement,” Slayton said. “So it might be ‘Gun Flank Left Flappy Z Shift X Pylon Z Cross,’ whatever. But Flappy’s a shift. Then you have ‘Z Shift.’ And then ‘Flank Left’ in itself, the formation is left and the two receivers are right.
“It’s 12 personnel,” Slayton continued. “So if it’s Flank Left, your two tight ends are to the left and your two receivers are right. But ‘Z Shift’ you’d be starting left, and then you shift right.”
Slayton did say Daboll sometimes condenses offensive play calls to one word in the huddle, so players recognize the responsibilities they have memorized within.
But the full play calls sometimes overload the receivers on how to sort out where they should line up, where they must shift and where they’re running.
“It’s like, what was even my route sometimes,” Slayton said. “It gets a little wordy … I’m just telling you sometimes you get in there and you’re listening and you’re like, ‘Lord have mercy.’”
There is always a balance when it comes to creating a system to help players in football, of course.
Defensive coordinator Shane Bowen’s new system, for example, is much simpler than Wink Martindale’s defense to hear the players describe it. But being too vanilla and predictable can backfire, too.
A system has to be complex enough to win the coaching battle against the other team but sensible enough for players to grasp the concepts and adjustments so they can play fast and not overthink.
Daboll’s offensive system and play-calling are only two elements of several that must be re-examined and improved in 2024 to get the Giants back on track.
Personnel deficiencies, poor offensive line play, poor quarterback play and injuries all played a huge role in last season’s mess.
Not to mention that Daboll was taking play-calling away from offensive coordinator Mike Kafka, even giving it to QB coach Shea Tierney at one point, creating an unhealthy dynamic that was not constructive.
But the fact is that Daboll must turn over every stone this season to improve on last year’s 15.6 points per game average, which ranked 30th in the NFL.
During last season’s 1-5 start, Daboll’s offense scored only one offensive touchdown total in those five losses — in Week 3 at San Francisco. They didn’t get in the end zone at all in four losses to Dallas, Seattle, Miami and Buffalo.
Kafka is still on staff as OC after being blocked from leaving laterally for Seattle. It’d be easy to forget that, since Daboll was on the headset all spring and Kafka has been almost completely absent from HBO’s Hard Knocks episodes to date.
But this is Daboll’s offense: the plays, the words, the calls. All of it. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to consider some tweaks that could retain the coach’s preferred identity but better unleash his players’ talents.