EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The struggling New York Giants aren’t making any coach or general manager change during the season. They don’t intend to make one with Brian Daboll or Joe Schoen after the year either.
Owner John Mara made his intentions clear Wednesday night despite his team being 2-5 entering Monday night’s matchup with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He said he wanted to be patient and see the process through.
“Obviously, we’re all very disappointed with where we are right now, but I’m going to say one thing: We are not making any changes this season and I do not anticipate making any changes in the offseason either,” Mara said after watching the premiere of “The Duke: Wellington Mara’s Giant Life” about his father’s life and contributions to the game of football.
The Giants are coming off an ugly loss to Saquon Barkley and the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday at MetLife Stadium. Barkley tormented his former team and owner, who just so happened to famously say in this summer’s “Hard Knocks” that he would have trouble sleeping if the star running back landed in Philadelphia.
Mara has watched his team score only one touchdown in four home games this season. Still, he said he was committed to Daboll and Schoen, barring any sort of unexpected circumstance. That would probably make them in charge of finding Daniel Jones‘ successor. The Giants inquired about trading up for a quarterback at this year’s NFL draft.
Of course, it’s always possible something unexpected happens over the next few months. It has happened before in recent history. Mara gave his public support to general manager Jerry Reese and coach Ben McAdoo during the 2017 season, only to fire them before the season was over after the benching of quarterback Eli Manning.
But since that point, Mara has admitted to wishing he had been more patient in that instance. Pat Shurmur and Joe Judge still lasted only two years each as Giants head coach.
After watching the film on his father Wednesday at The Paley Center in Manhattan among family, friends and former and current team employees, including Schoen, Mara was asked if he took anything from seeing his father deal with the down years of the past.
“I think I try to be more patient than maybe I’ve been in recent years,” Mara said. “He was patient. He preached that all the time and I’ve probably been guilty of not being patient enough in recent years, and that’s one of the reasons I’m committed to Joe and Brian and giving them a chance to turn this thing around.”
Schoen and Daboll have two full seasons on their résumé — one good, one bad. They went 9-7-1 in 2022 and won a playoff game. The Giants went 6-11 last season when Daboll turned over a good chunk of his staff including two coordinators.
This season has not gone to plan so far. Daboll took over playcalling and his offense is averaging just 14.1 points.
The Giants as a whole are on track to miss the playoffs for the 11th time in 13 years.
“Very difficult [to be patient] because the last 10 or 12 years have not been very good for our fans and it makes it particularly difficult,” Mara said. “But you got to do the right thing and we’re committed to doing that, committed to seeing this process through.”
What is it about Schoen and Daboll that keeps Mara feeling confident?
“Just the process that they have, being in the meetings with them, talking about where they see us going forward, talking about the evaluation of our personnel,” he said. “I still have confidence in both of them.”
In the end, it still comes down to winning games. Mara always says entering each season he wants to feel good about his team moving forward when he walks off the field after the final game. He wants the arrow pointing up.
It’s hard to feel that way right now.
“Absolutely,” he said. “Yeah, 2-5.”
