Jul 23, 2025; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Giants general manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll talk during training camp at Quest Diagnostics Training Center. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

The New York Giants removed the symptom. Only time will tell if they got the cause.

Team owner John Mara put the blame of 2025's 2-8 start -- and the two losing seasons that preceded it -- squarely at the feet of Brian Daboll. The 2022 NFL Coach of the Year was fired Monday, less than 24 hours after blowing a double-digit lead on the road for the fourth time this fall.

Daboll's position was untenable. The man who'd once made Daniel Jones a playoff-winning quarterback had fallen significantly as a tougher schedule and a lineup of opponents wise to his tricks rose in opposition. Injuries robbed his Giants of two dynamic young skill players and he began coaching scared. Once he declined opportunities to go for a touchdown facing fourth-and-goal at the Chicago Bears' one-yard line in Week 10, it was clear he no longer had the stomach for the job.

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New York laid that failure solely at his feet. General manager Joe Schoen appears to have escaped unscathed. In fact, per Mara, he'll head up the search for Daboll's replacement this winter.

"We feel like Joe [Schoen] has assembled a good young nucleus of talent, and we look forward to its development," said Mara. "Unfortunately, the results over the past three years have not been what any of us want. We take full responsibility for those results and look forward to the kind of success our fans expect."

The Giants' official release says Schoen "will lead the search for a new head coach." And, thus, the man whose judgment led New York to extend Daniel Jones for four years and $160 million while letting players like Saquon Barkley and Xavier McKinney leave for All-Pro honors with NFC rivals will dictate the franchise's immediate future.

Oh, boy.

On one hand, if you squint hard enough you can see Mara's logic. Schoen has brought in talented players who have frequently added up to less than the sum of their parts. Brian Burns was an inexpensive trade addition at the cost of a second round pick and currently has 11 sacks in 10 games. Jaxson Dart, Malik Nabers and Cam Skattebo look like the homegrown nucleus of a functional offense. Abdul Carter is a budding young star and Dru Phillips is a capable slot corner. This team should not be 2-8 based on talent alone.

On the other, Schoen has a reputation for letting the wrong players leave and targeting ineffective replacements. First-round picks Evan Neal and Deonte Banks have been disasters. Big contracts for Paulson Adebo and Jevon Holland last offseason have been ineffective additions to the league's 29th-ranked defense. The offensive line in front of Dart and Skattebo has been average at best the last three seasons despite the presence of Andrew Thomas and a nice, under-the-radar career resurgence from Jermaine Eluemunor.

Things shouldn't be as dire as they've been for a two-win team -- especially one whose two wins came against two 2024 playoff teams. That led to Daboll's firing, but Schoen has escaped judgment despite the fact the players he can't retain have supercharged contenders elsewhere. Barkley, McKinney, Julian Love and James Bradberry all earned Pro Bowl or All-Pro honors after leaving New York. Ben Bredeson played a significant role reinforcing the interior of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' line to turn an inefficient run game into one of 2024's most dynamic attacks. Those are all players the Giants could have used but didn't keep because they either didn't see the value or couldn't afford to keep them thanks to hefty investments in ineffective players elsewhere.

Players tend to get better after they leave the Giants. Ownership is betting heavily that was an issue with Daboll's usage than Schoen's ability to fit those pieces together. It's a sensible approach, but one that has to be flexible over the last seven games of the season. Interim head coach Mike Kafka has been regarded as a potential up-and-coming coaching hire in recent years. If he can turn things around over the back half of the season -- and after four different 10-plus point comebacks surrendered in 10 weeks, that shouldn't be *too* Sisyphean a task -- then New York will have proof it was coaching and not the players who were the problem.

If the Giants struggle to regain their balance in a lost season, however, it could mean keeping Schoen and leaving him in charge of sweeping up the wreckage creates even more damage. Daboll's late-stage incompetence provided his embattled general manager with plausible deniability. Mara accepted that at face value. If New York continues to struggle and ownership doesn't change its mind, it could mean another lost era for one of the league's most storied franchises.

This article originally appeared on For The Win: Giants keeping Joe Schoen is throwing Brian Daboll too far under the bus

Reporting by Christian D'Andrea, For The Win / For The Win

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