Dabs’ Digest: Week 16 conversation with Coach Brian Daboll

Q: The Falcons were very conservative on Monday night against the Raiders; Kirk Cousins threw only 17 passes. Did you think they might change quarterbacks?,

Daboll: “You never know. You never know what can happen with teams. That’s up to them. You’ve got to make sure you’re trying to prepare the best you can. But they got the win. They had three blocked kicks, forced three turnovers and won, 15-9.”

Q: It was like watching 1970s football. They ran the ball 37 times, including on 23 of 24 first downs. You don’t know what the opposing team is going to do, but you have a lot of experience. Does your gut tell you with a more mobile quarterback, you need to be prepared for something different?

Daboll: “They’ve been running their offense the entire year. I think you can’t change too much right now, based on what you did all year. Obviously, he (Penix) is younger, he’s more mobile, he’s got a good arm, he’s accurate, and he can throw the ball deep. They have two really good running backs, and they’ll use the play action game.”

Q: Prior to the draft, it was often mentioned that Penix throws very accurate deep passes.

Daboll: “He’s got a good arm and he’s productive down the field. He obviously had a good college football team (at the University of Washington), three really good receivers, and he utilized those guys. Atlanta’s got three really good receivers (Drake London, Darnell Mooney and Ray-Ray McCloud), two good tight ends (Kyle Pitts and Charlie Woermer) and two good running backs (Bijan Robinson and Tyler Allgeier). They’ve got a lot of good skill around him.”

Q: London and Mooney are the only teammates with more than 50 catches, 850 yards and five touchdowns apiece. Mooney is second in the league with 19 catches of 20+ yards.

Daboll: “He’s a good receiver. He’s crafty. He runs excellent routes. He sets up defenders well against man-to-man. He’s got a good feel for zone. He gets open, catches the ball and does it at a high level.”

Daboll: “London is a high pick who has size and catch radius and has really good hands. They’re very, very good at the skill positions on offense. Whether it’s London, whether it’s Mooney, Ray-Ray (McCloud), Pitts, Woerner, Bijan, Allgeier. They’ve got a lot of good weapons.”

Q: Robinson has 100 scrimmage yards in 10 games.

Daboll: “Bijan is a good player. He was a good player coming out (of Texas in 2023). He’s a good player in the league.”

Q: Their run defense is ranked in the top half in the league, but they are last in sacks (23). (Linebacker) Kaden Elliss is having a really good season, (defensive lineman) Grady Jarrett has been the heart and soul of their defense for a long time, and (safety Jessie) Bates (III) has played very well. What do you see from their defense?

Daboll: “I think they’re a good defense. I think they really dominated last week against the Raiders. They do things up front that makes it challenging to run the ball, whether they move or stunt. Good players and they do a good job.”

Q: They got their hands on two punts and an extra point try the other night. You prepare for it every week, but when your next opponent blocks three, it must get your attention.

Daboll: “That’s a game-changer. That’s something that we work on each week. Blocked kicks really change games.”

Q: In a normal week, how often do you meet with the quarterbacks?

Daboll: “I go down and see them every day. Shea (Tierney, the quarterbacks coach) and (assistant quarterbacks coach) Christian (Jones), they’ll do the meetings. I’ll stop in their meetings and just review some things. Plays that they feel comfortable with, plays they don’t like. Give them general thoughts of how I see the game. Get input from those guys. I talk to them every day.”

Q: Malik (Nabers) has 90 catches. He needs two catches to set the Giants’ rookie record and 16 to set the NFL record. Considering he missed two games and has played with four quarterbacks, what can you say about his season?

Daboll: “It’s why we took him where we took him (sixth overall). He’s been very productive. Glad we took him. That’s why he was high on our draft board, and he’s done a heck of a job.”

Q: The Giants are the only team that has had 1,500 snaps by rookies on both offense and defense, second in the league (in rookie snaps to the Rams with 3,631). This late in the season, do you still consider them rookies?

Daboll: “No. They’ve played a lot of football. They’ve done a nice job, these young guys. You hate to see guys like (tight end) Theo (Johnson) missing because he did a really nice job for us. We certainly miss him, and Tracy and Nabers and (inside linebacker) Darius (Muasau) now is playing some more. (Defensive tackle) Elijah Chapman. (Cornerback) Dru Phillips. (Safety Tyler) Nubin (who in on injured reserve).”

Q: When you start a season, you don’t know what you’re going to get from the rookies…

Daboll: “It’s a growing process for those guys and they’re continuing to learn and there’s no substitute for experience. So, the experience plus some of the production we’ve got from these guys should serve us well. They’ve done a nice job and we need them to continue to be productive. They’re good young players to continue to develop, work with and will be a big part of our team.

“You go through the process. You evaluate a guy like Malik. When you take him where we took him, you hope to get production from players that you take that high and you know he certainly was a guy that we thought highly of. He’s come in and done a great job for us. Guys like Tracy and Theo, before he got hurt, on the offensive side. Then Nubin with how much he played and Phillips and some of those undrafted free agent guys. We’ll just continue to develop them.”