Difference being, if you lose, it’s a video game.
Daboll, down 20-19 to the Tennessee Titans with 1:06 to go after a Daniel Jones-to-Chris Myarick TD pass, wasn’t playing “Madden,” but he didn’t flinch, holding up two fingers to signal that he was going for two.
Jones connected with Saquon Barkley for the two-point conversion that put the Giants ahead, and the lead withstood a 47-yard field-goal attempt by Titans kicker Randy Bullard that missed as time expired.
It wasn’t a split-second decision for Daboll, who said he consulted with his defense as the Giants were driving.
“I said, ‘Hey … if we score, I’m going for two. You good with that?’ They said, ‘Heck yeah!’”
“We’re going to be aggressive,” Daboll said. “That is what we want to do. That is the mindset I want the players to have. If it didn’t work, I can live with it. I thought that was the right decision.”
The decision resonated with his players, and is the kind of thing that could pay long-term dividends in the locker room.
“He’s a man of his word. He told us he’s going to be aggressive. He told us he’s going to lean on the players to make plays. In that situation, he did exactly that,” said Barkley, who had 164 yards on 18 carries and also caught six passes for 30 yards in the win.
“When you have a coach like that, it’s definitely going to make you go out there and fight for him and execute in those situations,” Barkley said.
“He told us he wasn’t going to coach scared,” said wideout Sterling Shepard, who had a TD catch in the win. “That is exactly what he did. We all knew it. We all knew we were going for it because he told us [Saturday] night.
“He told us, ‘I’m not going to coach scared.’ I believe everything the man says,” Shepard said.
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Chris Graham
