The New York Giants came up a two-point conversion and missed field goal short against the Los Angeles Rams in Week 17, falling 26-25.
There were a few questionable decisions that were made by the coaching staff in the final minutes of the loss, which led to an unexpected admission by head coach Brian Daboll after the game.
The typically buttoned-up Daboll responded candidly — “Yeah, I’d like to have it back” — after SNY reporter Connor Hughes asked him to explain the decision to run the ball with Saquon Barkley after spiking it and stopping the clock on the LAR 34-yard line at 42 seconds remaining.
After Hughes followed up by wondering if that was a check, or if the play was called by the coaching staff, Daboll simply reiterated that “I’d just like to have the play back.” He also noted that the Giants were “right at the edge” of Mason Crosby’s field goal range around the LAR 34-yard line.
Barkley ended up losing two yards on the carry, followed by an incomplete pass. On fourth down, Crosby missed the field goal attempt from 54 yards away, coming up short.
Asked #Giants HC Brian Daboll could have jumped in and vetoed the Saquon Barkley run, called something else.
Repeated: “I’d like to have it back.”
— Connor Hughes (@Connor_J_Hughes) December 31, 2023
“I really have no idea what the Giants were doing on those final plays,” Hughes voiced on X after the miss. “Makes no sense. They were setting up for the long FG after the Barkley run? Why not keep pushing?” The defeat drops Big Blue to 5-11 on the year.
Giants Kicker Mason Crosby Says After Game That His Range Was 55 Yards
To his credit, Crosby made no excuses after the game-clinching miss. “I thought I hit it pretty good,” the veteran kicker told reporters at his locker, confirming that anything 55 yards or less was within his range based on the weather.
Mason Crosby said the wind was blowing across pretty good today. 55 yards was in his range, he felt.
“I thought I hit it pretty good” but the wind seemed to take it. #Giants pic.twitter.com/6JL7wyJlnt
— Connor Hughes (@Connor_J_Hughes) December 31, 2023
In the end, the powerful East Rutherford winds had other plans. Of course, the tough Week 17 loss is nothing new for the G-Men in 2023, so it’s fitting that the franchise closes out the calendar year with more of the same.
During the postgame show, ex-NYG offensive lineman Shaun O’Hara blamed “self-inflicted wounds” and “missed opportunities” as the major culprit once again. “That’s just kind of been the way the season has gone,” O’Hara concluded.
Fellow ex-Giant Amani Toomer agreed, stating that the game “was lost by the Giants and not really won by the Rams.”
Giants’ Brian Daboll Brushes Off Question on Veteran Mistakes
There was another interesting response from Daboll during his postgame presser. Here was the exact exchange between the media member and the head coach.
Reporter: “What’d you think overall [about] the play of your veterans? Saquon dropped a pass, Tyrod [Taylor] missed a couple of passes, Adoree’ [Jackson] on the tackle. What do you think overall [about] the way some of your vets played today?”
Daboll: “I thought everybody competed, we just came up a little short.”
Considering the overt directness of the question, the reply wasn’t much of an answer. Nobody really expects Daboll to rip a player for a mistake, but to ignore them completely sends a different sort of message.
Accountability has been a problem in 2023, and although the Giants did compete with a potential playoff team, they came up small when it counted most. Critical errors lose games, and when mistakes continue to occur over the course of a season, focus tends to shift to the coaching staff.
Brian Daboll will likely be back in 2023, but the coordinator and assistant jobs are less clear. Special teams coordinator Thomas McGaughey has been under the microscope all year, while OC Mike Kafka has had his troubles and DC Wink Martindale’s future is still up in the air — among others.
