The New York Giants fired head coach Brian Daboll on Monday, much to the long-awaited delight of the majority of the fan base. The move, however, was not unanimously approved, as ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky views it as a miscalculation.
The Giants fired Daboll after falling to 2-8 and blowing their fourth double-digit lead of the season. Orlovsky recognized that change needed to happen, but he feels that Daboll should have stuck around for rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart's sake.
“I'm on the belief this is a mistake by the New York Giants,” Orlovsky said on ESPN. “It was clear that the quarterback and head coach had something going together. The fourth-quarter leads are obviously something that you're sitting there and killing yourself over. This team lost its best player, and then they lost probably their second or third-best, certainly offensive weapon, in Skattebo. The fact that they had built these leads should warrant something.”
"This is a mistake by the New York Giants."
Dan Orlovsky believes former HC Brian Daboll and Jaxson Dart "had something going together." pic.twitter.com/OPOm5typEr
— ESPN (@espn) November 10, 2025
The Giants have now lost to the Dallas Cowboys, New Orleans Saints, Denver Broncos and Chicago Bears after leading by 10 or more at some point in the game. The Broncos loss raised the most red flags, as they allowed an 18-point lead to slip through their fingers in the final five minutes of the game.
Dan Orlovsky blames Giants D amid Brian Daboll firing
The blown leads have stained the Giants' record and overshadowed Dart's success. Since the rookie took over as the team's starting quarterback, New York is averaging 23.6 points per game, the sixth-most in the league during that period.
Instead of firing Daboll, Orlovsky called out the Giants' disappointing defense. He not-so-subtly hinted that the team should have instead cut ties with defensive coordinator Shane Bowen, who has not made the most of New York's talented defensive roster.
“The reality is, this defense that's got a gajillion dollars or early draft picks had 10-point fourth-quarter leads four different times this year, and they couldn't find ways to secure the lead, either,” Orlovsky said. “As much as we want to sit here and say Daboll didn't get it done, a lot of the high-prized defensive talent didn't get it done as well. I think that Brian Daboll and Jaxson Dart should have stayed together for at least another year.”
Bowen has been called out by Giants fans on social media more than Daboll over the last year. New York entered the season expecting to be a top-10 defense after adding Jevon Holland, Paulson Adebo and Abdul Carter, but it has instead been a bottom-five unit.
Since firing Daboll, the Giants announced that offensive coordinator Mike Kafka would end the year as interim head coach. They also confirmed that no further staff changes will be made for the time being.
