It’s 5 o’clock somewhere…
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We had a few dicey moments there near the end of the Commanders’ search for a new head coach, but generally speaking, since the announcement that Dan Quinn was the guy in Washington, it’s been mostly rainbow and unicorns with respect to reporting about relationships at Ashburn. With the old owner well and truly out of the picture, a new GM, a revamped front office and a Dan Quinn-led coaching staff in place (not to mention a totally re-made roster), everyone is talking about positive vibes out of Commanders HQ.
What’s really interesting is that Dan Quinn may be the only head coach in the NFC East who can enter 2024 secure in the knowledge that he will still be the head coach of his team next year, no matter what happens this season.
Despite having enjoyed much more success recently than the Washington Commanders, the coaches in both Philadelphia and Dallas appear not to have met the expectations of the owners and fans of those two teams. Brian Daboll, despite winning the award as Coach of the Year in 2022, struggled through a tumultuous ‘23 season. He comes into 2024 amidst reports of strife within his own coaching staff and questions about his leadership and temperament.
Consider these reports from other NFC East fans sites:
NBC Sports Philadelphia
In Roob’s Observations: What do Eagles have to do in 2024 to save Nick Sirianni’s job?
What does Nick Sirianni have to do to keep his job beyond 2024? I think it’s pretty clear if the Eagles don’t win a playoff game this year, he’s gone. And he should be. Because if the Eagles lose in the wild-card round or don’t make the playoffs, then you’re looking at a team that reached a Super Bowl in 2022, finished 2023 with a 1-6 record and a blowout playoff loss and then failed to advance in the postseason again in 2024. That’s a trajectory Sirianni wouldn’t be able to survive. If the Eagles don’t win a playoff game this year, that means they lost in the wild-card round for the third time in four years (or earned the No. 1 seed and lost a home game to a wild-card team in the conference semis, which would be even worse). Just getting to the playoffs is no longer enough. Whatever equity Sirianni earned in 2022 is running out. He’s got to prove this team has moved beyond the 2023 collapse and that he still has what it takes to guide a team on a postseason run.
Blogging the Boys
Why Cowboys’ coaching may be the reason the team hasn’t succeeded in the playoffs
Why the Cowboys are likely headed for another 1-and-done playoff season.
[The Cowboys’] 27-4 record is only against non-playoff teams. Here’s what happens if we look at the same Top 10 teams from before, but only at their record against teams that made the playoffs in the season they played them.
Not such a good look for the Cowboys. They regularly beat up on weak teams but have a much harder time prevailing against playoff teams.
[T]he pattern we see against…Top 10 teams in the regular season is repeated in the playoffs, where the Cowboys are 1-3 over the last three years. And all four playoff games were against Top 10 teams (Two losses against the 49ers, a win against Tampa Bay, and a loss to Green Bay).
That puts the Cowboys record against the Top 10 teams in our analysis at 6-12 (.333) over the last three years of postseason and regular season play. You could argue that the roster just isn’t good enough against top teams, but then why would the roster be the best in the league against weaker teams. That doesn’t make a lot of sense.
But what if we look at the issue differently and assume:
No. 1 – The regular season record is largely a result of the front office: Good rosters beat bad rosters more often than not.
No. 2 – The postseason is largely about coaching: The right scheme, strategy, and preparation wins when two good rosters meet.
In the NFL, the talent on your roster will get you to the dance, but you’ll need good coaching to seal the deal.
Do you think Mike McCarthy is the coach who’ll seal that deal?
Big Blue View
Can the Giants put the drama from 2023 behind them?
2024 could depend on how the Giants move on from 2023
More than anything else, the course of 2024 could be determined by how Daboll handles relationships and chemistry behind the scenes.
[T]he story [of the 2023 season] we were presented featured Wink Martindale building a private fiefdom on the defense and attempting to undermine Daboll as head coach. However…even coaches on the offense or special teams were uncomfortable with the situation behind the scenes.
[O]ne coach…said that Daboll’s mid-game outbursts kept the rest of the coaching staff from doing their jobs. [M]ultiple sources [said] that the staff on both sides of the ball grew weary of Daboll’s outbursts and finger-pointing, with one saying that it didn’t feel as though they were all on the same team.
[Y]et another coach (who he notes isn’t on the defensive side of the ball) [is quoted] as saying, “We were all trying to get out of there.”
The Giants have since made a number of changes, including on the coaching staff. There are 11 new coaches this year, including new defensive and special teams coordinators.
January of 2024 feels like about half a lifetime ago, but it was only six months. Daboll, and the Giants, are saying a lot of the right things.
But it’s also (relatively) easy to sail calm seas.
The Giants will face adversity this year, and they can’t allow old hurts, grievances, and grudges to rear their ugly heads when it does.
The season could well hinge on how Daboll maintains his composure and the cohesion in the coaching staff as well as in the locker room.