Giants’ Brian Daboll delivers fiery sideline speech before his team rallies from another double-digit deficit to win

One of these days the Giants are going to fall behind by double digits and live to regret it. One of these days, the defense is going to surrender a gut punch of a score in the fourth quarter and the offense is not going to be able to respond with a score of its own.

Brian Daboll, the coach who keeps his emotions in check Monday through Saturday but has no problem showing his fiery persona on the sidelines Sunday, wanted to make sure that this day was not going to be the day that happened.

So when Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson connected with tight end Mark Andrews for a 12-yard touchdown with 12:54 left in the game Sunday afternoon to give Baltimore a 20-10 lead, Daboll had a message that, according to center Jon Feliciano, he delivered in loud and colorful fashion.

“You could probably see (Daboll) on the sidelines red faced and getting us going,” Feliciano said. “He was doing it in that good, old Dabs way. But there was no hesitation from (the offense). We were down 20-10, but we had the ball and it was a great drive led by Daniel (Jones) to cut it to 20-17.”

Feliciano did not share exactly what was said by Daboll, and perhaps he did not know exactly what was said. Sometimes a picture of your head coach ranting and raving is worth a thousand words. The message was urgency and resiliency, two characteristics the 5-1 Giants have had in spades.

This, of course, wasn’t the first time this season the Giants were down by double digits. They trailed 13-0 on opening day in Tennessee and rallied to win, a victory we now know was setting the tone for something special. Overseas in London, the Giants trailed the Green Bay Packers 17-3 and 20-10 and won again, this time by the score of 24-20

So 20-10 with 12:54 was a large hill to climb, but hardly insurmountable to these Giants.

“Yeah, (Daboll) was pretty fired up,” Jones said. “I think we all were. He wanted to see a sense of urgency and understanding the point of the game that we were in. We needed to respond as a group, as an offense, and I think that’s what he was communicating.”

In the huddle, quarterback Daniel Jones, as usual, was icy cool.

“Daniel is a cool, calm and collected guy,” rookie right tackle Evan Neal said. “He’s just going to execute his job. What’s understood ain’t got to be explained. We all knew what the situation was that we were in on offense and we understood we had to go out there and execute.”

Jones, on the most important drive of the game, executed to perfection.

A six-yard completion to tight end Daniel Bellinger on second down was followed by an 18-yard strike to Marcus Johnson on a third-and-four play. After Saquon Barkley was thrown for a two-yard loss, Jones hit rookie Wan’Dale Robinson for a 17-yard gain. On second-and-five, Jones connected with David Sills for eight yards and a first down at the Baltimore 23-yard line.

On third-and-one from the 14, Jones used his legs to pick up three yards and a first down.

Two plays later, Jones connected again with Bellinger for an eight-yard touchdown. The Ravens’ lead was down to three and the pressure had shifted to Jackson and the Baltimore offense. Jones had gone 5-for-5 for 57 yards and a touchdown.

Back on the sideline, the offense was together devising a plan for its next possession when the roar of the sellout crowd distracted them.

“You kind of look up and you see the ball squirting around and you’re hoping one of your guys is going to pick it up and when they do there ain’t no better feeling,” Feliciiano said.

Jackson had mishandled a shotgun snap and he ended up picking up the ball, but after rolling to his right he inexplicably threw the football into heavy traffic. Safety Julian Love came up with the interception and returned it to the Baltimore 17-yard line.

This time, the offense had a lot less work to do. After Darius Slayton drew a pass-interference penalty on Marcus Peters in the end zone, Saquon Barkley soared into the end zone from a yard out for the game-winning score.

The stadium roared again.

Another double-digit deficit had been erased. Another game had been won. It’s surely not the prescribed method for becoming a winning NFL team, but so far it’s working quite nicely for fiery Brian Daboll and his New York Giants.

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Bob Brookover can be reached at rbrookover@njadvancemedia.com.

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