Giants’ Brian Daboll named PFWA Coach of the Year

The honors are beginning to roll in for New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll. On Thursday, Daboll was announced as the NFL Coach of the Year by the Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA).

In his first season as a head coach, the 47-year-old Daboll led the Giants to a 9-7-1 record and then to a playoff victory over the Minnesota Vikings in the Wild-Card round. The Giants had not won a playoff game since their 2011 Super Bowl title.

Daboll was also recently named coach of the year by 101 Awards and is one of three finalists for AP Coach of the Year, the league’s official honor.

Daboll is the fifth coach in Giants history to lead the team to the playoffs in his first season, joining Allie Sherman (1961), Dan Reeves (1993), Jim Fassel (1997) and Ben McAdoo (2016). Rookie coach Earl Potteiger led the Giants to the 1927 NFL championship in the era before playoffs.

Daboll was one of three first-year head coaches to lead his team to the postseason in 2022, joining Minnesota’s Kevin O’Connell and Miami’s Mike McDaniel. Daboll was the only one of the three to advance to the divisional round, and he did so with a Giants victory against O’Connell’s Vikings.

Daboll was the first Giants coach to win his postseason debut since Reeves in 1993. He joined Jim Lee Howell, Ray Perkins, Bill Parcells and Reeves as Giants coaches who were victorious in their first playoff games.

Daboll is the fourth Giants coach to be honored as the PFWA Coach of the Year, joining Bill Parcells (1986-NFC), Reeves (1993) and Fassel (1997). As the offensive coordinator of the Buffalo Bills in 2020, Daboll received the PFWA Assistant Coach of the Year award. He is the sixth person to earn both the Coach of the Year and Assistant Coach of the Year awards from the PFWA, joining Bruce Arians, Dom Capers, Jason Garrett, Marvin Lewis and Ron Rivera.

PFWA honors

2022 COACH OF THE YEAR: Brian Daboll, New York Giants
2022 EXECUTIVE OF THE YEAR: Howie Roseman, Philadelphia Eagles
2022 ASSISTANT COACH OF THE YEAR: DeMeco Ryans, San Francisco 49ers

[NOTE: Ed Valentine is a PFWA member].