The NFL preseason will start on Thursday, August 11, when the New York Giants will play against the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough. Head coach Brian Daboll has said he will field all Giants players for the opener.
The Patriots triumphed over the Giants with a 22-20 score in their last meeting. At that time, the Giants were led by former coach Joe Judge, who was fired on January 11.
Brian Daboll says he expects all his healthy guys to play in preseason opener vs Patriots on Thursday. Thinks it’s “important to play football,” have guys get live reps. Notes it’s his first year and players are learning new system. #giants #patriots
— Jordan Raanan (@JordanRaanan) August 7, 2022
Daboll said Sunday that he had told his team about his plan, adding he wanted to give everyone a chance to play. He also said he wanted to implement a new offensive and defensive strategy.
“I expect all of our guys to play on Thursday,” he said “Everybody is in new offensive and defensive systems here.
Daboll, the 22nd head coach in Giants history, said he would make a different approach this season. He said he wanted to include everyone in his plan, unlike Judge, who excluded some players last preseason.
“I think it’s important to play football: to have live reps. How many reps it will be, I can’t tell you right now. I think it will be less for some and more for others, and every game will have a plan that goes into it.” Daboll said.
The 2020 NFL preseason games were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Judge had to exclude some players, including RB Saquon Barkley, quarterback Daniel Jones, and receivers Kenny Golladay and Kadarius Toney. Barkley and Jones had played only one preseason. Golladay and Toney, meanwhile, were missing due to injuries.
Before Daboll took charge to lead the team, the Giants recorded a 0-2 start from the 2016 season to 2021 under three different head coaches. This season, the Giants will have three preseason games without twice-a-day practice sessions. Daboll said that the schedule would make players improve on how to play under pressure, adding he would need to analyze the play quickly.
“There’s more sports science. There’s more analysis involved,” Daboll said.
“I’d say I learned a lot from my time in Buffalo [Bills], where they’ve gotten off to a historic start. Very healthy roster. I think coach [Sean] McDermott does a great job of getting them ready to go early, and at the end of the day, it’s about the players … performing under pressure and making plays when they need to.”
Giants’ training results
During their latest training camp, Daboll said Friday that all his players needed more conditioning. In the next training on Sunday, Daboll gave them just that. Last year when Judge led the preseason training, he was criticized for prescribing a sprint drill as a punishment.
“The intensity, the effort, the energy has been good,” Daboll said. “We just want to increase it a little bit in terms of reps or extra conditioning.”
Center Jon Feliciano said he was optimistic about his team’s performance this season.
“I think we can get better,” Feliciano said.
Safety Xavier McKinney will wear the helmet with the communication line for coaches for the first defense in the game against the Patriots. LB Darrian Beavers will do for the second-teamers and safety Yusuf Corker for the third.
Daboll reportedly will start with Jones, Barkley, Golladay, Toney, and Feliciano for the offensive lineup.