The Giants are working hard to make it be known that there’s no issue between coach Brian Daboll and special-teams coordinator Thomas McGauhey.
Via Pat Leonard of the New York Daily News, McGauhey opened a press conference on Tuesday by addressing the glare he received from Daboll after the Giants surrendered a 95-yard punt return touchdown against the Lions in the preseason opener.
“All right, let’s just address the 700-pound gorilla in the room, right?” McGaughey told reporters. “We all know [Daboll] is intense and on game day, that’s just him. It’s not a big deal. It’s happened before. That’s just part of the game. He’s an intense guy, we have no issues. That’s just part of football, it’s an intense game.”
McGaughey then claimed that he and Daboll didn’t even discuss the moment after the game.
“No, it’s football,” McGaughey said. “I mean, it happens. It is what it is. It’s an intense game, it’s not that big of a deal. I promise you if you look at my face sometimes during the course of a game, you are going to see some crazy stuff, too. That’s just what it is. You will see some stares and glares because that’s just the game.”
Here’s the moment in question.
McGauhey’s decision to address the situation in his opening remarks was presumably calculated and strategic. It also was arguably unnecessary, given that Daboll was asked about it after the game — and specifically downplayed it in a way that seemed to be persuasive and conclusive.
“Not an issue,” Daboll told reporters when asked about the moment. "[I’m a] competitive guy. We’re all competitive. We’re in a competitive environment. I hold everybody, not just T-Mac, myself and everybody else to a high standard. Love T-Mac.”
That’s the simplest explanation. McGauhey’s decision to affirmatively address the glare gave it a second life when it didn’t really need to have one. Maybe he wouldn’t have been asked about it at all. If he had been, he could have given the answer that he supplied pre-emptively.
If he hadn’t been asked about it, this story about it — and others like it — would not have been written.
