Giants' Mara warns Daboll: Don't go 'from Bono to Bozo'

New York Giants owner John Mara knows how quickly things can change in the NFL, and he offered some advice to head coach Brian Daboll, who overachieved in his first season as the team's head coach last year.

"We kid him," Mara said, according to ESPN. "I mean, right now he's Bono walking around New York City. But I've told him, I've said: 'In this business, it doesn't take long to go from Bono to Bozo. So don't get your head too big right now.' But he has been great."

Daboll, the Buffalo Bills' offensive coordinator from 2018-21, is the reigning Coach of the Year.

He joined a Giants team that won four games in 2021 and helped New York finish the 2022 campaign with a 9-7-1 record, good for the No. 6 seed in the NFC. In their first playoff appearance since the 2016 season, the Giants beat the Minnesota Vikings on the road before suffering a divisional-round loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.

"He likes to go to Rangers games at the Garden, and they put his picture up there, and he gets these standing ovations week after week," Mara added. "So it's a pretty cool thing to see."

New York hasn't recorded back-to-back winning seasons since 2011-12.

The Giants gave quarterback Daniel Jones a four-year extension and placed the franchise tag on running back Saquon Barkley this offseason. The club also bolstered its roster by adding tight end Darren Waller, wide receiver Parris Campbell, and linebacker Bobby Okereke, among others.