Brian Daboll getting back into the swing of being a playcaller for the Giants

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Brian Daboll has taken over the play calling on offense for the New York Giants and first indications are the running game is not going into mothballs with Saquon Barkley now playing in Philadelphia with the Eagles.

In beating the Detroit Lions 14-3 on a wet evening on Thursday night at MetLife Stadium, the Giants had 54 plays on offense and 27 were runs. Not only were half the plays on the ground, New York gained 155 yards, an average of 5.7 yards. Both touchdowns were runs by Eric Gray.

When Daboll decided to replace coordinator Mike Kafka as the playcaller after last season, it was hard to know what to expect from the Giants offense this season.

Before taking the Giants job in 2022, Daboll was the offensive coordinator for the Buffalo Bills. He developed Josh Allen into a quarterback who threw for more than 4,000 yards annually and 30-plus touchdown passes.

The Bills ran the ball but the running was overshadowed by the passing game.

In reviewing the preseason opener on Friday, Daboll stressed the importance of running and being a physical team.

Without the run, Daboll said offenses become predictable. He said the goal is to have a variety of schemes in the running game to allow it to attack the perimeter, the edge players or the inside with a variety of plays.

“So, to be able to attack the front or the fronts that you see and keep people guessing, I think is important, just like it is in the pass game,” Daboll said Friday. “How you tie it together from one week to the next, one week it might be this, the next week it might be that, is based on your preparation and the defenses that you see, how they play them.”

Daboll said the goal is to give his players the chance to be aggressive and to keep defensive coordinators and players second-guessing themselves.

In the offseason, the Giants bolstered one of the weakest offenses in the league by drafting speedy LSU receiver Malik Nabers with the sixth pick overall in the draft. They revamped the offensive line by signing veterans Jon Runyan Jr., Jermaine Eluemunor, Greg Van Roten and Aaron Stinnie and replaced Barkley — the 2018 Offensive Rookie of the Year — by grabbing veteran Devin Singletary.

Only Stinnie played on Thursday, but the backups did the job and played hard.

Gray, a fifth-round draft pick in 2023, scored on runs of 48 and 1 yards, averaging 13 yards on four carries. He also caught four passes from Tommy DeVito for 46 yards. Rookie free agent Dante Miller gained 63 yards on 12 carries and fifth-round draft pick Tyrone Tracy had 26 yards on five carries.

The performances made the battle for the No. 2 running back more competitive.

“I thought they were decisive,” Daboll said. “I thought there wasn’t a lot of stutter stepping. I thought they were hitting the hole with good vision. They ran in space. Gray had a nice catch there from Tommy. It wasn’t perfect, but most of the time they were going forward. They ran hard. They got their pads down. They did a nice job for the first game.”

The Giants didn’t use their regulars so expect them to play next weekend in Houston against the Texans.

Daboll had no injury update on backup quarterback Drew Lock. He left late in the first quarter with a rib injury.