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How will Brian Daboll create his Giants playbook? Start with Daniel Jones' favorite calls

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- It was Jan. 28, a Friday afternoon, when the New York Giants hired Brian Daboll as their head coach. By that evening, he had already spoken to his new starting quarterback, Daniel Jones. He told Jones to start brainstorming some plays that he liked best, dating as far back as high school or college. They would meet soon to discuss.

It was imperative that Daboll get this information. This is how he goes about building a playbook.

It didn't matter that there was a storm on the horizon that would drop a foot or more of snow on part of the area the following day. Daboll made the drive in his blue Ford F-150 pickup truck from Buffalo to New Jersey. Jones was there in the building that Saturday morning for their first face-to-face meeting to present his favorite plays less than 24 hours after Daboll was hired.

"Him asking for my ideas and some of the things that I've liked to run ... was cool," Jones said. "It will be an ongoing process to get a feel for what those things are -- what I like, what he likes. And we'll do it.

"It was a good way for me to get to know him and him to get to know me. I certainly appreciated it."

This wasn't just for show or to make Jones feel included. This is the way Daboll -- a coach who exclusively uses FaceTime instead of phone calls for that personal feel -- worked during his time as offensive coordinator with the Buffalo Bills. It was important to him that his players felt included and invested, on and off the field.

That included allowing them to have a significant influence on the playbook.

"I think the best thing [Daboll] does, it doesn't matter who is playing -- he's going to give them the best chance to win on Sunday," said quarterback Davis Webb, who signed with the Giants on Feb. 7 after spending the previous three seasons with Daboll in Buffalo. "I remember [Bills receiver Cole Beasley] had four or five plays he loved at SMU and the [Dallas] Cowboys. And we put them in three years ago and they have been our best plays, or [among] of our best plays, over the last three years."

Webb estimates Daboll put 80-90% of the plays his players recommended in the playbook. It didn't matter whether it was from quarterback Josh Allen, receiver Stefon Diggs, Webb or even safety Jordan Poyer. Not all of them were called regularly, but they were in there.

Naturally it starts with the quarterback. Allen offered regular input in Buffalo, just as early indications are that Jones will be heavily involved for the Giants.

"That's where it's going to start is some foundational pieces that he feels comfortable with," Daboll said of Jones.

That meeting of the minds the day after Daboll was hired was the beginning of the construction of his Giants offense, which will have many of the elements Allen & Co. used in Buffalo. Only it will now also include a heavy influence from his new skill-position players such as Jones, running back Saquon Barkley and receiver Kenny Golladay.

The quick timing routes outside the numbers and zone reads that Jones had success with early in his career are likely to be staples. So, too, will be a heavy emphasis on the run-pass option and quick screens that Daboll mastered during his year as the offensive coordinator at the University of Alabama in 2017. They were big parts of the Bills' playbook with the fast, 237-pound Allen under center.

"Multiple. Fast-paced. I think it's the new wave of offense," Webb said of what to expect from Daboll's system with the Giants. "A blend of what has always worked in the NFL, when it comes to that system -- especially in the New England tree, in particular when Tom Brady was there ... you are going to see some similar things there. And you're going to see some things that they did in Alabama when Tua [Tagovailoa] and Jalen [Hurts] were playing. You're going to see some things that Josh [Allen] really loved.

"But Josh's favorite 15 plays might not be Daniel's. And then Josh's next 15 plays might be Daniel's. It's going to be based off the quarterback and what they have around them."

It is this kind of approach that has Webb confidently calling Daboll his favorite coach to date. Allen and Daboll were also known to be especially close.

It bodes well for the relationship between Daboll and Jones, which is off to a strong start.