Brian Daboll will lead the New York Giants into the postseason for the first time in the big chair Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings. The lack of playoff experience is something Daboll finds overhyped.
"I think really what you make out of it is the experience is probably overrated, to be honest with you," Daboll said Monday via the New York Post. "It's how you prepare, how you practice and ultimately how you play the game and coach the game on whatever day it is."
Yes, Sunday will mark Daboll's first time leading an NFL team as a head coach, but he's been on plenty of playoff clubs. He won five Super Bowls with the New England Patriots as an assistant. He won a college national championship with Nick Saban at Alabama. And he went to the playoffs each of the past three seasons as the offensive coordinator in Buffalo.
All three coordinators on his staff have Super Bowl rings of their own: defensive coordinator Wink Martindale won with the Baltimore Ravens, offensive coordinator Mike Kafka won with the Chiefs and special teams coordinator Thomas McGaughey won with the Giants in 2007.
"I've been around a lot of different teams that have had varying levels of experience -- some a lot, some a little, some not much," Daboll said. "I think really, what matters is taking advantage of your opportunities when they come and playing a good football game and coaching a good football game. But I really think it's an overrated thing."
The players might lack extensive playoff experience, but heading into Sunday's game, they're not worried about the stage being too big.
"We have multiple coaches that coached in a Super Bowl, that have been part of a Super Bowl, been part of runs," Barkley said. "We're definitely going to need their experience and their coaching ability to help us go where we want to go."
Daboll noted that once the ball is kicked off, how a team responds is more important than prior experience.
"I've been in so many different situations," Daboll said. "The first year that I was part of a Super Bowl, the quarterback didn't have any playoff experience there at New England. Some of the guys did. Some didn't. We had some experience at Buffalo; we lost."
