Giants before conceding the starting spot back to Smith. However, with Smith's effectiveness in question coming back from injury, coach Mike Nolan announced on November 14, 2007, that Dilfer would be the starting quarterback. Dilfer would go on to start in games against the Rams, in victory over the Cardinals in overtime, and against the Panthers. On December 9 in a home game against the Vikings, Dilfer suffered a head injury resulting in a concussion while diving for a 1st down on 4th and 2 that took him out of the game and subsequently the season. He was succeeded by third string backup Shaun Hill. Retirement Dilfer officially announced his retirement on July 9, 2008. Although he had suffered an Achilles tendon injury playing basketball earlier in the off-season with his wife, Dilfer stated that he was planning to retire anyway. In 2009, Dilfer was inducted into the Fresno County Athletic Hall of Fame. NFL career statistics Regular season Broadcasting Dilfer joined the NFL Network as a guest analyst in 2006. On September 15, 2007, he appeared on the NFL Network's pregame show. He was the NFL Network's color analyst for the 2008 Senior Bowl as well as a studio analyst during the 2008 NFL playoffs. On July 14, 2008 Dilfer signed on as an NFL analyst for ESPN. In 2010 it was announced that he would join Brad Nessler to call the second game of the network's Monday Night Football doubleheader on September 13 of that year. Dilfer also coined the phrase "turned a stinky sandwich into an ice cream cone," which means that a player has turned a potentially negative play into a positive one. During his tenure with ESPN Dilfer presented a segment called "Dilfer's Dimes", which featured highlight passes. ESPN dismissed Dilfer in a cost-cutting move in April 2017, replacing him with Rex Ryan. Dilfer is currently a football analyst for Fox Sports 1, appearing regularly on The Herd with Colin Cowherd. Coaching career In 2019, Dilfer became head football coach at Lipscomb Academy in Nashville, Tennessee. In his first year, the team went 5–5 and got knocked out in the semifinals. The next season in 2020, Dilfer went 8–2 and led the Lipscomb Academy Mustangs to the 2020 Division II Class AA State Championship game against CPA (Christ Presbyterian Academy). They played the championship game on December 3, 2020, in Cookeville, TN, at Tennessee Tech