Daniel Jones shines as New York Giants drop ‘Battle for Metlife’
The New York Giants lost the ‘Battle for Metlife’ on Sunday, but it was hard to come away not being thrilled with rookie quarterback Daniel Jones.
New York Giants fans are tough to impress these days, just ask 2019 sixth-overall pick Daniel Jones. Shortly after throwing for four touchdowns and zero interceptions – in what was his second such game of the season, and third game with four total touchdowns and zero picks in eight games overall – fans are still somehow questioning if he has the tools to be a franchise quarterback.
This coming on a day when he was forced to deal with missing three of his starting offensive lineman, in what already is one of the handful of worst units in the entire league. I don’t think anyone is disputing the fact that it’s not a positive sign that ‘Danny Dimes’ has put the ball on the turf as much as he has, but when weighing out all the positives things he’s done against something that isn’t even always in his control, the positives win ten-fold.
A quarterback cannot feel pressure that’s coming from his blindside in under two seconds, as edge rushers have enjoyed coming free off the line of scrimmage free on an alarming rate against Big Blue all season. I’m not sure anyone (especially offensive line coach Hal Hunter) can begin to explain where all the communication issues come from, as they don’t seem to have be consistent in terms of who is making them and when.
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In spite of having his running backs combined for three total rushing yards, and being sacked six times (and hit ten times in total), Jones was able to earn a dazzling 121.7 quarterback rating in the 34-27 loss. We saw a glimpse of what the rookie can do when he gets a truly clean pocket, as the signal-caller looked Tom Brady-esque on his first touchdown of the day, as he scanned through multiple progressions and calmly sat in the pocket to deliver a strike to fellow rookie Darius Slayton to get Big Blue on the board.
While there is no hiding the fact that Jones had another three fumbles today (of which he only lost one), when you really look at how they occurred, it’s hard to put most of the blame on him. Early on in the game, tight end Rhett Ellison missed a clear blocking assignment when he slid over to block an already engaged defender to allow Jamal Adams to come in flying and tee off his quarterback. Saquon Barkley continued to struggle as a pass-blocker, also allowing Adams to barrel over him and steal the ball away from Jones in embarrassing fashion.
Both of these times, Adams came in hot and in under two seconds, out of the direct view of Jones. Surely you’d like your quarterback to be able to hang onto the ball, particularly on the one that went for a touchdown, but they were far from plays that could be realistically diagnosed as not having pocket awareness. The last of the three came on one that was all on the rookie, as he botched a clean snap, only to pick up and toss it harmlessly out of bounds.
Now, let’s weigh those three negative plays against the 308 yards passing (without Evan Engram and Sterling Shepard, and three starting offensive lineman), four touchdowns, and his daring 11-yard third-down rushing conversion in which he eluded several tackles and ran over a defender en route to picking up a crucial first down. The same fans that killed Eli Manning for being the ‘king of checkdowns’ late in his career, cannot see how this young quarterback is actively trying to make winning plays for his football team, even though he knows he’s going to be on the receiving end of punishment.
Daniel Jones heads into the bye week with a 63% completion percentage, over 1900 passing yards, 15 touchdowns and eight interceptions, to go along with 200 rushing yards and another two touchdowns on the ground. He’s got thirteen fumbles, which is an absolutely insane amount, but again, when you take into account the circumstances he’s playing under, it’s hard for me to understand how anyone watching could be anything but thrilled with not only how he’s looked, but his potential as a future star quarterback.
Other positives
2018 undrafted offensive lineman Nick Gates made his first career start at right tackle and hung tough all game long. I’ve been a big proponent for getting Gates in the mix, and he proved me right today as he was able to consistently stay in front of his man with effective leverage and hand technique. It was weird, but I didn’t seem to notice his slow 40 time effecting things out there (eyeroll), and the combo lineman was even able to get to the third level and trip up a safety to spring Golden Tate on his long touchdown catch and run.
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Leonard Williams displayed why Giants GM Dave Gettleman believed he is worth parting with meaningful draft capital for as an impending free agent, as ‘Big Cat’ tallied four quarterback hits on the day. The fifth-year pro consistently collapsed the pocket and stayed strong in his lanes, and it will be interesting to see if he can build off of this performance moving forward.
Jabrill Peppers continues to get better every week, as he is now playing with a seemingly different level of confidence. I expect him to become to emotional leader of this team in the second half of the season – and into the future – as Alec Ogletree begins to be phased out in that regard.
Darius Slayton had another monster day, hauling in ten receptions for 121 yards and two touchdowns, giving the fifth-round pick might just be becoming the single biggest hit on Dave Gettleman’s impressive late-round draft record.
The New York Giants have a lot of players they need to figure out are worth keeping around for the future as they limp into the bye week at 2-8, Daniel Jones isn’t one of them.