Daniel Jones can’t put to rest that he has a serious issue with giving the ball up to the defense. It’s costing the NY Giants wins week after week, and his performance must improve.
If Daniel Jones doesn’t figure out his own turnover issues, he may not be the NY Giants’ starting quarterback much longer.
The turnover issues surrounding Jones hasn’t been corrected at all through 20 career games. It’s getting increasingly worrisome seeing Jones make the same bad mistakes over and over again.
Last night’s performance against Tampa Bay was one of Jones’ worst outings in two years. The team had a great opportunity to put on a shocking upset of a double-digit favorite and instead lost in disappointing fashion.
Jones and his two second half interceptions made all the difference in this game. He started the second half off with a terrible decision to hold onto the ball far too long and get picked on the game’s first drive of the third quarter. Jones’ second interception came in the 4th quarter and led right to Mike Evans’ game-winning touchdown catch.
Daniel Jones let up two turnovers directly leading to 10 points. It’s not fair to the team, the defense, and especially the offense when #8 goes out and coughs the ball up again and again.
There was much to digest about Jones from Monday Night Football, take a look here.
Daniel Jones’ Best Throw of the Day
Situation: 2nd & 10 from the Bucs’ 19-yard line, with the Bucs up 25-17, with 0:33 remaining in the 4th quarter.
When it mattered most, Jones came alive on the game’s last drive. He picked up a massive 4th & 16 along with another dramatic 4th and 5, he ran for 15 yards and the first down on 2nd & 15, and then made the biggest play for the Giants all night.
Daniel Jones hit Golden Tate for the potential game-tying touchdown to send the game to overtime. It was a perfect, beautifully thrown 19-yard pass over the top of the safety guarding Tate and right into Tate’s hands. Jones showed excellent ball placement putting it in a place where only his receiver could make a play.
This drive showed the maddening half-empty half-full glass that is Daniel Jones and the Giants’ offense. The team scored on its last drive when they needed to most and Jones led them down the entire field.
With improved results, hopefully this drive and this pass will be a sign of things to come for better late game execution from Jones and the NY Giants.
Daniel Jones’ Worst Throw of the Day
Situation: 2nd & 5 from the Bucs’ 34-yard line, with the NY Giants up 17-15, with 12:13 remaining in the 4th quarter.
To start the 4th quarter, it seemed that the NY Giants were more than capable of pulling off a double-digit upset of Tom Brady & Co.
Jones had the offense at the TB 34, with a field goal being the minimum the Giants should have picked up on the drive.
Instead, disaster struck and Daniel Jones threw a maddening interception.
Jones’ second interception of the night was the game’s fatal error. The team was put in a position to finish the drive and score, but instead gave the ball up and had nothing to show for a promising drive.
The 2nd & 5 started with a clean, big pocket for Jones but no receiver was open. Daniel then started to move slightly to his right in the pocket as Cam Fleming was no longer able to stay latched onto Shaq Barrett.
Barrett then thrusted all his strength and might onto Jones and never let go of his jersey. Jones may have thought he escaped from Barrett’s pursuit and tried throwing it the instant his throwing arm was free from Barrett’s grasp. Jones’ entire lower body was being held onto by Barrett and he was unsurprisingly unable to get his throw to his expected target, Golden Tate.
Instead, Barrett’s disruption caused Jones’ throw to go short of Tate and right into Tampa safety Sean Murphy-Buntings’ diving hands for the interception.
This play was a microcosm of Jones’ entire 20-game body of work. Daniel could have simply thrown the ball away, taken a sack, or learn to get the ball out quicker than when the NFL’s reigning sack leader is draped all over your arm and body. It is concerncing to see Jones make this same mistake over and over.
This turnover felt very similarly to Jones’ awful Week 1 interception where he threw it too late into the endzone and ended up being hit as he threw, leading to a nightmare interception.
Until he fixes his pocket awareeness, his ability to sense presure, throw the ball away, or not give up inexcuasble turnvoers, Daniel Jones won’t be able to take the next step as a franchise quarterback.
Daniel Jones Final Week 8 Grade: D+
The Giants did everything asked of them to put up a great fight and solid effort against this very talented Bucs team. The team led for a majority of the game but it felt too close for comfort as the thought of Tom Brady getting the last laugh over Daniel Jones seemed inevitable.
Brady and his offense were too much for Jones and his NY Giants’ offense. There’s no hiding the fact that Jones’ quarterbacking last night cost the Giants a premier win they desperately needed and have been in search of for years.
Again, Jones threw two interceptions leading right to 10 points for the Bucs in thee second half. You can’t win football games when turnovers are expected with your quarterback and the team’s offense every single week.
When the game mattered most, Jones couldn’t make the play. He had just hit Tate on a perfect lob pass over the defense. It wasn’t enough as Big Blue still needed a two-point conversion to tie the game and send it to overtime.
Antoine Winfield Jr. fought through traffic at the goal line to track down a motioning Dion Lewis across the formation and break up the Giants two-point conversion attempt.
— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) November 3, 2020
Winfield was 6.7 yards away from Lewis when Daniel Jones hit the top of his drop.#TBvsNYG | #GoBucs pic.twitter.com/yEoBSzSYj2
Jones had Dion Lewis open with 6.7 yards of speartion between Lewis and the closest defender at the top of his route (NFL Next Gen Stats). 6.7 yards is plenty more than enough space to get in a comfortable throw to Lewis far before Antoine Winfield Jr. had a chance to make a play on the ball. Although the flag was thrown and picked up after a highly-questionable no call, the PI in question wouldn’t have been an issue had Jones made the throw a split-second earlier.
These split seconds made the difference between a loss and a chance to win the game in OT. It was another example of #8 not being able to get the job done when the team needed him most.
Jason Garrett put together a balanced and aggressive gameplan for Jones and the offense. The team had some success with the run game and Jones had some solid pockets to throw from all night. It was the first time all year the offense extensively looked past 10+ yards to throw donwfield.
The results were very disappointing as Jones ended 3-10 on throws 10+ yards downfield, and he missed several key big play (or touchdown) opportuntieis to Darius Slayton and Sterling Shepard.
When the team proves they can win and that they can solve the same issues and mistakes from occurring over and over again, the doubters and questions will minimze. Until proven otherwise, several questions will continue to hang over this NY Giants team and Daniel Jones.