Starting this week, Daniel Jones has eight games to prove he’s should be the quarterback of the NY Giants in 2021.
When Daniel Jones was drafted by the NY Giants No. 6 overall, he became one of the most polarizing selections in recent memory. Halfway into his sophomore season, the questions of whether he’s the future quarterback of the Giants haven’t gone away.
With a loaded quarterback class coming in next year’s draft, Jones will need to start proving his supporters right, and his doubters wrong.
Jones is in jeopardy of going out the way of recent quarterback busts, like Dwayne Haskins, Josh Rosen, and Paxton Lynch.
After a rookie season where he impressed many, the giants’ signal caller has continued to be plagued by the same issue that his detractors have been vocal about – his turnovers.
While last season it was his inability to hold on to the football that doomed his team on multiple occasions, this season it’s his interceptions that are holding the team back. Through the first eight games of the season, Jones has more interceptions (nine), than touchdowns (seven).
It’s not just the fact that he’s throwing interceptions, it’s the way he’s throwing them.
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In the National Football League, it’s not always a bad thing to quit on a play – fans watched Eli Manning become a master at it in the twilight of his career. Jones has no quit, which has led to a bevy of turnovers that have cost his team momentum, and in some cases, victories.
Giants offensive coordinator, Jason Garrett, says Jones’ competitiveness is his biggest strength, as well as his biggest flaw. Every quarterback in the league operates with an extremely high level of competitiveness, but you don’t see those quarterbacks make the same mistakes Jones makes.
If you look back at the interceptions Jones has thrown, you’ll see just how much they’ve hurt the Giants. One of the biggest factors is the timing of these interceptions. No, it’s never a good time to throw a pick, but Jones really knows the absolute worst times to do so.
Week one against the now undefeated Pittsburgh Steelers, the Giants were locked in a competitive battle, down six on Monday Night Football. Late in the third quarter, in the midst of an eighteen play drive, Jones threw a pick at the Pittsburgh four yard-line. The Giants offense was unable to recover their momentum until it was too little too late, and the Steelers put the game away.
After starting off the season with disappointment, Jones would go on to throw ugly interceptions that caused huge momentum swings in games against the Chicago Bears, the San Francisco 49ers, and one to end the game against the Los Angeles Rams. All losses.
This past week, Jones had two of his worst turnovers of the entire season. The two head scratching interceptions he threw against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers cost the Giants a chance to shock the world in primetime, something that Joe Judge’s squad surely earned.
Aside from cleaning up the turnovers, there’s one way that Jones can save his job and secure his future, for at least another season, as the New York Giants quarterback. Lucky for him, it goes hand in hand with him not turning the ball over – winning.
Jones, who currently holds a record of four wins and a whopping sixteen losses, needs to start winning games to save his job. He’s had his chances, with attempts at game winning drives against the Bears, Rams, Cowboys, Eagles and Buccaneers, but so far he’s squandered them.
Eli Manning didn’t always have the best stats, but he inspired confidence in fans and struck fear in opponents when he had the ball in the last two minutes with a chance to win. Aside from his first career start, Jones hasn’t proven he has that same clutch gene in him.
The Giants have a lot of winnable games coming up, starting this week against Jones’ favorite opponent, the Washington Football Team. He’s currently undefeated against them, but only has one win against all other teams in the league.
Match-ups with the Philadelphia Eagles, Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns and Dallas Cowboys loom large as opportunities for Jones to win his way into keeping his job. The Giants proved they can hang with some heavy hitters too, playing the Buccaneers and Rams tough as well.
The National Football League is a ‘what have you done for me lately’ league, and a lot of players don’t get the amount of games that Daniel Jones is getting to prove their worth. I’m sure that a player like Josh Rosen would’ve loved a chance to work with Kliff Kingsbury and win some games in Arizona. Instead of squandering a once in a lifetime opportunity, Jones needs to excel over the second half of the season.
Eight games to erase the hate. Eight games to save his job. Eight games to prove his worth.
The time is now, Daniel Jones.