NY Giants Daniel Jones trying to change the narrative

Daniel Jones has had his ups and downs in year 2 but the NY Giants hope he is the guy going forward.

The numbers aren’t very impressive, 2122 yards, 8 touchdowns and 9 interceptions but look past that for a minute when evaluating NY Giants quarterback  Daniel Jones.

The NY Giants were scrutinized for taking Jones No. 6 overall in the 2019 NFL Draft, and when he struggled early the criticism continued. After the last two weeks, though,  the Jones critics have been a little quieter.

The NY Giants have to be happy with what they have seen from Jones over the past two weeks passing the football. For the season he has been a dynamic runner as he has 384 yards on 49 carries and a touchdown. That’s 7.8 yards per touch which is one of the better marks in all of football.

In the Giants win against the Eagles Jones had the 34 yard touchdown run and another touchdown run called back to penalty while having 9 attempts for 64 yards. The most impressive part of Jones performance was his passing as he went 21 for 28 for 244 yards with no turnovers. Jones connected on three deep balls hitting three different receivers.

Sometimes it takes time for a young quarterback to get things going and that could be the case for Daniel Jones. The NY Giants have stayed the course with Jones and that probably has helped him. The Washington Football team bailed on Dwayne Haskins immediately. The GMen did the opposite and it has payed off.

For the NY Giants and Jones they haven’t always had the full product of talent on the field. The Giants lost Saquon Barkley for the season in week 2. Jones has only played with the full group of Barkley, Sterling Shepard, Darius Slayton, Evan Engram and Golden Tate together for essentially one game. However despite Barkley being gone Jones is getting to play with that group more consistently and the reemergence of Wayne Gallman has helped. Improvements to the offensive line have also helped.

Eli Manning struggled at times in the beginning of his NY Giants career. He had games where he looked lost and he had games where looked incredible. A lot of people where undecided on how Manning’s career would play out especially after a 4 interception day against the Vikings early in his career. This isn’t about Eli though it’s about a trend that shows young quarterbacks often struggle. Jones might finish the season with some ugly numbers but the NY Giants will be most interest in his progress. Plenty of franchises could have similar questions about their quarterbacks.

The biggest knock on Jones has been the turnovers and over the last two weeks he has had zero. He still is playing aggressive but has cut his biggest issue out for at least the last two weeks. The NY Giants are in the mix in the NFC East thanks to back to back wins. As the Giants battle for a playoff spot the biggest thing the fans, media and staff will look at is how Daniel Jones continues to progress and improve. The ability is their for Jones.

The jury might still be out on Jones but he has at least quieted the critics for now. The Giants continue to climb in the draft which means Trevor Lawrence and Justin Fields likely won’t be options. Daniel Jones still has to prove to ownership and head coach Joe Judge that he is the guy but there’s a lot to like both on and off the field with Jones. He has a chance to be the franchises next franchise quarterback.