Giants Country

Breaking Down the Ups-and-Downs of Giants QB Daniel Jones's Preseason Debut

We take a look back at Giants QB Daniel Jones's first live-game action since tearing his ACL in Week 9 last season.

Brandon Olsen

Aug 17, 2024; Houston, Texas, USA; New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones (8) attempts a pass during the second quarter against the Houston Texans at NRG Stadium.
Aug 17, 2024; Houston, Texas, USA; New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones (8) attempts a pass during the second quarter against the Houston Texans at NRG Stadium. / Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
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The New York Giants are once again heading into the NFL season in search of the all-important answer to the question of whether Daniel Jones, their starting quarterback, is good enough to take the franchise to where it wants to be. 

In the 2022 season, Brian Daboll’s first season as head coach, Jones played passable football. Thanks to the emphasis on getting the ball out of his hand quickly, turnovers were lower than they’d been throughout his career. 

He also showed he was one of the most effective scramblers in the NFL and played well enough to lead the Giants to the playoffs for the first time since 2016 and to win a postseason game for the first time since 2011.

Cut to last season, Jones regressed to his pre-Daboll days as a passer and runner before injuries derailed his season. While it’s true that his offensive line wasn’t very good and that injuries around him were a factor, what we saw on several occasions is something we’ve seen all too often in his now six years in the NFL: post-snap indecisiveness.

That has continued this summer. We have been on the ground for the training camp practices, and with few exceptions, Jones has continued to be inconsistent.

Accuracy issues aside, which one can attribute to the rust of being sidelined from team drills for nine months, the bigger issue has been the decision-making regarding where to go with the ball. 

This issue continued in Jones’s 2024 preseason debut this weekend against the Houston Texans. We can forgive what happened in the first play from scrimmage, when Jones dropped back and threw a curl to Malik Nabers on the boundary side, which was almost intercepted by cornerback Derek Stingley, Jr. 

Nabers tried to make a one-handed catch on this play, which didn’t work out. And yes, you can probably argue that everyone watching knew Jones was going to try to connect with the rookie–why wouldn’t he? 

The throw to Nabers, while incomplete, was the kind of incompletion that nobody should have an issue with. It was a ball put high enough where only Nabers could make a play, butit just didn’t work that time.

The second drive of the game saw the Giants backed up at their 6-yard line, something we’ve seen them practice multiple times.

The first play was a short run, but on the second down, things got ugly. Jones ran a play fake, dropped back, and went through his read. Pressure started closing in–tight end Chris Manhertz appeared to miss a block against Derek Barnett–and Jones pumped to Theo Johnson.

With the Texans now knowing where Jones would go with the ball, safety Jalen Pitre closed in on Johnson, who sure enough became the intended target. Pitre returned the duck for a touchdown.

These are the kinds of plays that Jones has too often, even after five-plus years in the league. Jones had a 2.9% throwaway percentage before getting injured in 2023, a stark drop from his 4.6% in 2022, when he had the best season of his career protecting the football.

A sixth-year quarterback counting for $47.855 million against the cap this season shouldn’t be making these mistakes. The lofting pass that gets housed is a rookie move. 

Throwing the ball on the ground in Johnson’s vicinity would have avoided an intentional grounding and been uncatchable, allowing you to live to fight another down.

Instead, Jones, as he’s been known to do, tried to force something that wasn’t there, and it came back to bite him.

“Things like that are going to happen,” head coach Brian Daboll told reporters on Sunday after the team had returned home from Houston. “We'll work on it. We'll learn from it. We'll grow from it. We'll be better the next time.”

We sure would like to believe that, but history isn’t exactly reassuring.

The third drive of the game saw Jones throw a dump-off to Devin Singletary for minimal gain, which was a safe decision and throw.

On a 1st-and-10, Jones ran the play-fake and then threw to Nabers again, but this time for a first down, and this time, the rookie got two hands on the ball which was thrown behind him.

On a 2nd-and-14 on the same drive, Jones saw daylight and scrambled for a solid gain that made it a third and short. These types of plays make Jones someone that Daboll could work with: take care of the football, use your legs to pick up first downs, and make good decisions. 

But we haven’t consistently seen that from Jones, certainly not in training camp or his preseason game. 

It’s unfortunate, but the third drive ended once again with another interception, this one by Stingley on a deep ball to Jalin Hyatt that you could argue shouldn’t have been thrown but one that you also could have argued Hyatt should have fought for a bit more or at the very least turned into a defensive back to knock the ball away from Stingley.  

Still, the ball was underthrown and thrown to the inside, considering Hyatt was a step past Stingley and toward the sideline. 

On his fourth drive of the day, Jones started with two check-downs to running back Eric Gray for short gains.

After a couple of runs, Jones threw a deep ball to Darius Slayton down the far sideline, which was his best throw of the day. Slayton had a step on the defender and made the catch as he slid down for the ball.

The pass wasn’t as perfect as it could have been either–had it been slightly further downfield, Slayton wouldn’t have to slow his stride, and had it been a bit more outside, he wouldn’t have to work through the defender’s hands. Still, it was a solid throw, all things considered, and a big play for the Giants offense as it set up a rushing touchdown to cap the drive.

Jones played one more drive to end the first half and made a strong throw to Wan’Dale Robinson over the middle of the field for a first down on 3rd-and-5. Then, on 3rd-and-10 on the same drive, Jones stood in the pocket and appeared to be staring at Nabers the entire time before delivering a ball to Nabers to pick up another first down.

Jones connected on a routine curl to Slayton on the sideline during the same drive before throwing another great ball to Nabers. The ball to Nabers went to the far sideline and about 27 yards downfield from Jones's standing.

Nabers went up over the defender to make the catch near the sideline, but that ball was right where it needed to be for him.

Jones would have another pass to Hyatt down along the sideline, who made a one-handed catch with a defender near him, but Hyatt’s foot stepped out of bounds before completing the catch.

In all, it was a mixed bag highlighted by some post-snap indecisiveness. Still, Daboll tried to find the silver lining in Jones’s showing. 

“I thought there were two plays (both interceptions) that we'd like to have back, but he played fast,” Daboll said. “It's different when you're out there in practice. This was good for him to get out there and get some live reps with the rush and the ability to get hit, he had that scramble. But I'd say he operated well in the pocket.”

Daboll also commended Jones for making “a lot of good decisions as the game went on, [and] made some nice throws.” 

It certainly wasn’t one of Jones’s worst performances, and yes, we will give him some slack. There were instances where you could argue he was shaking off the rust. 

But we also remain concerned about some of the boneheaded decisions he continues to make after five seasons in the league. You could argue that a rookie quarterback might make them, but one who is on his second NFL contract should have been put to bed a long time ago.  

We realize no one plays a perfect game, but we worry that if Jones doesn’t eliminate these poor decisions from his game, they’ll hurt the team.

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Brandon Olsen
BRANDON OLSEN

Brandon Olsen is the founder of Whole Nine Sports, specializing in NFL Draft coverage, and is the host of the Locked On Gators Podcast. 

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