Giants Can Win with QB Daniel Jones, Says Victor Cruz

Former Giants receiver Victor Cruz says Giants' embattled quarterback Daniel Jones has been steadily improving from Week 1.

Feb 8, 2024; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Victor Cruz on the red carpet before the NFL Honors show at Resorts World Theatre. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Despite engineering a win last week against the Cleveland Browns, New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones continues to divide the fan base, his critics refusing to give him any of the credit when the team does well and all the blame when it doesn’t.

But there is no disputing that since Week 1 of the regular season, when Jones and none of his teammates looked good in the 28-6 blowout loss to the Minnesota Vikings, the arrow for Jones has been pointing in the right direction.

Former Giants receiver Victor Cruz believes that the Giants have finally put the right kind of offense around Jones—an offense that includes a much better offensive line, a functional running game, and a very strong receiver group led by rookie Malik Nabers—to where this team could really make some noise in the coming weeks.

“I think they can win with Daniel,” Cruz recently told the Locked On Giants podcast. “I think they finally have the type of offense around him that he can feel confident in, and he can go out there and put points up and do things positively as an offense on the whole.”

Cruz is gearing up for a visit to MetLife Stadium this Thursday when the Giants host the Dallas Cowboys as part of a “Sailgate” promotion that he’s involved in with Captain Morgan in which fans of legal drinking age can enter to win unique prizes, said the improvements, however slight, in Jones’s sixth NFL season started in Week 2.

In the loss to the Vikings, Jones looked like a quarterback who hadn’t played in a live game in nearly a month, his last preseason action. He completed 52.4% of his pass attempts, his receivers dropping five balls. He threw two interceptions, and likely because he was under pressure on 25% of his dropbacks, he seemed reluctant to uncork any deep balls, his average depth of target (ADOT) being 5.0.

Sep 15, 2024; Landover, Maryland, USA; New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones (8) signals at the line of scrimmage against the Washington Commanders at Commanders Field. / Peter Casey-Imagn Images

Things got better in Week 2. Jones was under pressure on just 11.1% of his dropbacks, his completion percentage rose to 57.1%, and his overall ADOT to 10.3, as he recorded his first multi-touchdown passing game since Week 2 of the 2023 season.

Last week, in a win against the Cleveland Browns, Jones’s completion percentage rose to 70.6%, and he recorded his second straight multi-touchdown passing game. His pressure rate dropped to 10%, as did his overall ADOT (6.8%).

But where Jones seemed to take a step forward was in the face of pressure. In Week 1, Jones completed 33% of his pass attempts under pressure, his ADOT being 5.6 yards per attempt.

In Week 2, he completed 42.9% of his dropbacks under pressure, his ADOT at 8.4 yards per attempt.

And in Week 3, he completed 58.8% of his pass attempts in the face of pressure, his ADOT rising to 9.5 yards.

While the arrow is pointing up as far as Jones’s comeback from a forgettable, injury-filled 2023 season, Cruz was also quick to caution that it might be too soon to make a final judgment on Jones or the Giants.

“I like to look at it after four weeks of football after the first month because the preseason isn't a real indicator for me anymore because they don't play a lot of football,” he said.

“I think Daniel Jones can be the guy they can count on from a quarterback perspective for the Giants. I think we just gotta give him some more time this year to home in on his playmakers and make the big plays when we need him.”

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