Giants Country

Giants QB Daniel Jones Has Grown the Most in This Key Area, According to Eli Manning

New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones has quietly taken a big step forward in his development according to his predeccessor, Eli Manning.

Patricia Traina

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Retired New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning knows a thing or two about the challenges of playing in the NFL and the trajectory one should be taking in the position as he advances in his career.

So when the Giants legend looks at Daniel Jones, who is trying in his fourth season to put to rest any questions about his suitability to be a franchise quarterback, Manning is encouraged by the growth the former Duke star has shown when it comes to decision making.

"It has not been easy," said Manning, who spoke with Giants Country/LockedOn Giants podcast to promote his involvement in the Quaker Oats' "Oat Up" campaign in which the breakfast giant has launched its Quaker Hunger Clock to help tackle hunger and advance food security. 

"He's been in some tough situations with new receivers, different guys in there in a brand new offense for him and everybody around him."

Besides the newness of the offense, Manning agreed that sometimes Jones's supporting cast hasn't held up their end of the deal. But rather than try to force something to make a play, which Jones might have been guilty of doing in the past, the quarterback is exercising better judgment.

Jones has significantly cut down on his turnovers resulting largely from poor decisions. In 2019, his rookie campaign, he averaged 1.8 turnovers per game. That dropped to 1.5 turnovers per game in his second season; and 0.9 per game in 2021 (an injury-shortened campaign.

This year, Jones is averaging 0.6 turnovers per game and is doing far more right than he is wrong depite the challenges he's faced.

"I just see him in several of these games being tested, you know, continually throughout the whole game. And he continues to make really good decisions with the ball protecting it," Manning said. "What that does is it just keeps them close in the games.

"And then you hope that your defense gives you a stop or gets a turnover and gives you a short field, or offensively you can hit a big run with a screen or a run play, or get the play-action going. They've been able to do that and they've risen through the occasion in the fourth quarter to win some of these games."

In his 12-minute interview that you can hear in full in the above video, Manning also spoke of how important running back Saquon Barkley, currently second on the NFL's rushing yardage leaderboard (533), has been to the offense's resurgence this year.

"Yeah, I think if you're running the ball well, it keeps those safeties and more guys in the box where you should have one more one-on-ones on the outside," Manning said. "It sets up the play action, the bootlegs, and the misdirection that I think the Giants have been relying on this year in several games.

"It slows down that pass rush--if you're just in shotgun and teams who know you're throwing the ball, it puts a lot of pressure on that offensive line when you can be under center and doing different things."

Barkley, Manning said, also helps an offense with his receiving ability.

"I used to feed him the ball, you know, on check-downs, and get him the ball early," he said. "It helps get the ball outta the quarterback's hand, and he can make just as big of a play with the ball in his hands in space."

Overall, Manning has seen his former club embrace the program head coach Brian Daboll has mapped out, and in doing so, Manning said it's hard not to miss the growing confidence the team has shown as it continues to learn how to win games.

"It's having that confidence, and what that does is it doesn't make you press earlier in the game. If you get off to a slow start, you're not saying, 'Hey, we've gotta get a score right here. It's been, we've had two, two bad drives. We've gotta get one. We gotta make something happen.' That's when you're trying to make something happen is when you end up making something bad happen," Manning said.

"Guys want to be the guy to make the play, and they want to be the guy to step up and raise their level of play in some critical moments. And they're getting in that right now, which helps everybody stay calm and not panic if things aren't going perfect at certain moments of the game. And I think, you know, that calmness and that relaxed in those critical situations is a good mentality." 

Manning, a fan of Quaker Oats oatmeal, said he appreciated the company's commitment to providing opportunities for people to get good nutrition through their "Quaker Hunger Clock" promotion.

"Just excited to partner with Quaker because first, I'm a huge fan of Quaker Oats oatmeal--for the last 15 years, I've eaten it every morning. But also on some of their initiatives to give back and the fact that Quaker believes that the circumstances of life should never be a barrier for good nutrition," Manning said.

"As part of their commitment to helping advance food security in the U.S., they're introducing the Quaker Hunger Clock and partnership with Feeding America. Their goal is to raise $500,000, equivalent to five million meals. So it's great to partner up with a great company and product in Quaker Oats Oatmeal--especially this initiative." 

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Patricia Traina
PATRICIA TRAINA

Patricia Traina has covered the New York Giants for 30+ seasons, and her work has appeared in multiple media outlets, including The Athletic, Forbes, Bleacher Report, and the Sports Illustrated media group. As a credentialed New York Giants press corps member, Patricia has also covered five Super Bowls (three featuring the Giants), the annual NFL draft, and the NFL Scouting Combine. She is the author of The Big 50: The Men and Moments that Made the New York Giants. In addition to her work with New York Giants On SI, Patricia hosts the Locked On Giants podcast. Patricia is also a member of the Pro Football Writers of America and the Football Writers Association of America.

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