Giants Sticking with QB Daniel Jones

Head coach Brian Daboll said Jones will receive his usual practice reps this week and will get the start in Week 2 against Washington.

Sep 8, 2024; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones (8) rolls out to pass during the first half against the Minnesota Vikings at MetLife Stadium. / Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll gave a one-word answer when asked if he planned to stick with quarterback Daniel Jones following the Giants’ embarrassing 28-6 Week 1 loss to the Minnesota Vikings.

“Yes.”

The response might not sit well with scores of Giants fans who were left disheartened by the Giants' lackluster showing against the Vikings on Sunday, and in particular, Jones’s play in which he went 22 of 42 for 186 yards with two interceptions, one of which went for a Vikings touchdown. But it’s clear that Daboll, at least outwardly, isn’t pressing the panic button on the quarterback situation—not when the rest of the team was really no better in their opening week performance.

“There were, there were some good things, but there were certainly a lot of things we can improve on,” he said Monday.

“You know, we had some missed opportunities within there, I'd say, throughout the, you know, first and second halves. So again, the detail cleaning up some stuff, and I'd say in all, not just with the quarterback, but with everybody.”

But it’s the quarterback spot, the most important position on the team, that is currently under the most fire, a situation made worse by Daboll’s refusal to provide answers to questions posed to him about the good, the bad and the ugly of the quarterback’s game.

A review of the game tape provides a few answers. For instance, Jones, sacked five times, ran himself right into the teeth of the defense, directly being responsible for three of those sacks. There were plays where he made panic throws once his first read was taken away.

And as far as the argument made by his dwindling supporters that the receivers weren’t getting open, according to NFL NextGen Stats, Jones, who averaged 2.82 seconds to throw (12th in the league) saw his receivers average 4.4 yards of separation, the fourth-best mark in Week 1.

Daboll was asked if Jones’s struggles to start the season might result from the offseason talk about the team potentially replacing him in the draft.

“I thought we had a good week,” he said. “Good week of preparation and you know, again, it's, it's, it's on all, all 11, it's on the coaches, it's on me. So, we'll work hard to fix that and come up with something better than we did against Washington.”

Daboll admitted that the Vikings disguised some of their runs, one play of which saw an unblocked rusher come at Jones untouched. However, Daboll attributed the breakdowns to total team communication.

“That wasn't him necessarily not seeing that one,” he said. “ But look, nothing was good enough. So, make no excuses. That'll work to get better.”

According to Daboll, they won’t be changing the practice rep distribution for the quarterbacks or bringing in another quarterback to compete with Jones.

However, Daboll said that backup Drew Lock could go in there and handle a normal workload if he was needed.

None of this is sure to calm Giants fans, who were left frustrated by the product the team put on the field Sunday. On that day, they celebrated their 100th anniversary by welcoming back their legends.

But the hope is that with the Commanders on deck, a team against which Jones has a 5-1-1 record, the Giants will be able to get things back on track across the board, especially at the quarterback position.

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