Giants Country

Why the Loss to Carolina is the Final Straw for the Giants and Daniel Jones

The New York Giants fell to the Carolina Panthers on Sunday in Munich, and Daniel Jones deserves much of the blame.

Brandon Olsen

Nov 10, 2024; Munich, Germany; New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones (8) throws the ball against the Carolina Panthers in the second half during the 2024 NFL Munich Game at Allianz Arena.
Nov 10, 2024; Munich, Germany; New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones (8) throws the ball against the Carolina Panthers in the second half during the 2024 NFL Munich Game at Allianz Arena. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
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The clock is ticking down on New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones’s time as a starter, an unfortunate end to the career of a hardworking, good guy and leader who had so many roadblocks thrown in his path since his 2019 rookie season that if nothing else, he deserves kudos for getting back up and trying to fight every time’s been knocked down.

Unfortunately though, the Giants have been spinning their wheels with Jones under center, and the time has finally come for them to make a switch that some might argue is long overdue.  

The cappere on Jones’s Giants career came this past Sunday in Munich, GErmany against a Carolina Panthers team that came into the game with arguably the worst defense in the NFL. In a game the Giants should have won, Jones has perhaps his worst showing of this team’s five-game losing streak.

While coaches preach that a loss doesn’t fall at the feet of one player, in this case, it’s certainly fair to say that if Jones makes a fraction of the plays that he missed, particularly in the first half, perhaps the game’s outcome is very different and growing speculation about his pending benching maybe isn’t as loud as it is today. 

What has gone wrong for Jones? 

For starters, throughout the game and during most of this losing streak, he has consistently held the ball too long, leading to unnecessary pressures and sacks.

Most notably during the Panthers game was a 3rd-and-1 flea flicker that despite having two wide open receivers downfield resulted in his taking a sack.

It’s clear from this angle too that the moment Jones catches the ball, Wan’Dale Robinson is wide open crossing the middle and then Malik Nabers has plenty of space.

Based on Daboll’s tendencies and the success that the Giants found on the ground, the Giants most likely would’ve gone for it on fourth down if the pass fell incomplete but ultimately, they were forced to punt after the sack.

This may seem like a one-off play where it could be chalked up as a trick play that just went wrong but it’s important to note why it went wrong.

This is something we’ve talked about frequently lately where it appears Jones has regressed to his indecisive self who holds onto the ball too long and creates negative plays.

The flea flicker wasn’t a bad call, despite Daboll saying he would take it back. The execution by Jones made it a bad play.

There was also an interception thrown by Jones where he doesn’t deserve 100% of the blame but he does deserve the majority of it.

Jones tries to hit rookie running back Tyrone Tracy, Jr. out of the backfield but the ball is too far behind Tracy, making the catch more difficult and leading to Josey Jewell making an athletic interception.

Jones should have thrown that ball further toward the sideline so that the only outcomes were Tracy catching it with a slim chance to turn upfield or for the ball to fall incomplete out of bounds.

Instead, he sped up his mechanics and threw a lackadaisical ball that went for a turnover. There was a rusher coming in but Jones had ample time to throw normally instead of having to rush the pass.

The ball was still catchable and should have been caught by Tracy, but the majority of the blame still goes onto the shoulders of the veteran quarterback making over $45M this year.

The Giants in 2024 have some of the worst yards after catch numbers in the NFL right now with just 4.4 yards after the catch per catch, fourth-lowest in the league.

When watching film, it’s easy to see why those numbers are so low. It’s because receivers often need to break stride to give themselves a chance to make a play on the ball. And when they break stride, that allows for the defender to close in and limit the YAC.

The Giants did their best this year to make it work with Jones, from upgrading the offensive line, to adding Nabers, to having Brian Daboll call the plays. But with each passing week, it’s evident that Jones’s confidence is shot as he has continued to show that he doesn’t fully trust what he’s seeing and that he’s concerned about making a mistake.

Unfortunately for him and the Giants, no amount of coaching is going to fix what only Jones himself can fix but hasn’t after six years.

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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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