Giants QB Daniel Jones Plans to Play It Smart with Ankle Injury

Giants QB Daniel Jones wants to play next week in London, but said he'll play it smart.

The New York Giants are 3-1 for the first time since the 2011 regular season, their last Super Bowl championship after defeating the Chicago Bears 20-12. But the win didn't come without its price, namely injuries suffered by both of the teams two quarterbacks, Daniel Jones (ankle) and Tyrod Taylor (concussion).  

Jones, who eventually had to go back into the game when Taylor was injured, was hurt when Jaquan Brisker brought him down for a sack in the second half. Jones got up and limped off the field, where he was attended to by the training staff, his left ankle heavily taped.

After the game, Jones, still sporting a noticeable limp, was seen headed toward the stadium's X-ray room. 

“It’s frustrating,” said Jones of his injury. “Obviously, you want to play and be out there with your teammates at the end of the game where we’re fighting and trying to win.”

According to head coach Brian Daboll, the Giants' initial plan was to keep Jones sidelined after the injury to protect him from himself, a plan that went down the pipes once Taylor was injured.

"He wanted to go," Daboll said. "I said, ‘You’re not going into the game. I see you’re limping. I’m not risking you getting injured to try to protect yourself with that limp. But if we need you, can you go back in the game?’ He said, ‘Yeah. I can go in the game now.’ I said, ‘Tyrod’s going in the game, and if we need you, hopefully, it’ll be just to hand the ball off.’ 

"So, when Tyrod went down, I looked over to (quarterbacks coach) Shea (Tierney) and said, ‘Is he good to go?’ He said, ‘Yup.’ We didn’t pass it, right? We just handed it off."

Between Taylor and Jones taking back the offense's reins, the Giants ran the Wildcat with Saquon Barkley taking the direct snaps and Jones lining up as a wideout decoy.

“It was a little bit different for us,” said Jones, after he was asked about how he felt not relaying the calls. “Like I said, we had to get creative with some of those calls. I thought the coaches did a great job scheming some of that stuff up and still giving us a chance to move the ball down the field.”

Ankle sprains are not new to Jones, who said he wasn't sure if his latest injury was a high ankle sprain. But they can be quite challenging to overcome for a position that demands a lot of mobility. 

“They haven’t diagnosed it exactly,” said Jones. “Throughout the week, I’ll go through some more tests and figure it out. Each one is different. I still don’t know exactly what it is.”

While it's still early, there is already concern about Jones's status next week when New York heads to London for a showdown against the Green Bay Packers.

Jones would like to play, but he said he would take things one day at a time.  

“I think I’ll listen to the doctors and trainers, take their advice, and go from there,” said Jones. “I’m going to do everything that I can to play, for sure.”

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