Daniel Jones Not Satisfied With Just Making the Playoffs

Daniel Jones wants to make sure the Giants hang around in the playoffs.

For the first time in his career, New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones is heading to the postseason, and he's thrilled about the opportunity he and his teammates worked hard to earn.

“I think it means a lot to all of us – a lot of guys who have been here these past few years," he said. "And to be on the other side of it, it means a lot."

But for Jones, who did his part to get his teammates to the playoffs--he took a significant leap in his development under first-year head coach Brian Daboll, throwing for a career-high 3,205 yards with a 67.2 completion percentage, and rushing for a career-best 708 yards and seven touchdowns--getting to the playoffs is one thing.

Staying in the tournament, which begins Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings in a rematch of their Week 16 regular-season game that ended in a 27-24 Vikings win on a walk-off field goal--is now the challenge he and his teammates will seek to accomplish.

“I think we’re not satisfied just to have made the playoffs," he said. "That’s not how we see it as a group. We were confident in our team dating back to training camp and knew what we could accomplish. We’re by no means satisfied just to be in the playoffs. We expect to play well and to win. And that’s our expectation every week.”

For the Giants, there is an advantage that comes with this game in that they've already had a recent chance to see their opponent up close and personal. But Jones cautioned that while there is an advantage to drawing from their experience from that first game, things change, and they can't cut corners if they want to advance to the divisional round.

“Each game’s different, each defense and how we’re game planning, how we’re attacking the defense is different," he said. "So, we’ll try to learn as much as possible from the first game. Use that for our preparation. But you’ve got to understand that this game will be different. It’s going to play out differently. You can’t go in anticipating or trying to predict it to turn out a certain way just because it did last time. So, we’ll use our first game to our advantage and go in as prepared as possible.”

Jones had one of his best games passing-wise last time these two teams squared off. He completed 72 percent of his passes for 334 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. The Giants were able to push the ball down the field effectively and are looking to build upon that success again.

Like his teammates and head coach, Jones has stressed the importance of sticking to the season-long process that got them to this point. 

"It’s about what we do now, from this point on, and how we handle this opportunity, how we prepare and ultimately how we play, how we execute on Sunday," he said.

"In the playoffs, these are good teams that you’re competing against. It’s one or two plays that are going to make the difference. So, we understand that. We understand what’s at stake. We’re going to stick to what’s gotten us here. We’re going to stick to the routine, the preparation that we’ve been putting in.”

Jones knows it won't be easy, especially if the Giants advance and continue to face the higher-seeded teams. 

“I’ve been through a lot, ups and downs. It’s not always going to be a straight line. You’re going to get better and then go through some tough times and then get better. It’s just about continuing that process, trusting that process, and showing up every day,” he said.

"We’re certainly happy we are where we are. But there’s a lot more. We got a lot more work left for us.”

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