Giants Willing to Be Patient With Daniel Jones

Let’s clear up a few misconceptions about Giants quarterback Daniel Jones.

He just recently completed his 16 start as an NFL quarterback, four of which were in a brand new system that both he and the coaches have said in the past barely resembles what he ran last year as a rookie and one that he didn't start physically running until late July.

He is missing his top playmaker in running back Saquon Barkley. Oh, let’s not forget Jones's missing the only receiver on the team, Sterling Shepard, a proven commodity at finding soft spots against zone coverage consistently.

Jones has also had to deal with inconsistent pass protection and has been forced at times to hold the ball longer than perhaps he’d like since his receivers don’t make it a habit of separating from defenders regularly.

And then there is this rather alarming stat. Jones’ receivers have dropped ten passes through four games, a little less than the 21 drops he had last year in 12 games.

Add that all up, and you have a struggling young quarterback who is trying to do all he can to keep his head above water and deliver the first win in the Joe Judge era.

To be clear, Jones isn’t blameless in the poor start to the Giants’ 2020 season, and he’ll probably be the first one to tell you that.

He still doesn’t appear to be seeing the entire field, even when he has time to throw the ball, such as this fourth quarter 1st-and-10 play in the fourth quarter against the Rams when he had a clean enough pocket, yet seemed to rush the ball to tight end Evan Engram while he had another receiver (shown at the bottom of the screen who was not yet done with the route).

And his mental processing, which was something to keep an eye on during his rookie season when it just looked as though he wasn’t sure where or what to do with the ball in his hands, continues to be an issue this year as well.

That was demonstrated by his ill-advised decision to try to force a ball to receiver Damion Ratley (whom he locked in on, by the way, which no doubt helped the Rams in jumping the route, as shown below).

Jones might have had multiple options on that play, as Judge suggested, but rather than taking advantage of wide-open space to run for the first down (which perhaps he didn't see), he tried to force a throw.

Then there are other times when he holds on to the ball too long and thereby loses a brief window of opportunity to move the chains.

But with all that said, don’t expect the Giants to pull the plug on Jones now the way that Washington pulled the plug on Dwayne Haskins, whom they drafted nine spots after Jones went to the Giants at No. 6 last year.

And don’t expect Jones to sit by complacently because he hasn’t been pulled from the starting lineup.

“I realize this is my second year and I do have a lot to learn,” he said. “I’m always learning and improving. But I don’t think you use that ever as an excuse. I’m expected to play well, understand what we’re trying to do and execute it.”

“I’ve learned a lot of football and feel like I’ve improved as a player as far as my understanding of the game, my understanding of situational football and when you want to take advantage of certain opportunities, when to get the ball out of my hand,” Jones said.

“It’s something I’m continuing to work on and improve. But I certainly feel like I’ve improved and made a lot of progress up to this point.”

Judge has also expressed a willingness to be patient with Jones as he continues to gain more comfort in Jason Garrett’s offense.

“You have to see it through the perspective of the quarterback,” he said Monday. “It’s easier for us on the sideline or watching on tape to kind of say ‘you should have done this’ or ‘you should have done that.’

"The execution is the most important thing. Every play, he has different options, whether it was throwing to Damion (Ratley) there (on the interception against the Rams), did he have the option to tuck that thing and run with the time that we had left, timeouts and stuff like that?

“But look, he made the decision he made. We can’t sit here and handcuff our quarterback by looking over his shoulder all of the time and second-guessing everything he does. To us, it’s about the execution he has within the techniques and making the throw at the right time.”

However, the execution and decision-making process will need to meet up in Jones’ game. He will get more time for that to happen, make no mistake about it --how much more time is another question for another day.