Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
Film Review | Dissecting Daniel Jones' Ball Security Issue
Giants quarterback Daniel Jones has fumbled the ball 13 times this season, and it's really been the biggest flaw in his game so far.
Jones said this week that he is working on his ball security, but won't be using any of Tiki Barber's techniques after Tom Coughlin got ahold of him.
Every week it seems that the topic comes up with the coaching staff, and it did so again this week. Here is what offensive coordinator Mike Shula had to say about it on Thursday:
"We’ve talked about this before. We look at it. Offensively, we’ve gone back and looked at the turnovers and the fumbles and if there was a common denominator. Like Coach (Shurmur) alluded to yesterday, I think that it’s hard to put your finger on one thing. ... You want to keep two hands on the ball until you’re throwing it. We work those drills. ...
Sometimes there’s a guy that’s getting the ball hit right and he has two hands on it, and the ball comes out. Sometimes there’s a guy that’s getting hit and he’s getting ready to throw it, it comes out. Other times, they hold onto it. It’s almost the exception.
When (defenders) get their hands on the ball, they’re so good at it and quarterbacks are kind of zeroed in. The bottom line is we have to do everything else better. Keep guys away from our quarterbacks and then get the ball out quicker."
Let's take a closer look at Jones' fumbles this season to see what happened.
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Jones fumbled in his first action coming off the bench. Jones showed off his legs for the first time as a Giant, and actually uses the correct technique by putting two hands on the ball, but can't hold on obviously.
Let's chalk that one up to hand strength and rookie jitters.
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Jones' first fumble as a starter was a very sloppy one. He pump-fakes and the ball gets swiped away in what might have fallen under the old tuck rule.
He really was focused on keeping his eyes downfield so he's not really worried about the pass rusher who swipes the ball away. Let's chalk this one up to poor pocket awareness, which is something that most rookie quarterbacks battle with.
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Jones fumbles the ball as he's in his throwing motion. This one really doesn't bother me because we've seen the best quarterbacks in the NFL lose balls when under duress and his arm gets hit.
This one doesn't appear to have anything to do with ball security as far as the way Jones holds the ball. The offensive line is to blame for this fumble.
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On this turnover, Jones fumbled the ball on a screen. This turnover bothers me more so because he has to throw this ball away.
What's more, how does Jones not see Chandler Jones screaming down at him? The pressure was right before him, so why not throw it away?
In this game, Jones appeared to try to do too much in going for the big play. He settled down in the subsequent weeks, but you've got to have the awareness to get rid of this ball.
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I don't blame Jones for this fumble, which came on 4th-and-15. On this play, the Cardinals ran a corner blitz and Jones gets hit from his blindside while trying to make a play downfield. It's hard to fault him for this fumble.
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On this turnover, the Giants are scrambling to make some kind of play in the final drive when Jones runs backward out of the pocket and directly into Terrell Suggs.
Jones should probably hold this ball closer to the chest or take the sack, but with less than two minutes to go 85 yards, Jones was probably feeling a sense of urgency.
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The problem with this fumble is that Jones should have seen the free rusher and thrown it to Saquon Barkley quicker.
The blitzer is unblocked, a.k.a "the hot read," which means Jones should go to his check-down immediately.
Jones is too late and is hit as he's thrown into a backward pass which is ruled a fumble.
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Nate Solder gets beat immediately, and Jones is hit as he's throwing. That is on Solder and not Jones.
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Jones scrambles for a first down, here. As he starts to go down, he does put two hands on the ball but is hit just right as he fumbles. This is probably a hand strength issue, and something I guarantee the guy will spend this off-season improving.
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It's the final drive of the game and Jones is stripped of the ball as he throws. Again, this fumble is on the offensive line for allowing the pressure from the blindside.
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Jones gets hit as he's thrown, but he has to see Barkley losing his block and either put two hands on the ball or take the sack.
Jones needs to learn to let a play die to keep a drive alive as well as keeping himself from unnecessary hits.
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Jones is extremely sloppy on this fumble. He tries to hide the ball from Jets safety Jamal Adams, doing so with only one hand on it.
This isn't college. These are NFL players, and they are taught to get the ball before the tackle. Put two hands on it!
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On this turnover, Jones drops the snap. Plain and simple: Don't drop the snap.
Am I worried about Jones' ball security going forward? No, because I don't think there are many or any guys in the league that will work on their flaws as he will.
Jones also has the mental makeup of the great ones where a turnover doesn't creep into his next drive. That's something we saw for 15 years with Eli Manning, a characteristic that most teams don't always have the privilege of seeing.
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