Brian Daboll Clarifies Timeline on Daniel Jones's Situation
The New York Giants will be getting starting quarterback Daniel Jones back this week after Jones received medical clearance on Sunday morning from doctors to resume contact sports.
But while the news is good, it’s created some confusion regarding the timeline, confusion that Giants head coach Brian Daboll tried to clear up.
Daboll confirmed that Jones had a doctor’s appointment on Sunday morning rather than Saturday because “that’s when it was.” He then added that he learned of Jones having been cleared for contact after the team lost in overtime to the Jets.
“(Jones) met with the doctor pregame, so they did his tests,” Daboll said of the timeline leading up to the quarterback’s change in status. “Last week, Jones did (the tests) on Friday.”
Daboll also confirmed that because Jones wasn’t checked until Sunday, the team, who had listed the quarterback as questionable last week (due to his having met with the doctors on Friday), listed him as out based on the recommendation of the training staff.
“He got looked at on Friday, so I was waiting until it was Friday at 3:30 to see where he was at,” Daboll said, the decision to list Jones as questionable two weeks ago. “And then he didn't have (an appointment) this week. So, like I said, when they told me he was out, that's when I told you guys he was out.”
Daboll confirmed that once a player is listed as OUT for a game, a team cannot reverse the decision. And because Sunday game day rosters must be finalized by 4 p.m. ET on Saturday, because Jones was not cleared until Sunday morning, there was zero chance of him being active to back up Tyrod Taylor, who made his third straight start for Jones.
As far as Jones having received clearance to return from contact despite the nature of the injury reportedly being related to a disc issue, Daboll said, “He met with the spine surgeon, and the doctor cleared him.”
Daboll was also asked why he seemed to raise concern that Jones might continue to be out indefinitely when peppered with questions regarding the quarterback’s status.
“All I said was he's getting better, and we'll see what happens next week. I think I said it a few times, which he was getting better, and see where we’re at next week. That's what (the medical staff) told me.”
Tyrod Taylor Update
Speaking of quarterbacks, Daboll confirmed that as of Monday morning, Tyrod Taylor was still in the hospital, where he had been observed overnight following a ribcage injury.
“He’s pretty sore right now,” Daboll said, declining to explain the exact nature of Taylor’s injury.
Daboll did, however, say that the veteran quarterback wasn’t in any danger because of his injury. He added that he and general manager Joe Schoen would have a meeting regarding what to do if Taylor has to miss time, which it sounds like he will.
The Giants later released a statement advising that Taylor had been discharged from Hackensack University Medical Center and was back with the team.
Clarifying the Tommy DeVito Plan
One of several headscratchers to emerge from Sunday’s loss was the decision by the coaching staff to lean on running back Saquon Barkley in the second half of the game after Taylor was declared out.
Barkley ran the ball 25 times in the second half after rushing 11 times in the first half. That second-half heavy workload raised some speculation as to whether Daboll trusted Tommy DeVito, an undrafted rookie free agent who has been with the team since the spring and who had been elevated from the practice squad for the third time this season to serve as Taylor’s backup with Jones out.
Daboll denied that the decision to lean heavily into the running game was related to a lack of trust for DeVito.
“I think there's always adjustments, but the way our defense was playing, we were gonna make sure we took care of the ball and ... have good ball security. … So that was, that was the plan going in after halftime.”
Daboll added, “I think there's a lot of things at play. The weather--that's a heck of a defense. Making sure we're, we're doing what we need to do in terms of, you know, staying on track, and if we have to punt, we have to punt the way our defense was playing against our offense. I felt good about that. Try to play a field position game, and you know, that's what we were gonna try to do.”
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