Daniel Jones Growing More and More Comfortable in New Giants' Offense

New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones dropped back about five times in quarterback-receiver drills during a recent practice. Every single time, the pass thrown was woefully off target, which had the casual observer beginning to call for backup Tyrod Taylor or trade of Jimmy Garoppolo.

But as it turns out, the valleys in Jones's performance were at times manufactured by the coaching staff who wanted to test out certain things not just with Jones and the offense but with the defense.

Such was the case in the aforementioned drill, where Jones's poor throws were part of an exercise aimed at giving the receivers practice in working on catching the back shoulder ball.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Daniel Jones has had his moments in practice going back to the spring where he's looked dazed and confused in this, his third different offense since being drafted sixth overall in 2019, and a very different scheme than what he ran for the last two years.

But chalk up those poor moments to the learning process, which head coach Brian Daboll said Jones has been doing a good job with.

"Again, we’re trying to script and do a lot of different things in practice," Daboll said. "You’d like to have a perfect practice every time you step out there. But the great thing about practice is it doesn’t count. It counts if you learn from it. And he’s done a good job of getting a lot of different looks, going back in the meeting rooms, talking with the receivers, talking with the coaches, talking with (Offensive Coordinator Mike) Kafka, talking about the protections."

That's exactly what Dabolll wants from Jones, to learn and to grow in this offense. No, the practices aren't always going to be perfect. And sometimes, a particular series has looked downright awful.

But when it's come to the games, the practice has certainly gone a long way. Jones is 20 of 26 for 185 yards, no touchdowns, and one interception, the pick more on tight end Daniel Bellinger, who had a ball go off his hands.

Jones is also averaging 7.1 yards per pass attempt in this new offensive system that has blended concepts from both the Buffalo and Kansas City offenses with what Jones has said he likes to do.

While the numbers themselves aren't eye-popping, the results have been. In last weekend's game against the Bengals, Jones was efficient and sharp in taking the underneath stuff and getting the ball out of his hand quickly, an average of 2.34 seconds to attempt a pass, according to Pro Football Focus.

Of his three solid possessions against the Bengals--all of which crossed mid-field--the third one resulted in a touchdown. He went 8-9 on this excellent 84-yard drive, culminating with a run for the score, a run in which he wisely knew when to get out of bounds rather than push his luck for extra yardage.

Jones's best throw in that game was a picture-perfect back shoulder fade to David Sills for 20 yards. He also connected with Sills on an RPO for another 11 yards, capping a night in which he was accurately decisive and improved from the previous week's performance.

Daboll said he looks at everything when evaluating a player and admitted that the games matter the most. And clearly, Jones has given him enough to go on through two games where there is much to be encouraged.

"I think he’s done a good job of learning from (his mistakes) and then applying it in games," Daboll said.

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