By Mike Basile @MikeyFresh04
Another win slips away. Daniel Jones continues to be held back by offensive coaching (no pun intended) and Craig touches on that in his piece.
As far as the 3rd year QB’s performance let’s dive right into the numbers. DJ finished the game completing 24 of 35 passes for 266 yards, no TDs or picks. He ran eight times for 39 yards. His top target was Collin Johnson because of a rash of injuries. Sterling Shepard and Darius Slayton both left the game, Kenny Golladay was limited, and nobody knows what’s going on with Kadarius Toney. Why can’t the first-round pick get on the field when 2 starters get injured, and an unknown player (with all due respect to Collin Johnson) leads the team in targets?
Answers:
The coaches owe us answers. Joe Judge needs to figure it out, and it starts with getting rid of Jason Garrett.
Despite everything seemingly working against Jones, he made a few plays that were positive. The long pass to CJ Board for 38 yards was beautiful and he continues to show you DIMES as he displays a great arm on deep passes. Another piece of growth I have noticed is that the pass protection has given him the confidence to hang in the pocket longer. You could see that through the course of this game as he stood tall and took a hit at the last second while delivering accurately nine different players. Nothing excited the fans more than Jones’ two-point conversion run where he looked like a fullback, running over a defender from the two-yard line and tumbling over the goal line. Jones has protected the football this season and produced another clean game.
Hard Facts:
The Atlanta Falcons have been horrible, especially on defense. The Giants’ offense could only come up with 14 points and that just is not good enough. Jones did drop a red zone snap killing the drive, making Atlanta’s job even easier. The Giants are not good enough for negative plays even before Jones even throws the ball. There are moments in every game where momentum shifts dramatically from one side to another. Unfortunately, Jones finds himself on the wrong side of these types of plays way too often.
There were no explosive plays. As a franchise QB and the 6th overall pick, needs to lift the team over the hump, playing above the X’s and O’s. What will make Jones better is consistency. A lot of blame is aimed at Garrett as he changed the offense back to the dink and dunk, curl routes, and screens. Jones needs to figure out how to overcome the coaching and roster deficiencies even if it means audibling at the line of scrimmage.
When you add it all up, he had a pretty average game, do not kid yourself into thinking it was anything special.
Another disappointing week in what is shaping up to be a miserable season for Big Blue. Again, it’s been a decade of incompetency. Next week could be ugly in New Orleans unless Jones carries the team on his back.