Dear Daniel Jones Doubter,
I Hope this letter finds you well. As an impassioned Giants fan, I am sure you thoroughly enjoyed the Giants’ week 1 win over the Tennessee Titans (2021’s #1 AFC seed). I am also confident you thoroughly bashed Daniel Jones for every mistake he made in the game. The strange part is his mistakes were not as plentiful as one would think despite being pressured on 73.3% of his drop backs (only egregious error was the endzone INT). There’s no doubt he still has work to do, and Brian Daboll will see to it, but it is also easy to forget the level of team he was facing. The Titans were a playoff team last year and have been that way for awhile now. There is also the matter of how bad of a situation he was in the last 2 years. Let’s look at Daniel Jones and where he is at today.
Jones opened his season on the road against a playoff team that was 6th in points allowed last year, top 10 in takeaways, and top 10 in sacks. The Titans are well known for keeping even the best teams off the scoreboard in recent years. They notably held Mahomes, Lawrence x2, Garoppolo, Roethlisberger, Tagovailoa, Stafford, Week 4 Wentz, and your beloved Tyrod Taylor to a combined 3 TD and 12 INT across 9 games in 2021 (half a season). Half of those names were in the playoffs last year and were helpless against Tennessee’s defense with almost all of them having better blocking than the Giants. To have a QB that is throwing to players working back from major injury (TD Shepard) or practice squad fodder (TD Myarick) while outperforming 8 other guys is not easy. If this is Jones at his “warm up” stage in the year, then I am looking forward to seeing him in midseason form. Don’t forget we also saw last year’s Super Bowl contestants in Burrow and Stafford combine for 3 TD and 7 INT in week 1. Simply put, it’s only week 1 against strong defenses and things should only improve; especially as this new offense gets more comfortable (and hopefully healthy too).
Jones haters won’t admit it, but Jones has been “developed” in the most impossible situation the last 2 years. His former Head Coach, Offensive Coordinator, and General Manager made it their life mission to restrict Jones with bad personnel/coaching/playcalling. One can even argue they encouraged the bad habits he is still trying to shed today, such as relying on stick routes, sticking to 1 read, designed runs with weak blocking, and settling for checkdowns when a decent deeper play is available. Its almost as if the last 2 years were “stuck in neutral” years as he likely didn’t receive much (if any) in constructive coaching or cornerstone weapons to grow with while most of his young peers received the opposite. Though we can’t change the fact it is still year 4, Jones is mentally in year 2 because of the fracas from 2020-2021. Call them “excuses” as you will, but these are also facts. No QB would have thrived in the mess Daniel Jones endured and if you don’t believe me, just ask 2022 Mac Jones how that Joe Judge/Matt Patricia offense is going!
The NFL season is a long one, folks. Jones will have to overcome impossible odds to be here next year, but it doesn’t mean he can’t do it. There are several teams that will likely have questionable QB situations in 2023 and not all of them can draft a QB. Jones will be trying out for not just the Giants, but for the NFL. We have at least 1 year of Jones left, and we should be spending it rooting for him. Remember, Jones’ success means Big Blue can contend faster because they can save their premier picks to surround him with better pieces and improve even further instead of trading them away on a move up for another QB. Naturally, I personally will trust in Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll to make the right choice for the franchise whether it involves Daniel Jones or not, but there is not a doubt in my mind that Jones can make their decision an interesting one. We have seen how good Jones can be in the hands of a good offensive mind dating back to 2019, and there is no reason why he can’t show it again on Daboll’s watch. It’s only week 1, after all. Don’t. Give. Up. Yet.
To Big Blue Nation With Love,
Jon of 366 Sports