Happy Victory WEEK Giants fans. These have been few and far between in recent years. Welcome to the first Daniel Jones Report of the season (this was formerly the let’s overreact to Daniel Jones after practice and pretend like there’s not 3 years of film to watch). We’re gonna break down Daniel Jones’ play each week and ultimately decide if he’s done enough to warrant future consideration as the Giants QB.
Before we get into it, let me get me state my offseason stance. And before you get upset, I want the New York Giants to contend to a Super Bowl every year. You do that with elite QB play. Jones has been FAR from elite through three seasons, so it doesn’t seem likely that the Giants are Super Bowl contenders with Jones.
Offseason stance: Daniel Jones is not the Giants franchise QB.
With that out of the way, let’s get a little bit nerdy with some week 1 stats.
Stats – On Paper Performance
Basic Stats: 28 drop backs, 17/21 (81%), 188 yards, 2 TDs, 1 INT, QB Rating – 115.9
Advanced Metrics:
- EPA (expected points added): .01 (28 out of 32)
- CPOE (completion percentage over expected): 13.4 (1st in the league)
- ESPNs QBR: 25.8 (27 out of 32)
- Time to throw: 3.03 seconds (5th longest in the league)
- Under-pressure: 15 pressured drop backs (53.6% of total drop backs), 7/9 (77.8%), 69 yards, 0 TDs, 0 INTs, 1 fumble, sacked 4 times, ADOT (Average depth of target) 6.8
- Kept Clean: 13 clean drop backs (46. 4% of total drop backs), 10/12 (83.3%), 119 yards, 2 TDs, 1 INT, ADOT 7.1
- Deep passing (20+ yards downfield): 1/1 (100%), 65 yards, 1 TD, 0 INTs
- Intermediate passing (10-19 yards downfield): 2/4 (50%), 30 yards, 0 TDs, 1 INT
- Short passing (0-10 yards downfield): 10/10 (100%), 74 yards, 1 TD, 0 INTs
- Behind the LOS: 4/4 (100%), 19 yards, 0 TDs, 0 INTs
For the ordinary fan that looks at the box score, Daniel Jones had a decent day. The completion percentage was high, he threw a couple of TDs, and had a turnover. Some of you will be satisfied with that and move on. The advanced metrics tell a little bit of a different story.
Daniel Jones had an EPA of .01. EPA is an advanced metric that defines players by how many points they are worth. This is essentially the number of points Daniel Jones adds or subtracts to the team. He had a .01. That’s low. This stat is saying basically any QB in the league could have performed like Jones this week.
CPOE is a stat that looks at how well the QB completed passes. In this case, Jones was awesome. He completed 13.4% more of his passes than expected. That makes sense. Jones completed 81% of his passes this week, which is a super high number.
Jones also did a nice job under pressure. Yes, he had the fumble – but let’s be real – that was on Josh Ezeudu. Sure, his stats aren’t anything amazing under pressure, but he got the job done. His average depth of target when he was kept clean of 7.1 does leave something to be desired. You’d like to see Jones push the ball down the field a bit more.
Jones threw the ball just 5 times passed 10 yards down the field. That’s not the largest number in the world. It seemed like Jones and the Giants were content with quick short passes to keep things simple on Jones and the line. Jones did hit on the 65 yarder to wide open Shepard – which was a game changing play.
Film – What Did We See
The first thing we need to discuss is one of Jones’ worst interceptions of his career.
This is bad. Really bad. You’re inside the 10 with 3 points practically guaranteed. Jones stares down Saquon and basically throws the ball right to Armani Hooker of the Titans. This is the type of play that ruins games.
And then there’s this play. SHEESH. Is Daniel Jones blind? Would glasses fix all these problems? Watch David Sills fly down the bottom portion of the screen WIDE open. This is what’s frustrating about Jones. He fails to see Sills on what a would likely be a touchdown, or at least a MASSIVE gain. He instead checks the ball down. These are the types of plays Jones needs to make to keep his job.
Those are the really ugly plays. The kind of plays that would make Giants fans sick if they had lost this week.
There were two good plays that really stuck out – obviously, the first being the big TD to Shepard.
Now, this isn’t some special throw. But you have to give Jones his due. He spotted the wide open WR down field and let the ball rip.
And this fourth down conversion was a huge play. It was practically Jones only contribution in keeping the drive going (Jones only threw for 11 yards on the final drive) as Barkley ran the team down the field.
Overall, the film was pretty lackluster for Jones. He threw a lot of short passes, despite holding onto the ball for a while. The eye test for an elite QB wasn’t there.
Week 1 and Season Verdict – Low Tier Game Manager
Daniel Jones looked and played like a game manager and a game manager is NOT a franchise QB. There’s the Alex Smith type game manager and then there’s run the ball 5 times on the final drive of the game to keep the ball out of your QBs hands game manager. Jones was the latter. It felt like Jones stayed out of the way just enough to get the win and he almost found a way to cost the team the game with a turnover in scoring position. The advanced metrics also showed that Jones really didn’t add any points with his .01 EPA.
I don’t think Daniel Jones did anything this weekend that an overwhelming majority of QBs in the league could do. I think if you spun a wheel and replaced Jones with a different starter, the result would have been the same or better.
I don’t think the Giants should bring Jones back. I’m hoping he can prove me wrong.