The Daniel Jones Report is BACK! What’s the point of all this – to completely track Daniel Jones’ development, or lack of development, during the 2022 season. Why? Because this is the most polarizing topic in all of Giants football and the Giants need a franchise QB. A franchise QB is an elite QB that makes a team a playoff contender each and every year.
Week 1 stance: Daniel Jones is a game manager and not a franchise QB
Stats – On Paper Performance (Season)
Basic Stats:
Pressure Stats:
Passing Depth Stats:
Advanced Metrics (Season):
Three weeks into the season certain trends start to pop up that are likely to stay consistent. For starters, the Giants aren’t throwing the ball downfield. Brand new offense, same result as last season, which makes me think this is a Daniel Jones problem.
The second trend ties into the first one – Daniel Jones is going to hold onto the ball a lot longer in this offense. This offense wants to push the ball down the field more, which means plays need more time to develop. The deep shots just haven’t come. It also means Jones is going to be more susceptible to pressure. The line is still a work in progress and the offense is having the QB hold onto the ball for a whole half second longer than the league average. There’s going to be pressure.
One positive season long trend – Jones isn’t a turnover machine. He still makes some really questionable throws, including two throws that Diggs should have intercepted that we’ll talk about below, but he’s basically par for the course in turnover worthy plays.
From an overall season perspective, Daniel Jones’ expected points added of 6.7 is really bad. He’s only in front of the likes of Baker Mayfield, Justin Fields, Jimmy G (who has only played in 2 games), Davis Mills, Joe Flacco, Jameis Winston, and Mac Jones. It’s not good company to be in.
Daniel Jones is also lacking those big-time throws you want a QB to make. He’s clocked in just 2 in 3 games. The league average is 4. Big named QBs like Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson have 8 and 7, respectively. In a season where Jones is playing for his future, you want to see him make more plays with his arm.
Film – What Did We See
You didn’t need to rewatch the game to see that Jones was running for his life. Daniel Jones wasn’t the reason the Giants lost (don’t you just love it when the title shows up in the article). Here’s a clip of Jones getting hit – it’s over a minute long. That’s a problem for one week.
The Giants are at their best when Daniel Jones is a runner. Jones is also at his best when he’s a runner. He had 79 yards rushing vs Dallas on 9 attempts.
Jones also made one of the better throws of his career to Richie James vs the Cowboys. That’s a really tough throw in a tight window.
Daniel Jones didn’t lose the Giants the game, but it’s plays like the one below that stop him from winning the game for the Giants. Jones does a really nice job here of stepping up in the pocket to give himself a window to throw the ball – and he just doesn’t get rid of it. He never takes a look at the left side of the field where Richie James is running a great route and David Sills is open. These are the plays that Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes make that make them different.
I’ll give Jones some credit though – he did make a very similar type of play here. Jones evades the rush and finds Golladay down the field, but the play is wiped out by offensive pass interference.
Let’s talk about the ugly plays – the two turnover worthy plays. There was a lot of people blaming Kenny Golladay for this throw. This throw is made far too late. Golladay is already turned around and Diggs is breaking on the ball when Jones throws it. Jones had no window and had no business making this throw this late. The timing is completely off – that ball had to go out much earlier.
Jones makes another questionable decision later in the game and the ball goes straight through Diggs hands. Shepard ends up
Week 3 and Season Verdict – We Need More of this Daniel Jones but it’s still not enough.
Daniel Jones looked much improved this week. This was his best game of the season, and he played well enough for the team to win. The rest of the offense just didn’t play well enough. We need to see more of this version of Daniel Jones but it’s still not enough. The Giants didn’t get a single snap in the red zone. Sure, that’s not entirely on Jones – but how often is that happening to Allen, Lamar, Mahomes, etc.? I want this team to consistently be competitive and you need elite QB play to do that. Jones is still not close to hitting that mark.
I don’t think the Giants should bring Jones back. I’m hoping he can prove me wrong.