Daniel Jones has 5 game winning drives this season! That sounds excellent. It sounded so good, I was hoping to write something nice about Jones on DJ Day. What I found was pretty disappointing. Let’s take a look at each game.
Tennessee Titans – on NYG 27 down 7 points (73-yard touchdown drive):
Daniel Jones: 3/3, 11 yards, 1 TD, 2 RUSH ATT, 4 yards, one 4th down conversion on the ground, 2-point conversion shuffle pass complete
Saquon Barkley: 5 ATTs, 51 yards, 2-point conversion shuffle pass complete
Daniel Jones and the Giants relied heavily on Barkley against Tennessee on the final drive. Barkley had a 33 yard run that basically put the Giants in the red zone. Barkley also made a defender miss on the 2 point conversion.
Then there’s the obvious piece no one wants to talk about when it comes to this game – Tennessee missed a 47 yard field goal to win the game.
Carolina Panthers – on NYG 25 in a tie game (37-yard FG drive):
Daniel Jones: 3/3, 15 yards
Saquon Barkley: 3 ATTs, 19 yards
Graham Gano: 56-yard FG
Sometimes minimal work gets the job done. The Giants managed to move the ball just enough against Carolina to kick a really long field goal. Graham Gano is the man.
The defense then forced a punt and the Giants ran the clock out.
Green Bay Packers – on NYG 40 in a tie game (60-yard TD drive):
Daniel Jones: 3/3, 47 yards, 1 RUSH ATT, 4 yards
Saquon Barkley: 1 ATT, 2 yards, 1 TD, 1 REC, 41 yards
Daniel Jones had 47 passing yards on this game winning drive – 41 of which came on a check down to Saquon. Saquon made multiple guys miss on that play and set the Giants up again! An unnecessary roughness penalty on Green Bay put the Giants on the 2 and Saquon punched in a score.
Baltimore Ravens – on BAL 13 down 3 (13-yard TD drive):
Daniel Jones: 1/2, 7 yards – INT that was wiped out due to pass interference
Saquon Barkley: 1 ATT, 1 yards, 1 TD
This game winning drive that goes to the defense. The offense got handed the ball on the 13 yard line and then Baltimore had a pass interference penalty (on a bad throw) in the end zone.
Jacksonville Jaguars – on NYG 21 down 4 (79-yard TD drive):
Daniel Jones: 0/2, 0 yards, 4 RUSH ATTs, 35 yards, 1 TD
Saquon Barkley: 4 ATT, 28 yards
This was the Daniel Jones game. He didn’t complete a pass, but his legs got the Giants down the field. It’s still odd that the Giants didn’t complete a pass on a 4th quarter drive when they were down…
So what do the stats actually look like:
Daniel Jones Passing: 10/13, 80 yards, 1 TD
Daniel Jones Rushing: 4 ATT, 43 yards, 1 TD
Jones somehow has 5 game winning drives and only 80 passing yards on those game winning drives to show for it. To put that into perspective, Eli Manning had 74 yards passing in his game winning drive in Super Bowl 46. G
enerally, QBs bring you down the field with their arm. That hasn’t been the case here. Jones is averaging just 16 passing yards per game winning drive. He’s only thrown for over 20 yards on a game winning drive once this season.
Meanwhile, Saquon has been a stud on these drives.
Saquon Barkley: 14 ATTs, 101 yards, 2 TDs, 1 REC, 41 yards
That’s 7.2 yards per carry. Barkley has more rushing attempts than Jones has passing attempts – which is just odd. This is a GAME WINNING drive. That means your down in the 4th quarter. And the Giants are running the football.
I know everyone thinks we love to knock Jones. But this was disappointing. With context, 5 game winning drives for Jones isn’t as impressive as it seems. He just hasn’t had to put the team on his back.