It’s over. Made. What else do you need to see? Five years have passed of the same unbearably painful reality that plagues the Giants on the face almost weekly. You’d think that would be enough to make them realize that the one season of basic competition was nothing more than an accident, but here they are.
On Monday night, against the Pittsburgh Steelers, they brought out Daniel Jones as his quarterback. And, as expected, he lost the game. He lost the ball twice in the fourth quarter with the opportunity to score and tie the game with the subsequent two-point conversion. The last one, on a miserable interception, sent six feet over an open field. Devin Singletarythe head.
Final score: Steelers 26, Giants 18.
It’s head coach time Brian Daboll do what he flirted with a week ago against Philadelphia. The Jones Era with the Giants must end. Is drew lock the correct answer? Tommy DeVito? That’s not clear.
But it’s time for New York to acknowledge the fact that Jones is clearly wrong.
The Giants’ decision not to have a contingency plan for a Andres Tomas injury until you turn blue in the face. This is a crazy case of staff mismanagement. G.M. joe schoen told anyone who would listen that the tackle’s absence derailed his 2023 season. Knowing that, having to fight to add Chris Hubbard off the San Francisco 49ers practice squad because your backup, jose ezeuduWas it so bad that you had to give it up after a week? Ridiculous.
But it’s not about the line. It’s not about the defense’s poor tackle. These are not failures in coverage. This is not another special teams crisis. This is not the horrible display of discipline evident in the 11 accepted penalties.
It’s just that, for four quarters, Jones, who is now an almost unbelievable 1-for-15 in prime-time games, went out and once again showed anyone with a functional pair of eyes and a basic understanding of football that that’s not who he is.
Darius Slayton He broke free on the left wing. Jones hesitated, threw late, high and a big Minkah Fitzpatrick The blow interrupted the play. Malik Nabers He broke free on a slant, Jones threw a pass that forced him to stop, and Nabers dropped the ball. No quarterback is perfect. Even the best have plays like that. However, with the game on the line, Jones was at his worst.
Down eight, linebacker Bobby Okereke He stripped the ball from the Steelers quarterback Russell WilsonHe got to work and jumped over it, giving the Giants the ball at the Steelers’ 34-yard line with just under five minutes left. Four plays later, Jones lined up at the shotgun on third-and-seven.
The Steelers’ world running back TJ Watts exploded off the line, passing the tackle Jermaine EluemunorHe stripped Jones and recovered him. Watt is one of the best in the game. There is little you can do to stop it. However, Daboll told reporters after the game that Jones was supposed to give the line time to switch and chip Watt. Instead, he broke it early, which led to his dismissal.
You have to give Daboll credit for his honesty, but that’s the lowest you can throw a player.
The Giants still got the ball back after a Steelers punt. Jones drove to New York to Pittsburgh 35. This time Watt and Alex Highsmithwho sacked Jones twice and hit him six times, were on the sidelines. Jones took the shotgun blast and opened Theo Johnson and Singletario. He panicked, didn’t put his feet down, put him over his back and Bishop Hat picked it up.
It was a miserable play, but it was to be expected. Again: This is the player Jones has proven to be in all but one of his seasons. And even that year that earned him his much-discussed extension he had a 9-6-1 record, 3,205 passing yards, 15 passing touchdowns and another seven on the ground.
As for that contract: The Giants were right to give it to him after that season. They couldn’t find anything better in the trade market, in free agency and they didn’t have the capital to move up in the draft for CJ Stroud. So they bet on its advantages. They hoped it would continue to evolve under Daboll. It was a good decision on Schoen’s part. But that hasn’t happened. Then it’s time to move on.
The Giants, technically, already tried to do that. They did everything they could to move up in this year’s draft with the third pick. There they would have selected UNC. drake maye. Daboll was heard on “Hard Knocks” preaching his desire to fetch Jayden Danielsnow a star for the Washington Commanders. When those efforts proved futile, they decided to work with Jones again.
Despite this being the third year of this offense and having more to work with (Nabers) than ever, Jones appears to have regressed. His arm strength is nothing like it was at the beginning of his career. He routinely misses deep shots. Even his long throw to Slayton on the game’s first possession (a 43-yard gain) is likely a touchdown if he takes it out further. Combine that with the inaccuracies and poor decisions that have plagued his career, and you get a useless quarterback that this team is going nowhere with.
Daboll saw enough in the Giants’ loss to the Eagles. He benched Jones in second half looking for a spark After the game and during the week he highlighted that Jones was his quarterback “for the future.”
Pittsburgh was ahead in no other sense than the schedule. The Giants are stuck in reverse as long as they continue to present Jones as their point man.
A change is long overdue.