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The New York Giants (5-9) head down to Baltimore to face the streaking Ravens (9-5), who have scored 121 points over their last three games. The Giants have scored just 30 over that period, mainly due to the fact that starting quarterback Daniel Jones (hamstring, ankle) was on the sidelines.
Jones needs to make to make it back tis week if Giants, 10.5-point underdogs, have any designs about pulling off an upset.
“Hopefully we have three practices to be able to evaluate him,” head coach Joe Judge said when asked of Jones’ status on Monday. “We’re going to decide tomorrow as a staff what we think the best course of action is going forward this week in terms of getting these guys on the field. Obviously, with Christmas, that kind of throws a little bit of how to manage the week. We’ve got a couple plans in place. I’ll talk to the captains tomorrow and iron out what the best plan is going forward. We have a pretty good idea of what we’re going to do anyway.”
As much as the Giants would like to get Jones back, Judge says the quarterback’s health comes first.
“In terms of Daniel himself, the standard remains the same. My concern with him has been his health, making sure he can go on the field and protect himself,” Judge said. “Because of any change of number of games remaining in the season, that doesn’t dictate what we would put him at, in terms of risk on the field. I still want to make sure we can put him out there and allow him to move around and protect himself.
“There’s things that come in the game naturally that I thought Colt (McCoy) did a really good job last night. Protection was good in the passing game. Colt helped that a lot by stepping up and moving within the pocket and protecting the ball. You want to make sure that you can put a quarterback out there in position. Not necessarily that he can just pull the ball down and run all the time. Just moving in the pocket fluidly and protecting himself.
“If you can’t do that, you’re just putting yourself at a greater risk. I’ve got to see Daniel move around. I want to make sure I make the right decision for him short term and long term.”
The Giants’ offense hasn’t exploded all year, especially through the air, even with Jones under center. The Giants are 29th in the NFL in passing yards per game (185.7) and have averaged just 131.7 the past three weeks.
The Giants have only nine passing touchdowns through the first 14 games of the season. Jones has eight and backup Colt McCoy has one. The Giants have scored only 23 touchdowns this season. They have 12 rushing touchdowns and scored two on defense.
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