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When you’re the quarterback of the New York Giants, literally nothing you do is considered right in the eyes of those who watch you. Just ask Eli Manning — he dealt with it for 16 years.
Second-year quarterback Daniel Jones has certainly gotten a taste of that in recent weeks, finding himself criticized for being both too aggressive and too passive.
The latter is the fun new argument facing Jones and the Giants after he avoided a turnover for just the second time in his career during a 23-20 victory over the Washington Football Team this past Sunday.
Jones didn’t take many big chances, went with high-percentage throws, managed the game well and ultimately walked away with the victory. But as noted previously, this is New York and that’s just not going to fly.
During Wednesday’s media rounds, both Jones and head coach Joe Judge were peppered with questions about the quarterback’s suddenly passive play and whether or not it’s actually a detriment to the team.
“I would disagree with that. I think he’s doing a lot of things aggressively,” Judge said when asked if Jones isn’t being aggressive enough. “I think the way this guy stands in the pocket when the rush is collapsing on him at certain times or makes plays with his feet extending outside the pocket, the way he’s willing to pull the ball in some of the zone reads and run downfield and take a big hit. I see a lot of aggressiveness in Daniel, and I like the way he plays.”
Judge says the Giants won’t be afraid to take shots with Jones under center despite his earlier turnover problem. He considers Jones a “developing” player, which means mistakes are going to happen.
“When it comes time to take our shots, we’ll take our shots offensively. Sometimes we have to be a little bit more calculated about how we want to systematically move the ball down the field. You have to have a good balance of both within a game plan,” Judge said. That being said, look, I think Daniel is a developing player. I think he’s shown a lot of promise, he’s making a lot of gains this year, he’s done a lot of really, really good things for us, and that he gives us a chance to be competitive within games. I see him improving on a weekly basis, and I love having that guy in the huddle right now being our signal-caller.”
For Jones, it doesn’t really matter how the job gets done as long as it gets done. If he has to take shots down the field to win, he will. If he has to manage the game to win, he will.
It’s all about the W.
“The goal every time we go out on the field is to win the football game. There’s no confusion about that,” Jones said. “I certainly don’t have any other goals or expectations when I walk out on the field. I know our team feels that, I feel that. We’re doing everything we can to win and we’re confident every time we go out on the field.”
Luckily for Jones, that mindset helps him tune out the outside noise. Whatever it is he’s being criticized for this week — and he knows there’s always something — he genuinely doesn’t care.
“I think a big part of it is understanding when the opportunity is there, the ability to recognize that quickly, anticipate it and take it. A lot of times, that’s down the field or sometimes that’s just a quick decision where you’re letting the guy catch and run and giving him space with an accurate ball,” Jones said.
“For me right now, I’m focused on improving and taking the steps I need to take as a player week to week, and make sure I’m learning from coaching and doing everything I can to put the team in a position to win football games here down the stretch. That’s where my focus is. I’m not sure I can afford to focus on that as much as just prepare as well as I can to win a football game.”
Win or lose, Jones knows fans and pundits will find something to nitpick come next week because they’re not happy unless miserable, so he remained focused only on himself and his team. The rest is just white noise.
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