It’s over. Finished. What else should you see? It’s been five years since the same excruciatingly painful reality smacked the Giants in the face on an almost weekly basis. You’d think that would be enough to make them realize that that one season of basic competency was nothing more than an accident, but here they are.
They went on the road Monday night against the Pittsburgh Steelers Daniel Jones as their quarterback. And it is not surprising that he lost the match. Twice he turned it over in the fourth quarter with a chance to score and tie the game with the ensuing two-point conversion. The final sent a miserable interception two yards over an open Devin Singletair‘s head.
Final score: Steelers 26, Giants 18.
It’s time for the head coach Brian Daboll to do what he flirted with a week ago against Philadelphia. The Jones era with the Giants must end. Is Drew Slot the correct answer? Tommy DeVito? That is unclear.
But it’s time for New York to recognize that Jones is clearly the wrong guy.
You may regret the Giants’ decision not to have a contingency plan for one Andrew Thomas injury until you are blue in the face. That’s a wild case of roster mismanagement. GM Joe Schoen told anyone who would listen that the tackle’s absence derailed their 2023 season. Knowing that, to have to scramble to add Chris Hubbard off the San Francisco 49ers practice squad because your backup, Jos Ezeuduwas it so bad that you had to give him up after a week? Ridiculous.
But this doesn’t cross the line. It’s not about the defense’s bad tackles. It’s not about the coverage failures. This isn’t about another special teams meltdown. It is not about the gruesome display of discipline demonstrated by the eleven accepted punishments.
It’s that Jones, who is now an almost unbelievable 1-15 in primetime games, went out for four quarters and once again showed anyone with a pair of functioning eyes and a rudimentary understanding of football that he’s not.
Darius Slayton broke loose along the left sideline. Jones hesitated, threw late, high and a big one Minka Fitzpatrick hit broke the game. Malik Nabers broke away diagonally, Jones threw a pass that forced him to stop, Nabers dropped the ball. No quarterback is perfect. Even the best make plays like that. But with the game on the line, Jones was at his worst.
Back eight, linebacker Bobby Okereke knocked the ball out of the Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson‘s hands on a scramble and jumped on it, giving the Giants the ball at the Steelers 34 with just under five minutes remaining. Four plays later, Jones was in the shotgun on third-and-7.
Steelers’ all-world rusher TJ Watt exploded off the line, past the tackle Jermaine Eluemunorundressed Jones and recovered it. Watt is one of the best in the game. There’s little you can do to slow him down. However, Daboll told reporters after the game that Jones had to give the line time to shift and chip Watt. Instead, he broke it off early, leading to the sack.
Give Daboll credit for his honesty, but that’s about as much as a player can throw under the bus
The Giants still got the ball back after a Steelers punt. Jones drove New York to the Pittsburgh 35. This time Watt and Alex Highsmithwho sacked Jones twice and hit six times, were on the sidelines. Jones got the shotgun snap and had an opening Theo Johnson and Singletair. He panicked, didn’t put his feet on the ground, sailed over the back of his head and Hat bishop took it away.
It was a miserable game, but that was to be expected. Again, this is the player that Jones has shown in all but one season. And even that year earned him his highly scrutinized extension, with 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 didn’t fare any better on the trade market, in free agency, and didn’t have the capital to move up in the draft for C.J. Stroud. So they counted on his advantage. They hoped he would continue to evolve along with Daboll. It was good decision making by Schoen. But that didn’t happen. So it’s time to move on.
Technically, the Giants were already trying to do that. They did everything they could to move up in this year’s draft for the No. 3 pick. There they would have selected UNCs Drake Maye. Daboll was heard on Hard Knocks preaching his desire to go get it Jayden Danielsnow a star for the Washington Commanders. When these attempts proved futile, they decided to reverse it together with Jones.
Despite being 3 in this offense this year and having more to work with (Nabers) than ever before, Jones appears to have regressed. His arm strength is a far cry from the start of his career. He routinely misses deep throws. Even his long shot to Slayton on the game’s first possession (43-yard gain) is likely a touchdown if he gets out more often. Combine that with the inaccuracies and poor decisions that have plagued his career, and you get a lousy quarterback that won’t take this team anywhere.
Daboll saw plenty in the Giants’ loss to the Eagles. He benched Jones in the second half in search of a spark. After the game and throughout the week, he emphasized that Jones was “moving forward” with his quarterback.
Pittsburgh wasn’t progressive in any way other than the calendar. The Giants are stuck in reverse as long as they keep trotting out Jones as their signal caller.
A change has been long overdue.
