Tom Rock columns

If Daniel Jones shows no real improvement between Week 1 and Week 2, the Giants might be forced to try to salvage their season with someone else.

Last year's starting center just a practice-squadder now after injury, but he's happy to be part of what he believes is a special team. 

If there is anything that sums up the tenure of this regime so far, it is this: Brian Daboll goes into a gotta-have-it game for the Giants trying to beat the QB he very publicly wanted while trying to fix the one he's stuck with.

The star defensive tackle said his piece after the Giants' miserable showing in the opener.

Monday night's  game against the 49ers is a homecoming for Aaron Rodgers and many others with the Jets.

The franchise has proved it is much better at celebrating its 100th season than actually playing it.

"There's no better way to celebrate it than to go out there and win," wide receiver Darius Slayton told Newsday of his view on the challenge of living up to 99 years of tradition that is being proudly paraded for all to see.

After what happened in Rodgers' debut last season, it's only natural to be nervous for Monday night's opener.

Expectations are high out of the blocks for wide receiver even before his first NFL game.

Sure, 2023 was a complete disappointment for both teams, but it's a new year!

Although the substance of Brian Flores' legal complaint is a very important matter for the league to reckon with, this upcoming clash (on the field) may be more interesting for now.

The starting quarterbacks for Sunday's Giants-Vikings game can look across the field at each other and see an alternate-universe version of themselves. 

Brian Burns did not play a single defensive snap in the fourth quarter with his team holding a lead last season.

Leonard Taylor III, Braiden McGregor and Eric Watts — all undrafted — became fast friends through training camp and now into regular season.

Looking up and down the list of players they have right now, it's hard to see them as a squad whose skill and depth will carry them to where they want to be.

Preseason games remain stubbornly stuck on the calendar as an antiquated reminder of a bygone era, a nod to when players would come to training camp to actually train and get into shape.

Big Blue leader will be calling the offensive plays this season; Gang Green's defensive-minded leader more involved with offense.

Winning a "Battle of New York" is one thing, winning the battles to come in San Francisco and Nashville and Miami and Buffalo and even London is where it's all at.

The undersized rookie flew below the league's radar but went viral after chasing down Texans RB J.J. Taylor nearly 40 yards downfield on Saturday.

Aaron Rodgers and his gang played poorly Monday, putting forth one of their worst performances of the summer, but the Jets' defense might have had something to do with that.

It could be a bumpy road the next few months for him and the team.

Sporting a beard in training camp, he will likely lead Big Blue against Texans in preseason game on Saturday. 

It all points to a topsy-turvy organization that time and again needs to have its quarterback — not its head coach or its general manager or even its owner — step in to try and clean up business messes.

The Jets should have seen this coming and worked out a new deal with Haason Reddick before the trade with the Eagles was completed.

"Being mentally tough, being physically tough, I think you've got to train that," coach Brian Daboll said.

Both QBs had their 2023 season ruined by injuries. Their teams would be smart and well-served to keep them off the field in these meaningless exhibitions.

In a joint practice with a Lions team many believe can represent the NFC in this year's Super Bowl, the Giants flashed an unexpected fight that could alter the gloomy projections for the team this season.

Newcomer Morgan Moses, a veteran offensive lineman, said he's never experienced anything like an Aaron Rodgers huddle. 

The middle linebacker and defensive coordinator will need to be in lockstep together for the defense to operate as it is designed.

Robert Saleh: "As a quarterback, he's trying to operate at a certain level of efficiency, which means people around him need to be efficient at the same level."

"I've had a lot of dark days and, you know, just to be able to touch that grass, it's a big blessing, man," an emotional Javon Kinlaw said on Monday at Jets training camp.

Imagine if the Giants and Jets somehow could merge their quarterbacks, with the most positive traits of each going into one player?

They cannot afford many — or perhaps any — injuries at that position if they are going to be able to function they way they hope to this season.

To Jets something doesn't just mean to come up short of a title. It's far more spectacular — and, to be more specific, usually something of the team's own doing.

A year ago he was the reigning Coach of the Year coming off a playoff season. Now he may be coaching for his job. So he's changed. So far.

While one future Hall of Famer was getting his work in at minicamp, the other was off doing something he decided outweighed his obligation to the Jets.

Sirianni's "We got your best player" zinger may be just the start of it this season.

If the Yankees can't pull it off this fall, guess which team is waiting in the on-deck circle?

"He's done a great job in the meetings. He's improved every day. We're happy we have him," coach Brian Daboll said of Drew Lock, who could give Daniel Jones a run for the role of starting QB.

Aaron Rodgers went to the sideline for a brief moment as trainers helped him something. It was a reminder of the stakes for these Jets. 

Just how much he can turn off and ignore that other side of his innermost soul though, that siren's call for attention, oration, dissertation, conspiracy and conflict that drives him to make the non-football appearances and statements he so often does, remains to be seen.

General manager Joe Schoen called his character, smarts and communication "elite."

Caleb Williams, the Atlanta Falcons, the Buffalo Bills and more from this year's draft.

He has shored up the offensive line, receiver corps and backup QB through free agency and the draft.

Not only does Jones get to keep his job for the foreseeable future, he also gets a top-tier receiver.

They may be the top QBs before the draft, but there's no guarantee they'll even be with that team in a few seasons.

The first round of this draft is a referendum on what the franchise's top decision-maker truly, honestly, unabashedly thinks about Daniel Jones.

If not for a toe injury that cut short his senior season, offensive lineman Matt Goncalves believes he would go in the first round. 

Simpson is a reminder the athletes we treat as deities are, in fact, people. Athletes can be perfect, but people are almost always flawed.

Coach Brian Daboll and GM Joe Schoen have been to pro days, have hosted others and it feels as if Big Blue could draft another QB next month.