Giants QB Daniel Jones ahead of game by playing in them this preseason

Of all the ill-fated decisions Joe Judge made last year – and there were plenty that led to his premature ouster after just two seasons – the one that stood out the most was the one he made before the Giants even played their first game.

It was the one that may have doomed Daniel Jones’ season from the start.

Rather than risk injury to Jones in the preseason, and content that he was far enough along in Jason Garrett’s offensive system, Judge decided to keep his third-year quarterback out of game action entirely, waiting until the regular-season opener against the Broncos at MetLife Stadium.

Big mistake.

Jones wasn’t ready, the Giants’ offense never got fully untracked against an average Denver team, and the Broncos went on to a 27-13 win. The Giants lost four of their next five games, and that was it. They bottomed out at 4-13, and Judge was shown the door, while Jones, who missed the last six games with a neck injury, was left to wonder about his future.

Brian Daboll didn’t make the same mistake with Jones. The fourth-year quarterback, new to Daboll’s West Coast system, has already seen action in the first two Giants preseason games, and may get one more look in Sunday’s preseason finale against the Jets.

We said last year it was a mistake to keep Jones off the field, and we say that it’s the right call to play Jones in this, a make-or-break year for the former first-round pick. Jones was clearly trying to shake off the rust at the start of last year, and there was simply no recovering. And while playing him in the games this year doesn’t guarantee success, he at least has gotten the feel of suiting up for games and getting knocked around a bit while getting ready for the opener on Sept. 11 in Tennessee.

“You’ve got to do what’s best for your guys,” Daboll said Wednesday. “Get Daniel some work in the first game [against the Patriots], and the second game [against Cincinnati] was good for him, good for our entire offense. We’ll see how it goes for this third game.”

Daboll isn’t sure of the plan for Sunday, but the Giants were in pads on Wednesday and have a joint practice with the Jets on Thursday. So it’s possible his snaps will be dialed back in Sunday’s preseason game. But the fact that he has already seen game action puts him ahead of where he was at this point last year.

And then there’s this: Jones hasn’t looked so hot in many of this year’s training camp practices, misfiring on some throws and getting intercepted on others. But against the Patriots and Bengals, there seemed to be much greater consistency and a command of the offense that hadn’t always been there in practice. A sign of encouragement for Daboll?

“Yeah, because the games matter the most,” he said.

Daboll also explained that a lot of what Jones sees in practice can be more complicated than it is in games. By design.

“We’re trying to script and do a lot of things in practice,” Daboll said. “You’d like to have a perfect practice every time you step out there. But the great thing about practice is it doesn’t count. It counts if you learn from it, and he’s done a good job of getting a lot of different looks, going back in the meeting rooms, talking with the receivers, talking with the coaches, talking with [offensive coordinator Mike] Kafka, talking about the protections. That’s why you practice.”

None of it means that this will translate into regular-season success, and chances are Jones runs into many of the same issues that have dogged his career – mostly the turnovers that have stunted his development. But Daboll is encouraged by the improved performance in live action against opposing teams.

Against the Patriots, Jones was 6-of-10 for 69 yards and had what should have been a touchdown pass were it not for a dropped ball near the goal line by Kenny Golladay. A solid outing, given it was his first game action in Daboll’s offense. A week later, Jones looked even sharper against the Bengals at MetLife Stadium, going 14-of-16 for 116 yards and an interception. But the pick wasn’t his fault. The ball was delivered on target to tight end Daniel Bellinger, but it caromed off his hands and was intercepted.

“You try to make practice harder than it is in a game as a coaching staff the best you can, whether it’s situations, different looks, blitzes, same thing with motions and shifts,” Daboll said. “You map things out to try to put pressure on as many players and coaches as you can. That’s what we try to do. I’m not saying everybody tries to do that. I think he’s done a good job of learning from it and applying it in the games.”

It remains to be seen whether he’ll apply it once the games count. For now, at least things look more promising. And unlike last year, at least Jones has the benefit of knowing what the offense should look and feel like when the lights come on.

By Bob Glauber

Special to NewsdayBobGlauber

Bob Glauber retired in 2022 after covering the NFL for nearly 40 years. He was selected in 2021 for the Bill Nunn Career Achievement Award by the Pro Football Writers of America, and is a three-time winner of the New York State Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. President of the PFWA for the 2018-20 seasons, he is the author of “The Forgotten First” and “Guts and Genius.”