After six scoreless quarters to open season, Giants QB Daniel Jones morphs into MVP to drive comeback win
Daniel Jones #8 of the Giants directs his team during the fourth quarter in the game against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium on September 17, 2023. Credit: Getty Images/Christian Petersen
GLENDALE, Ariz. - This was why the Giants shelled out $160 million over four years for a guy most of Football Nation looks at as a middle-of-the-pack grinder.
Daniel Jones? Yes, that Daniel Jones, who had a spark the Giants saw last season that made them want to throw enough money at him to keep him around for a while.
Before last season, general manager Joe Schoen, coach Brian Daboll and almost everyone else who follows football was not sure about the erratic kid out of Duke with the quick legs and questionable judgment.
And at halftime of Sunday’s game against the Cardinals at State Farm Stadium, the same sorts of doubts were creeping back in, at least to those not on the Giants’ sideline.
At that point, the Giants had been outscored 60-0 in their first six quarters of football this season, and everyone in road white looked bewildered.
Then the final 30 minutes happened, and the Giants escaped with an improbable 31-28 early must-win that come January could be seen as a mere footnote, or perhaps as a crucial turning point.
With the Giants trailing 20-0 at halftime and 28-7 early in the second half, Jones and his offense suddenly became unstoppable.
Here is how the Giants’ five first-half drives ended: punt, punt, punt, interception, end of half.
Here is how the Giants’ five second-half drives ended: touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, winning field goal.
Losing this game was not an acceptable outcome, and Jones would not accept it.
It began with the Giants’ first play of the half, a 58-yard completion to Jalin Hyatt that everyone in the locker room saw as an offensive momentum-changer, and it went from there.
In the first half, Jones was 9-for-16 for 62 yards and an interception. In the second half, he was 17-for-21 for 259 yards and two touchdowns. In his spare time, he finished with nine rushes for 59 yards and a touchdown.
Arizona entered the season generally regarded as the worst team in the NFL, aiming mostly to get Southern Cal quarterback Caleb Williams in the draft.
So losing was not an option for the Giants, who will visit the 49ers on Thursday night and would have been staring an 0-3 start in the face.
Jones faced down the Cardinals and took charge.
Again, Jones widely is viewed around the country as a decent enough fellow and decent enough quarterback, but not a game-changer.
On Sunday, he was exactly that, demonstrating the Giants’ huge edge at that position compared with Joshua Dobbs of the Cardinals, who started fast, then collapsed.
When it was over, raucous cheers and loud music could be heard through the walls between the locker room and the interview room.
Then Daboll and his players took turns praising their quarterback, who was central to making the celebration possible.
“I thought he finished strong, played a really good second half,” Daboll said. “He had a couple of things he could have improved on in the first half.
“We talked about those, but he’s a resilient young man and went out there and played well, along with, I’d say, a number of people.”
Receiver Isaiah Hodgins: “I think it’s just his calmness and his poise, his confidence in himself. You only act like that when you’re confident. You can’t be poised and sit there and lead a team when you’re not confident in yourself.
“He’s confident because he prepares his [butt] off throughout the week. He’s one of the hardest workers. He sits there and makes sure the wide receivers are on the same page as him when you get that look.”
Receiver Darius Slayton: “He’s just born that way, man. Some people just have it and some people don’t, and he’s got it.
“I imagine when people say they’ve played with a special quarterback or a really great quarterback, that’s how it feels to me.”
Jones himself was his usual impassive self at the interview podium, deflecting praise and basically shrugging verbally at every question.
“I think we always remain confident and just getting back to simple execution and trusting it and seeing it and ripping it,” he said. “We had some opportunities to make plays in the first half and we didn’t do it.
“It’s all about execution. You can’t really afford to think about any of that or get emotional or thinking about anything outside of what your job is, and that’s to execute and focus on one play at a time.”
Case in point: The Giants appeared to have tied it at 28 on a 6-yard touchdown run by Jones. But the play was called back because of a holding penalty.
No big deal. Jones stayed the course, and two plays later, he found Hodgins for an 11-yard touchdown.
“We have a resilient and tough-minded group,” Jones said. “We trusted everybody to get back focused and do what they had to do to make the play.”
That is pretty much what all of his teammates say about him.
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
