Giants Q&A: Daniel Jones excels in London

What did Daniel Jones show the Giants in Sunday’s 27-22 victory over the Packers?

A lot. Playing on a sore left ankle and limited physically, he was able to lead the team to its biggest comeback win since 2019. After a week in which everyone in the organization gushed about Jones’ toughness, he lived up to their praise on the field.

“I thought the quarterback had an excellent game, and he’s had a few of those,” coach Brian Daboll said. “Maybe his stats don’t reflect it, but he’s led his team down to wins. He’s played good at crunch time coming back from a little bit of an ankle [injury] .  .  . I’m glad he’s our quarterback.”

Jones had the ankle heavily taped and wore hightop cleats. How was he after the game?

None the worse, he indicated. “It felt good,” he said. “It felt good throughout the game, and it’s been feeling good all week.”

What about Saquon Barkley? Was he bothered by his shoulder injury when he returned from the locker room?

Hardly. “I was cool,” he said. He even had two hands out conducting the crowd in a sing-a-long to “Sweet Caroline” during a commercial break before he officially returned to action.

Still, it is something worth watching for the Giants as they prepare for the Ravens in Week 6.

“I kept asking him on the sideline, ‘Are you good to go?’   ” Daboll said. “He was good to go. We’ll see where he’s at. Hopefully he’ll be ready.”

Did Barkley see the tying touchdown that third-string running back Gary Brightwell scored in his absence?

He did not, and he was angry about it. “I love Gary,” he said. “That’s like my little brother. I love the way he runs. I love the way he carries himself.”

What did Brightwell think when Barkley had to leave the field?

“You can’t show fear in those situations and I didn’t show fear,” he said. “I knew I had to make that play.”

He wound up with a 2-yard touchdown that made it 20-20 with 10:08 left. Brightwell also had the lead block on Barkley’s go-ahead touchdown.

Did tight end Daniel Bellinger have the option to throw the ball when he took a pitch from Barkley before scoring on a 2-yard run?

Sort of. Daboll said: “I just told him, ‘If you can run it in, I trust your legs a little bit more than your arm. I still think you can do it .  .  . But if you think there’s anything whatsoever that it might get knocked down or a bad play might happen, we have got another down, let’s just line up and go again.’  ”

Bellinger said he wanted to throw to Jones, who had peeled off on a route, but he was covered.

“I figured the smartest thing to do was run it,” he said.

The Giants have run that play several times in practices and keep it in their arsenal for a two-point conversion, Daboll said. What do they call it?

“Bellinger pass,” Bellinger said, somewhat chagrined by the simplicity of it.

Given that it is derived from the Philly Special that the Eagles used in their Super Bowl win, why not call it something more clever? Something like “Bellie special,” maybe?

“Bellie special,” he said, mulling the suggestion. “I like it.”

What was the biggest surprise on the trip to London?

Definitely the crowd. The Giants thought this was going to be a neutral-site contest akin to a bowl game in college. Instead, every Packers fan on the continent seemed to have made his or her way to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

“I didn’t know it was going to be like that,” safety Xavier McKinney said. “It was like a true away game. Basically all the fans were Packers fans and I was like, damn.”

By the end, though, “let’s go Giants” chants were echoing through the building as Daboll ran through the tunnel frantically celebrating and high-fiving everyone within arm distance.

“I know it was their home game,” he said, “but at the end of the game, it felt like [our] home game.”

By Tom Rock

tom.rock@newsday.com@TomRock_Newsday

Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.