Giants to stick with Daniel Jones as the starting quarterback for Week 2

After the Giants’ first game of the season, coach Brian Daboll was asked if Daniel Jones is still his starter.

Think about that.

And here’s the truth: That was more a commentary on Jones’ play Sunday than it was impatience from outsiders.

The Giants spent weeks preparing for the regular season. Now, it seems, they have mere days to get their season right.

They will play the Washington Commanders at Northwest Stadium on Sunday.

On Monday, a day after the Vikings defeated the Giants, 28-6, Daboll began his day-after assessment of his team by saying: “There were some good things but there were certainly things we can improve on. We had some missed opportunity in there, throughout the first and second halves. The detail, cleaning up some stuff, not just with the quarterback but with everybody, we’re going to have to do that. For all of us, we can all do a better job.”

There is a pretty decent chance that very few Giants fans would agree that there were “some good things.”

The Vikings were dominant on Sunday at MetLife Stadium. If that isn’t a reality check, it probably should be.

On Daboll’s Monday Zoom call, when he was asked if Jones is still his starter, he replied, “Yes.”

That was his entire answer.

Asked further about Jones, Daboll added, “I’d say decisions, for the most part .  .  . where we were throwing, were good. Obviously, there were some, whether there was some inaccuracy because there was pressure, there’s a variety of reasons for that. It takes all 11. We’ve got to clean it all up.”

Daboll told reporters that he thought his team had a good week preparing for Sunday’s game. That did not show on the field. It’s hard to play as woefully in a home opener as the Giants did.

It’s also almost hard to believe this scenario: In the loss to Sam Darnold & Co., Jones didn’t throw a touchdown pass but did throw a pick-6. Since signing a four-year, $160 million contract with the Giants during the 2023 offseason, Jones has won only one game as a starting quarterback. He has thrown two touchdown passes and three interceptions that were returned for touchdowns.

Three other quarterbacks have thrown at least three pick-6s in the last two years: Sam Howell, Mac Jones and Bryce Young.

The Giants are 1-6 in games started by Jones in the last two years. When Jones missed time with injuries last season, Tommy DeVito went 3-3 as the starter and Tyrod Taylor went 2-3. That represents as brutal an assessment of Jones that there could be.

But the Week 2 matchup may be a good sign: Jones is 5-1-1 vs. Washington, with 11 TDs (10 passing) and three INTs.

Urgency ‘has to be there’

The two players who met with reporters after Daboll spoke were safety Jason Pinnock and guard Jon Runyan Jr.

Pinnock said he was impressed with rookie safety Tyler Nubin and rookie cornerback Dru Phillips. Asked if there is urgency to win, Pinnock said, “For sure, [the urgency] has to be there this week.”

Runyan said there was “a lot to like” and “a lot more that [the line] could do better.” For Giants fans who have been conditioned to expect the worst in offensive line play, at least Sunday represented a chance to be optimistic about the group.

Extra points

The Giants signed wide receiver and return specialist Ihmir Smith-Marsette among a series of roster moves. Also, linebacker Carter Coughlin (pectoral) was placed on the practice squad/injured list and linebacker Curtis Bolton was signed back to the practice squad after being released Saturday. Punt returner Gunner Olszewski, who suffered a groin injury during pregame warm-ups, will be out for “weeks,” Daboll said. He said the Giants were holding a workout Monday to find another return man.

By Kimberly Jones

kimberly.jones@newsday.comkimjonessports

Kimberly Jones covers the Giants for Newsday, a beat she first worked in the early 2000s before joining the YES Network to cover the Yankees. She worked for the NFL Network for more than a decade and has been heard semi-regularly on WFAN.