In Giants' Week 1, it's hard to ignore Daniel Jones' ineffectiveness
Daniel Jones #8 of the New York Giants looks on against the Minnesota Vikings at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, Sep. 8, 2024 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Credit: Jim McIsaac
The Giants put on a brutal performance on Sunday, losing to Sam Darnold and the Vikings, 28-6.
Darnold savaged the Giants secondary, going 19-for-24 for 208 yards and two touchdowns.
If he needed more points, he almost certainly would have found ways to find them.
That the Giants couldn’t keep up with the Vikings has to be troubling. Minnesota’s 2024 expected win total was set at 6.5 wins by BetMGM.
Coincidentally, the Giants' win total was also set at 6.5 wins by the same outlet.
The Giants have cleared that total only once in the previous seven seasons.
The quarterback, of course, generally gets too much blame and too much praise, but by any measure, Daniel Jones played poorly. And that has become a trend. Since signing the four-year, $160 million contract with the Giants before last season, Jones has thrown more touchdown passes to the opposition (with three pick-6s) than to his own team (two touchdown passes).
On Sunday, Jones completed just 22 of his 42 passes for 186 yards and two interceptions. He was sacked five times and had an unsightly quarterback rating of 44.3.
Jones is coming off a torn ACL suffered in Week 9 of the 2023 season. He was a full participant in training camp.
In 2023, Jones had a passer rating of 70.5 with 909 yards, two touchdowns and six interceptions in six games.
What was Nabers' impact?
Not as significant as it could have been. The rookie was first targeted with the Giants’ 13th offensive snap. He had five catches on seven targets for 66 yards. The average per catch was a healthy 13.2 yards. Only Wan’Dale Robinson had more targets (12) than Nabers.
“I thought he played well,” Jones said. “Made a couple big plays and some nice catches. I've got to find a way to get him the ball more.”
That surely is true.
“Daniel said he was trying to give me the ball,” Nabers said after the game. “He saw a lot of people in his face. I mean, I cannot control that. They were trying to give me the ball, but stuff was not working right, so we just have to fix that up.”
It will be up to coach Brian Daboll, now the offensive play-caller, to make sure Nabers can affect the game. He is the true difference-maker on the offense, a player who would likely start for any team in the league.
Jones said during training camp: “I think he can be a tremendous weapon for us. He can do everything. There’s not much he can’t do really from a route-running standpoint. He’s dynamic either way the ball in his hands, and strong, fast, explosive, catches the ball well. Yeah, he does a lot well.”
Now, the Giants need to find ways to unleash him to do so.
Where was the pass rush?
Expectations were high (and still are) for Dexter Lawrence, Kayvon Thibodeaux and Brian Burns. The entire trio produced one sack, from Lawrence. Thibodeaux had a costly face mask penalty that kept a Vikings scoring drive alive. And the Giants had only two hits on Darnold all day.
There may be some growing pains with coordinator Shane Bowen’s defense. The defensive front is expected to win one-on-one matchups.
There did not appear to be enough of those opportunities for Burns and Thibodeaux.
Before the opener, Lawrence told Newsday that “it’s rare that you have this kind of talent.”
He also said he was firmly embracing the role of leader. It may be that Lawrence’s voice is at least as important as anyone’s in the locker room.
Of his teammates, Lawrence said: “Nailing down each practice, going into [every] game and winning. I think it’s up to us in this locker room just to be homed in on the details of the game plan and give your 1/11th on every play.”
That might be a message Lawrence is doubling down on these days.
Of course, there may be one upside of the Giants loss that, perhaps, fans will endorse.
It could be unlikely that the Giants will ever wear those uniforms again.
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.
