A year later, Giants still don't have much clarity at quarterback
Giants quarterback Daniel Jones walks the field before an NFL game against the Rams on Sunday at MetLife Stadium. Credit: AP/Adam Hunger
The Giants season will end Sunday.
If you consider it a lost year, you are not alone.
The Giants got no clarity this season where they needed it most, at quarterback. They are no better off today at the position than they were a year ago.
Coach Brian Daboll has said that Daniel Jones will be the starter when he is healthy.
But this season, the Giants learned nothing about Jones, besides the additions to his injury history, with the second neck injury of his career followed by a torn ACL that he continues to rehab.
Jones played in six games this season. He completed 108 of 160 passes for 909 yards and a completion percentage of 67.5. He ran for an additional 206 yards. He was sacked 30 times in six games.
Those are just numbers. (Except for the sacks. It can’t be fun getting sacked.)
Not much of that suggests a winning operation.
Consider: In Tommy DeVito’s second start, against the Commanders, the undrafted rookie threw three touchdown passes.
Jones hasn’t thrown three touchdowns in a game since his rookie season of 2019.
Darius Slayton — the Giants' fastest veteran receiver — hauled in a 69-yard highlight-reel reception from Tyrod Taylor for a touchdown against the Eagles in Week 16. On Sunday, Slayton and Taylor connected for a spectacular 80-yard touchdown against the Rams that cut the Giants' deficit to 20-16.
“I was running for a minute there,’’ Slayton said. “Tyrod must have thrown his whole shoulder out to get it there. He launched it at least 60-something yards, a bomb of a throw. That’s back-to-back weeks he’s done that for me now. Great ball by him, and once I saw it in the sky, I ran it down.”
For the Giants, those kinds of plays have been too few. Especially in today’s NFL.
Incredibly, Slayton has only three touchdowns all season. The other came in the win at Washington on Nov. 19.
As Daboll said, “Big plays help.”
Where DeVito seems to provide the Giants a spark, Taylor is every bit the veteran.
At his bye week news conference, general manager Joe Schoen essentially dismissed Taylor, saying that the 13-year veteran was on an expiring contract.
Taylor told Newsday he intends to play next season.
And, considering the way Taylor, at 34, is throwing the ball, he will find work.
After the game against the Rams, Daboll said, “I thought that Tyrod saw some things relative to things opening up and let it go and made the right decisions. Every game is different, but he’s done that the last couple of games for us, which in turn helps. You skip some third downs and usually it gives you points. Had one taken back on a penalty but those are always helpful to get into the end zone.”
Asked about the obvious — that Taylor and DeVito are more willing to throw downfield than Jones is — Daboll deferred, saying he will look at that dynamic when the season is over.
But clearly, it is true.
Just watch the games.
These Giants provide moments but can’t always sustain them.
With 3:27 to play Sunday, Gunner Olszewski returned a punt 94 yards for a touchdown. It was the Giants’ longest punt return in 95 years. It ended up setting the final score, Rams 26, Giants 25.
You would think the Giants will be tempted to look back on this season and wonder, what if?
Taylor dismissed that notion.
“I don’t think what should’ve or could’ve matters at the end of the day because we didn’t,” he said. “We did enough to put ourselves in a position to win but we also hurt ourselves in some areas as well, too. That’s the reality of the game and we have to be better in those moments.”
Taylor is correct, of course.
In many ways, these Giants have been game this season. They fought for their first win, in Arizona, and they’ve fought in the games since.
But this truth remains: If the Giants overachieved last season, then they underachieved in this one.
Playoff appearances can be fleeting.
And, generally speaking, have to be earned.
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.
