Sky Sports NFL's Phoebe Schecter believes the future is uncertain for New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones amid a difficult start to the year; watch the Giants at the Miami Dolphins live on Sky Sports this Sunday, with coverage beginning at 5pm ahead of kickoff at 6pm.
Thursday 5 October 2023 14:34, UK
The pressure on Daniel Jones is mounting after a lacklustre start to the 2023 season for the New York Giants. Sky Sport NFL's Phoebe Schecter discusses where it is going wrong for Brian Daboll and his under-fire quarterback...
When you look at what is going wrong for the Giants, I think ultimately you have to look at what was their success last year. And a lot of that was the Daniel Jones-Saquon Barkley combination.
Barkley makes such a big difference in the game but has obviously been out with an injury, and then defensively those guys were phenomenal last year and they essentially held the team together for a lot of it and were the reason they were able to win. They were fifth in the NFL on third down defense and I think now they rank last in pretty much everything. So those two combination pieces are key.
You look at the decision-making of Daniel Jones, the one decision that really kind of hurt him in the loss to the Seattle Seahawks was that 97-yard pick-six. You've made it all the way down to the end zone, you have an opportunity to keep the game alive, and he pretty much threw that ball square into the Seahawks rookie corner Devon Witherspoon.
There was just no need to make that decision and you can see afterwards Brian Daboll is frustrated with him. I think sometimes you have a coach being in the helmet before the play starts and saying, 'hey, keep an eye on this' or giving you awareness to try and narrow down your field of play. Sometimes you get to a point where you're losing the ability to read a little bit and you just hear 'hey, throw it to so and so' and you just throw it instead of reading the field.
Daniel Jones is 10th around Dak Prescott and Matthew Stafford among the highest-paid quarterbacks and is making $160m on his four-year contract, but I was kind of shocked that they were signing him to an extension. I didn't think he really did anything special last year.
He used his legs a little bit more, but I never really felt like he was that kind of leader that's going to bring you to that next level. I think he's more of a game manager if you can kind of keep a clear head and make the right decisions, if he is protected. That's not to say that all of these things are his fault, because the offensive line has been tricky this whole time. And even if you look at the depth chart now on the offensive line alone, you've got two guys that are on IR you've got four, five or six people that are questionable. That's not exactly what you're looking for when when you're only going into Week Five.
But ultimately Daniel Jones still has to perform out there, you still have to execute and the execution is just not quite clicking and again, Saquon Barkley probably helped him a bit last year in terms of alleviating some of the stress. He was able to hand the ball off and he connected a few times with Darius Slayton and it's just not been the same. They're probably worst in everything at the moment which is not always again reflection on Daniel Jones, but there's a big piece around him when you've thrown more interceptions this year already than he did in all of last year.
I think there's an element of you having to make the menu smaller in terms of what the actual play calls are but also what he's looking at out there. It's giving him really clear reads and 'hey, if you don't get to your third read you've got the opportunity to use your legs'. That alone adds a bit of a threat if he can use his legs and run. He's got quarterbacks coach Shea Tierney, who was previously with the Buffalo Bills; he is brilliant and was part of the reason that Josh Allen turned out as great as he has.
Also, everyone is different. How Daniel Jones absorbs information and teaching styles is very different to how Josh does. Even looking at the reaction the other day when Daboll spoke to Daniel Jones and he walked off, that's not something that Josh does. You could see the frustration in terms of throwing the tablet.
If you're comparing Josh Allen and Daniel Jones under Brian Daboll, Josh is such a team player and would do anything for his team and puts the team on his back, and I think Daniel Jones seems a bit more quiet and refrained when it comes to being a leader, and they're just different leadership styles. There's nothing wrong with that, but then I think it's how you address that going forward. If it's a case that he's not going to be the guy that holds the team together, who is that guy on the team? I'm not quite sure who that is.
You don't need your quarterback to be necessarily your verbal leader. They can they can do it different ways. But I'm not quite sure who that leader is for the Giants.
When we talk about a quarterback lacking in confidence there are two solid things you can usually do. You can hand the ball off, and in this case it's to Matt Breida, or throw to your trusty, big-bodied tight end like Darren Waller, get some completions and inch the ball down field. It sometimes just about building that confidence in those first drives. You've got to Jalin Hyatt, Darius Slayton, Sterling Shepherd - get these guys the footballs and and they'll make something happen.
The offensive line remains an issue. Look at the game against the Seahawks, who were not doing anything incredibly special. The Giants allowed 11 sacks, at some point as a quarterback after the first three sacks you're thinking 'they're going to get me again' and you don't see the field clearly so it's already a non-starter. It creates a form of almost frustration and distrust within your team.
I know Evan Neal was getting frustrated in the game on Monday night and engaging with fans. You're in the middle of the game. Where is your focus? Where is your head? Who cares that the fans are booing you, right? I mean, that happens everywhere. Even the Eagles get booed and they are winning!
I think some of Neal's frustration on his part is everybody thought he would be overall just better when he came into the league. He has a low percentage rate when it comes to pass blocking and has a high pressure rate against him. He's kind of getting picked on a little bit in that sense, and they have the second worst offense in total yards per game - you cannot win like that. It's a tough spot to be in if you cannot get anything going without Saquon Barkley.
I would say Daboll's job security is stronger than that of Daniel Jones. He won Coach of the Year last year, the team was 9-7-1 and were great. Year two is not always easy, if you make the playoffs in year one it does not mean you'll make them in year two, it's almost harder to do.
What I would be concerned about is if this defense doesn't adapt or the defense isn't able to adjust. On the offensive side of the ball, you have Mike Kafka who has been with the Kansas City Chiefs and learned from Andy Reid in that system, I think he has the potential to be able to help install some of what he wants to do. Daniel Jones is probably the one who potentially has the lowest ceiling when it comes to what his future could look like. Sometimes people just need a new system.
I think it's still so hard to say whether the Giants look at a quarterback at the Draft next year. Although they are only going into Week Five, you consider looking at what the options are, especially with quite a full draft class. Yes, they have paid a lot of money but I don't know if they necessarily will think that Daniel Jones at this point is the franchise quarterback of the Giants.
Watch the New York Giants at the Miami Dolphins live on Sky Sports this Sunday, with coverage beginning at 5pm ahead of kickoff at 6pm, followed by the Philadelphia Eagles at the Los Angeles Rams.
