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    • NY Giants QB with another reminder of the uncertain future
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    NY Giants QB with another reminder of the uncertain future

    Kathleen William Posted on

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    EAST RUTHERFORD – You can’t give away plays all the time in the NFL.

    This is how games are lost. This is how seasons are lost.

    This is how jobs end up being lost in a league that is unforgiving.

    When the Giants had a chance to take a significant step forward on Sunday night, they left the field after a 17-7 loss to the Bengals feeling as if they had missed another history-changing outcome.

    Worse, two of their best players, left tackle Andrew Thomas and outside linebacker Brian Burns, limped away from postgame interviews at their lockers with varying levels of discomfort and disillusionment.

    Not quite what the Giants were hoping for this week in preparation for Saquon Barkley's return to MetLife Stadium, while the Eagles head down the New Jersey Turnpike. The game could have been a game where Big Blue had a chance to announce its presence in the NFC East, as both the Cowboys and Commanders lost early Sunday and the Eagles barely got past the Browns at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia .

    While the Giants-Eagles game still holds some significance here given all the circumstances, it's hard to accept another performance in which Daniel Jones and the offense were unable to pull through.

    “It's hard to win games when you're scoring seven points, and that's the reality of it,” Giants coach Brian Daboll said, emphasizing several times in his postgame press conference that the responsibility for starting was his.

    Of course that is the case, there is no argument. This is Daboll's team, and the offense has scored one touchdown in three home games to start the 2024 season with the head coach calling the plays.

    This isn't about accountability, but rather about execution and the Giants' inability to avoid the errors in details on the offensive side of the ball that continue to hold this team back.

    Unfortunately, it starts with the quarterback. Everything in the NFL begins and ends with the quarterback, and Daniel Jones is now 1-15 in his career in prime time, playoffs included.

    When the Giants fail to make an explosive play, there's usually blame, and rightly so.

    But in this league, the quarterback has to be the moderator because you watch the action unfold every week.

    The quarterback cannot block the rusher who hits his arm under duress. However, he can make the wise decision not to throw the football into the air on a poor attempt to throw it out of the end zone; Instead, Jones' duck was intercepted by Bengals linebacker Germaine Pratt, ending a promising Giants push deep into Cincinnati territory while bringing back memories of a similar play against the Steelers in the 2020 season opener on “Monday Night Football.”

    Jones has played 33 home games and 33 away games in his career, and the split is staggering. In his career, he has thrown 27 touchdowns and 30 interceptions at home; On the road, Jones has 41 touchdown passes and 14 interceptions.

    In games like the one the Giants played on Sunday night, they didn't necessarily need Jones to outplay Joe Burrow. What they needed was at least one play, maybe more, where Jones excelled beyond measure and showed why he deserves more respect for his skills than he gets.

    The results spoke volumes about why the Giants had to deal with the reality Daboll spoke of.

    The NFL today is built on quarterbacks making plays that raise the stakes for everyone – around them and against them.

    The more Jones is put in this position, the more obvious the need for the Giants to find a QB to do this becomes.

    The problem is not the play caller. It's no longer about the line of attack or the weapons.

    In the moments that matter, Jones is who he is. If we expect that to change in six years, the joke is our fault.

    Can the Giants win with Jones? You have no better choice this year than to try it.

    Can the Giants win because of Jones? His performance continues to suggest the opposite.

    And here's the thing: The Giants beat the Seahawks last week in part because Jones got away with plays like that. His deep throw to Darius Slayton on the right sideline, followed by a 30-yard touchdown strike on a deep route that sent the Seahawks flying.

    The truth is, the only consistency in Jones' game is the fact that he is insanely inconsistent, and that continues to cost the Giants. If Jones plays better in Week 2, forget what happened to Graham Gano — the Giants will likely prevail against the Commanders. If Jones plays better here in Week 4 against the Cowboys, the Giants will likely take home this win as well.

    Like it or not, if Jones makes a handful of the plays that need to be made, you can assume the Giants would currently be 5-1. Instead, three close games went against them.

    On Sunday, Jones completed just 2 of 9 passes with an interception on throws of 10 yards or more. The Giants (2-4) know the margin for error is so slim for them when Thomas is passed by Bengals rusher Trey Hendrickson (two sacks) and incurs an illegal man downfield penalty on an RPO, resulting in a 56-yard -Catch is nullified -and-go by Darius Slayton, they need to be able to lean on their quarterback to answer the bell.

    Malik Nabers is a playmaker at this level, which is why he was drafted 6th overall. The Giants need a quarterback who can do that too. Look around the NFL – the teams that don't have one are usually at the bottom of the standings, chasing not a playoff spot but a higher pick in the next NFL Draft.

    “I’m just focused on winning games, playing well and winning games,” Jones said. “A difficult task (Sunday night), but we have another opportunity next week and that's what we have to do: focus on it and get ready.”

    Not every week should be a referendum on Jones' future; it will take care of itself.

    But without Nabers, who could be back for next Sunday's game depending on his progress in the concussion protocol, the Giants aren't getting the level of play from their quarterback that lifts all boats.

    Jayden Daniels is doing that for Washington, even in a loss on Sunday. Dak Prescott did that for Dallas, if not against Detroit in a stunning loss on Sunday, most notably against the Giants. And Jalen Hurts, despite his own struggles getting anything going this season, still manages to make enough plays to get his team to the finish line.

    Jones isn't playing at that level and that's not easy for the Giants to accept. There are only so many times the quarterback can be able to change the narrative and actually deliver, and it's been a while since Jones had the MetLife crowd chanting his name.

    Case in point: When the Giants called rookie running back Tyrone Tracy's number, he ended up rushing for 107 total yards and his first career touchdown. That was the first home goal for the offense this season.

    “We have to go back to the drawing board and make sure that we take that feeling, that anger that we have right now, out on the practice field and execute it at a high level,” Tracy said. “Be very detailed in everything we do, take on the Eagles next Sunday and make sure we leave here with a smile on our face.”

    That's exactly it: the Giants were upset because they knew they had given away another one.

    Azeez Ojulari recorded six pressures and 2.0 sacks in his first start with Kayvon Thibodeaux on injured reserve following wrist surgery. The six pressures are the most of any player in Week 6. Brian Burns had his best game yet with the Giants, collecting four pressures with eight tackles, two tackles for loss and a sack.

    On the Bengals' final drive, Burrow hit Princeton's Andrei Iosivas for 29 yards on a third-and-12. A stop here and the Giants get another chance on offense. Then came the hardest thing to accept: Micah McFadden took the ball away from Bengals defender Chase Brown, and the fumble splashed onto the turf, away from safety Jason Pinnock, toward the sideline and then with it after the two-minute warning 1:1 out. 58 left.

    One play later, Brown had a 30-yard touchdown run. Ball game.

    “It's frustrating and there are more plays to be made and more things we can do to change the game,” Burns said. “If we want to be an elite defense and live up to what we say we are, then we have to make these plays. When that ball came out, that's a ball we have to get. It's that simple. We had the opportunity. It was on the ground.

    And with this fast-paced football, the Giants, despite their QB1, gave up their last breath to make it a game.

    Now the concern turns to Thomas, who said he will undergo an MRI and other tests on Monday to evaluate a foot injury that apparently bothered him in the second half.

    When asked how he thought he played against the Bengals, Thomas quipped, “Not good enough.”

    There was certainly enough of this atmosphere to be felt at the Giants once again. It's worth remembering that Daniel Jones plays the position where NFL success essentially requires elite excellence.

    Truth be told, with every week that passes, it's getting harder and harder for the Giants to forget this as they continue to miss opportunities to win games and turn things around this season.

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    Kathleen William
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