Articles

By Michael J. Basile, @Mdoublejb

Giants fans are only more divided on Daniel Jones after this one.  Big blue falls to 1-7 after losing another tough, close 4th quarter game to Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night.  Although the Gmen have been competitive, the same head-scratching mistakes keep occurring for DJ.  Let’s dive in:

The digits:

 Jones was 25 of 41 (61%) for 256 yards with 2TDs, 2 INTs, and 3 sacks
 He added 3 rushes for 20 yards.

Danny’s Dimes:

The touchdown to Golden Tate stands out, and that drive was clutch.  Jones placed the ball over the defender’s hands, right in the only place Tate could’ve reeled it in while keeping both his feed in bounds; On the drive, Jones converted 4th downs of 5 and 16 yards, and showed the accuracy, poise, and promise that keeps his supporters constantly defending him.

Eight completions on 10 targets to Sterling Shepard; The 4th and 16 that was critical on the last drive was a perfectly thrown ball to the middle of Shep’s chest to move the chains. Let’s not overlook the 1st TD to Deon Lewis which was quite an extraordinary throw into one-on-one, man-to-man coverage.

Danny’s Crimes:

DJ put himself in a position to need the above-mentioned drive; He played so poorly before that: 2 turnovers that were so bad you were left asking yourself, “Why is he doing this?” They had opportunities to create a bigger lead over the Buccs but Jones held them back with his turnovers.

DJ also missed on downfield throws; You can blame Shep if you want as the announcers did for turning too early and not running full speed on his route, but Jones missed 2 touchdowns to Slayton and that one to Shep; If he simply makes one of those 3 plays, OR doesn’t have 2 turnovers AGAIN, we aren’t having this discussion

Evaluation:

I’ve been supportive, and he has shown flashes, But this loss is on DJ.  He’s the 6th overall pick and it’s his 2nd season. The great plays are impressive but the bad ones need to stop if he wants to quarterback this franchise heading into 2021.