It’s a snap!
GIANTS ROOKIE QB DAZZLES IN DEBUT VS. JETS AS PRESEASON STARTS
The calm before the storm was a perfect and poised Daniel Jones.
After taking over for Eli Manning after the veteran botched the first drive, the sixth overall pick marched the Giants down the field on his first professional series, completing all five of his pass attempts with impressive poise and precision. He capped the drive with a 12-yard touchdown to Bennie Fowler, a thread-theneedle completion perfectly placed near the corner of the endzone.
Mother Nature then called an audible with a thunderstorm that delayed Thursday’s game and ended Jones’ impressive, albeit abbreviated, night.
Still, the 22-year-old had enough time to make a tremendous first impression with a perfect stat line: 5for-5, 67 yards, 1 TD. At least for one preseason game, the sixth overall pick demonstrated he might be worth his lofty draft position.
Following the game, coach Pat Shurmur pumped the brakes on the hype, perhaps as a method to diffuse a quarterback controversy. Asked about fans wanting to see more of Jones – a move that would ultimately come at the expense of Manning – Shurmur answered, “slow your roll.” He also pointed out that Jones wasn’t perfect, failing to motion the tight end properly on his opening snap.
“He had a couple mistakes there that we’ll clean up. But I guess to the naked eye, it was a good job,” Shurmur said, adding later, “this is just his first go-around. I think he did a good job. As I mentioned all along, he’s done nothing to disappoint us. And certainly when you take the team down the field and score a touchdown, it’s a good start, something to build on. We have a lot of time left before we start to play games but nothing for us has changed.”
A “change” would mean a quarterback competition. Status quo is Eli Manning as the starter.
To be clear, it was one drive for Jones against mostly Jets backups. As Jones was running on the field for his second drive, the game was delayed because of “imminent severe weather.” The field and stands were promptly cleared. Rain and lightning soon followed.
The delay lasted one hour, and Jones was pulled for Alex Tanney (who completed a 51yard touchdown on his first drive). The Giants won, 31-22, and Shurmur said he may have given Jones more snaps if not for the weather delay.
If Jones’ first drive was more of a sign than a fluke, the calls for him to supplant Manning will grow louder. It’s already a strange dynamic with Manning, coming off back-to-back miserable seasons at 38 years old, playing above the anointed franchise future.
In a somewhat surprising move Thursday, Eli Manning started and played the first drive Thursday, 15 years after his preseason debut as a rookie. There was speculation – fueled by Pat Shurmur’s comments that he’ll carry some healthy scratches – that Manning would sit the opener to rest and give Jones time with the starters.
Shurmur instead sat Barkley, and Manning’s lone pass attempt should’ve went elsewhere.
“I wanted to start Eli,” Shurmur said. “Eli didn’t get much of an opportunity.”
On the Giants’ first offensive series, Manning ignored a wide-open Rhett Ellison down the field. He opted instead for a three-yard check down, and the G-Men went three-and-out.
Manning was replaced by Jones, with a storm brewing in the background.
“(Jones) looked good, didn’t he?” Shurmur said. “We knew that when we picked him.”
UP FOR A CHALLENGE
Based on how it was explained, Shurmur believes he has a firm grasp of the new challenge rules.
But he was still eager to see it in action and test the method, with Thursday’s preseason game against the Jets as his first opportunity.
“I think it’s important for us early on in this process to see how it’s going to be done. I really do believe that we all want to get it right,” he said.
“This is going to be talked about a great deal. It’s going to have an effect on some games, so I think in the preseason, it makes sense for all of us to, every once in a while, throw one just to see what the response is.”
This all started because of a blown pass interference call at the end of last season’s Saints-Rams NFC Championship game. It was an obvious penalty to all who watched it live on TV (or on the replay), but the official swallowed his whistle and it might’ve cost the Saints a Super Bowl appearance.