DON’T COUNT QB likely to miss time, but not rest of season DANIEL OUT!
The Giants do not think Daniel Jones’ right hamstring strain is season-ending, sources told the Daily News, but it’s possible he could miss some time. Monday’s MRI results make it likely Jones could miss Sunday’s game at Seattle at least, but head coach Joe Judge said he wouldn’t know one way or another until he evaluates Jones on the practice field for the Giants (4-7) later this week.
“There’s actually more question marks than answers to be honest with you,” Judge said Monday afternoon. “I couldn’t give you an answer on whether it’s one week, more than one week. I’m not qualified. And to be honest, the doctors I talked to today, they don’t have that crystal ball to look through either right now.
“There’s not much to really hide on this,” the coach added. “These types of injuries we just have to give the player a few days to get out there and see where it really is. The day after there’s gonna be swelling, it’s gonna be tight, there’s gonna be issues. We have to see how he reacts to some treatment and whether we can get him going on the grass.”
Judge said he expects that Jones, 23, will push to play, just as the QB did before reentering briefly following his third-quarter injury in Sunday’s 19-17 victory at Cincinnati.
The coach said he would even consider playing Jones if Jason Garrett had to change the offensive game plan to account for less QB mobility.
But Judge said “you don’t want to do anything stupid to risk the player and lose him long-term,” so the priorities are one, can he make the injury worse? And two, can he protect himself?
“If we felt this wasn’t something he could hurt worse or something he could go out there and defend himself by just playing a little bit different with the playcalling, I would have no issue putting him out there with that,” Judge said. “But there’s gonna be guys rushing at him to try to take his head off. I want to make sure I don’t put a guy out there in a position where he can’t defend himself. That’s not fair to him.”
Colt McCoy replaced Jones in Sunday’s second half and played 30 of the game’s 81 offensive snaps, his first playing time as a Giant. He completed 6-of-10 passes for 31 yards.
McCoy, 34, presumably would get the start against the Seahawks if Jones can’t go.
The Giants also have Clayton Thorson, 25, on their practice squad, but he has never appeared in an NFL game. So they are bringing in former Giant Alex Tanney for a visit to likely be McCoy’s backup if Jones can’t go.
Tanney, 33, got into New Jersey on Monday to start the six-day COVID onboarding testing process in case the Giants need him for Sunday, a source said. Tanney knows the Giants’ system, having spent the offseason with the team.
Asked if he has any emergency quarterbacks at other positions on the roster, Judge cracked: “There’s always a list of guys that want to be in your ear and remind you they played quarterback in
high school. I remind them I did the same thing, and I’m also not playing on Sunday.”
Judge did say the Giants have “a few contingency plans: one of the running backs, one of the tight ends even, or some of the receivers.”
More importantly, though, Judge said that the entire league, the Giants included, took notice of the Broncos’ Sunday situation, when they were forced to play without a quarterback due to COVID-19 protocol violations.
So now the Giants are considering isolating not only a quarterback but players at other positions, too, to make sure they aren’t caught similarly flat-footed.
“What happened to the
Broncos this week, I think every team in the league had similar conversations,” Judge said. “We did as well Saturday night sitting at the hotel. Considering in the future not even just the quarterback position but several key positions on the team, is it worth keeping those guys isolated and having them Zoom in for the meetings?
“That is something we’re discussing and considering,” Judge added. “Right now we’ve got two quarterbacks with live arms at practice. We’ll see where Daniel is as we get more information. Talking about adding a fourth to that group, there’s a possibility of that and we still haven’t finalized whether we want to bring him in or keep him in the hotel.”
Judge said the new quarterback most likely would have to acclimate to the team in some form of live practice. So that would probably make Thorson the quarantined quarterback.
In the meantime, most of the NFL was forbidden from in-person work on Monday and today due to the league’s escalating coronavirus crisis, so the Giants had to work entirely remotely. Judge was Zooming from his house instead of the facility.
Judge said the Giants have been doing “everything we can” to keep the virus out of their environment, from virtual meetings to physical separation at the facility, in the locker room and during their travel to road games.
But along with the uncertainty of this pandemic, now they are also dealing with uncertainty about their franchise quarterback’s health.
Judge’s Giants have won three straight and stood atop the NFC East standings as of Monday morning, both feats they haven’t accomplished since 2016. Yet their upcoming schedule is daunting, with the Seahawks, Cardinals, Browns, Ravens and Cowboys on deck. he good news, at least, is that the Giants are optimistic Jones will be back at some point this season. And that is better than the worst-case scenario that certainly seemed possible given Jones’ body language following Sunday’s game.
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