NERVES OF STEEL
First taste of adversity doesn't bother rookie
THE KID is human. Daniel Jones is human after all. But it can’t be denied that he’s a pretty darn good-looking quarterback prospect too.
“He’s making good progress,” Pat Shurmur said after Giants 32, Bears 13, “and as he goes along here, he’s checking off all the boxes.
“When it’s his time to play, he will be ready.”
Jones (11-for-14, 161 yards, one touchdown, two fumbles) passed another test Friday night, and an important test at that.
Jones had just dropped a 40-yard dime — Giants Twitter is calling him Danny Dimes — down the left sideline for Cody Latimer that made him 8-for-8 for the preseason when he promptly fumbled the snap on the next play, and the Bears recovered the ball.
Jones, showing more emotion than we are accustomed to from Easy Eli Manning, pounded his right fist into the ground.
“Just getting out too quick,” Jones said. “I gotta make sure I’m secure with the ball, secure with the snaps.”
On his third series, Jones didn’t feel the rush and had the ball swatted out of his hand by linebacker James Vaughters, who Jones had to tackle at the 12 to prevent a TD.
A Welcome to the NFL moment for sure.
“I was very upset,” Jones said. “I think those are two mistakes you can’t make.”
But then Daniel Jones showed you why the Giants have fallen in love with him:
He got off the canvas with a vengeance. “He didn’t panic,” Shurmur said. “He dropped the ball a couple times and didn’t call his parents.”
First, aided by a 27-yard catch-and-run by Brittan Golden, Jones engineered a field goal drive.
Next, he lofted a perfect 15-yard TD pass with perfect touch and accuracy to T.J. Jones in the left corner of the end zone against James Franklin III. He was 4-for-4 on the drive.
The best quarterbacks get their noses bloodied and shrug.
His first taste of adversity did not rattle Daniel Jones.
“Obviously you don’t want things to go bad, and you don’t want to fumble the ball, but that’s gonna happen in the game sometimes,” Jones said. “I think
that’s a big part of the game is just bounce back.”
He will encounter plenty of adversity along the way and he will get to prove he is born for the giant task of one day succeeding Manning. This was another encouraging sign. Shurmur telling everyone to slow their roll over Jones, and John Mara telling everyone that in his perfect world Jones sits for the 2019 season and watches Manning lead an NYG resurrection is designed in part to calm the sea of hype around the Giants’ Quarterback of the Future and keep it from becoming a tsunami at a time when they are intent on their beloved icon successfully steering the ship around that foreboding iceberg and preventing it from being another football Titanic.
Shurmur isn’t cutting Jones any slack, and Jones isn’t asking for any. It’s partly about tempering public expectations.
“It’s very simple — don’t drop the snap, and two hands on the ball in the pocket,” Shurmur said. “It’s never acceptable to drop the ball.”
So Week 3 of the preseason, at Cincinnati, will be about getting Manning up to speed for a rare fast start against a forgiving September schedule while wrapped in a cocoon of love and support.
It doesn’t mean the Giants aren’t hoping and praying that Jones continues to validate general manager Dave Gettleman making him the sixth pick of the NFL draft.
It is not insignificant that Jones got one series with the starting offensive line before the reserves entered on his second possession.
Most backup quarterbacks do not enjoy such a luxury, but Jones, who played five series, is not your ordinary backup quarterback.
“He’s super-calm,” Paul Perkins said. “The guys want to play for him, the guys want to go block for him, the guys want to make plays for him.”
Manning (4-for-4, 42 yards, one TD) started the game and directed a 10-play, 79-yard drive that culminated with an 8yard TD pass to Bennie Fowler with many Monsters of the Midway spectators.
Manning has thrown five preseason passes. It will be his show in the dress rehearsal for the regular season. He gives the Giants the best chance to win. For now.