Jones has to survive, then thrive
THE BIG men, still bare-chested and dripping after turns in the cold tub, were going at each other.
Dalvin Tomlinson repeating “Roll Tide’’ over and over, expressing his supreme confidence Alabama will beat LSU this weekend, interrupting his alma-mater chest-beating to exclaim, “ACC is trash!’’ loud enough for Dexter Lawrence (Clemson) and B.J. Hill (North Carolina State) to hear.
“You crazy,’’ Hill shot back, and the whole ruckus started up again.
These young defensive linemen know, mostly, only losing with the Giants. Ragging on one another and revisiting college rivalries is a timetested stress reliever. It is the way the locker room works, unless you are the anointed rookie franchise quarterback and the weight of a five-game losing streak weighs more heavily on you than anyone else in uniform.
This is not to say Daniel Jones is most responsible for the Giants laboring along at 2-7, facing further embarrassment if they lose Sunday to the 1-7 Jets. Jones has endured his ups and downs, winning his first two NFL starts and then settling into the typical first-year thrill-terror ride that creates believers and skeptics and everything in between.
Jones on Wednesday was not yukking it up with his teammates. He made a slow walk to his locker to start up his weekly media session and the questions thrown at him followed a similar theme: Why is this not working? Why is that not working? What about the interceptions? What about the fumbles?
Jones at this stage of his nascent career is not into small talk and it will be interesting to see if he ever is. There were diversions about a recent picture he took with Knicks rookie RJ Barrett — a fellow former Duke athlete — and his fairly nonexistent relationship with Sam Darnold, the Jets’ second-year quarterback the Giants passed on to select Saquon Barkley in the 2018 NFL Draft.
The Giants are attracted to Jones in large part because he is viewed as a 22-year-old, more athletic version of Eli Manning. One trait the Giants hope and pray is a match is durability. Manning’s availability was a constant, remarkably so, and there is concern Jones is playing himself into physical harm with the way he is going about his business.
“What you see by watching him play is he’s a young player that is fighting and scratching,’’ coach Pat Shurmur said. “We ran a reverse and he got out there and got a block. I’d rather he didn’t do that.’’
He did that. It was in the second quarter of the 37-18 loss to the Cowboys and the Giants ran a reverse to Golden Tate that picked up 16 yards. Jones, after handing the ball off to Barkley, who lateraled it to Tate, found himself on the edge and tried to throw a block on safety Xavier Woods. It did not go well and Jones took the brunt of the impact.
“In that situation I’m gonna try and block him, but I can definitely do a better job of protecting myself or making a better block,’’ Jones said.
No one wants to see Jones get hurt blocking anyone. He got his face mask dented during the game, most likely on this play.
“You know what it is, it flashes and he’s a competitor and he’s getting involved,’’ Shurmur said. “In terms of his toughness and competitiveness, I think we’re seeing what we knew about him when we drafted him.’’
In the third quarter, Jones did what the Giants need him to do, picking up 6 yards on a third-and-6 scramble — and then did what the Giants cannot have him do. Jones did not slide but rather dived for the first down, making himself and the football susceptible to the fumble and turnover that ensued.
“I think he needs to learn from that,’’ Shurmur said. “That’s just a matter of a competitive guy who is well aware where the sticks were and was trying to get the first down. So that’s what you balance.’’
Later in the third quarter, Jones put his speed on display with a 14yard gain on a designed run. Jones smartly raced out of bounds, got shoved by Woods and ran smack into a worker who thought he was safe on the sideline.
“There was one he went out of bounds and got waylaid by some guy with a boom mic,’’ Shurmur said, sounding irritated. “I don’t know what you do about that. Those guys got to be fitter to get the heck out of the way.’’
There are seven games remaining in a rookie season the Giants want Jones to survive so that he can, one day, thrive as their quarterback.