Jones gets big step closer to Sunday start
Daniel Jones was up first. Jones carried a full workload Thursday in the portion of Giants practice open to the media for the first time since straining his right hamstring Nov. 29. As the quarterbacks rotated through individual drills, the symbolic first snap — typically indicative of the depth chart — went from starting center Nick Gates to Jones.
Because the Giants did not practice Monday or Tuesday and held a walk-through Wednesday, Thursday marked Jones’ first work with the 11-man offense since last week. He was designated as “limited” on the injury report, meaning he shared team reps with Colt McCoy and is slowly progressing toward starting Sunday against the Cardinals
“I would say that he’s throwing the ball well,” coach Joe Judge said before taking the field, “but there’s a lot of things we still need to see. Throwing the ball in short space and going through a walk-through are very, very different than going through team periods and being able to see how this guy reacts and moves in the pocket, which is really our biggest concern.”
Judge said he is not playing coy just to give extra homework to the opposing coaches.
“On the other side, it may make you have to game-plan for two quarterbacks,” Judge said. “But to be completely transparently honest, I don’t have an answer for you right now until he does some things that I can really make the judgement that he can protect himself and stay out there healthy on the field.”
So, it’s probably day-to-day up until kickoff.
“The more we think he can do,” Judge said, “the more we’ll let him take.”
The Giants offense, in McCoy’s hands the last six quarters, was even more run-heavy than usual — 26.8 rushing attempts per game is a team-high since 2014 — with fewer downfield throws.
“We feel like Colt is capable of doing whatever we ask our quarterbacks to do,” coordinator Jason Garrett said. “I don’t think the game plan changes dramatically from a mental standpoint or a physical standpoint. Obviously, you customize things to try to play to your players’ strengths and limit their weaknesses.”