G-Men should shut down Jones, even if it costs them NFC East
Winning the NFC East, no matter how weak its members are this fall, would be a monumental achievement for Joe Judge.
Consider the debacle that the rookie head coach inherited. The Giants went 1236 during the worst three-year stretch in franchise history. The roster had mass deficiencies and was further stripped and contorted by a new general manager who made questionable decisions.
Big Blue had become a laughing stock, and restoring pride to the franchise quicker than expected would certainly provide a strong beacon of hope for the future.
But a taste of the playoffs in Year 1 is not worth jeopardizing your franchise quarterback.
The Giants must shut down Daniel Jones for the final three games. Forget chasing the division title. Make sure Jones doesn’t do any more damage to his body, which now has injuries in both legs.
“I just want to see how he moves around, see how the injuries have kind of progressed,” Judge said Friday before Jones was a limited participant in practice. “He’s been working hard with the trainers. I just really want to see his mobility overall. We’re not going to have some kind of obstacle course we throw him through. It’s going to be just seeing him through football movements, some individual drills, of some team settings, and how he looks out there.”
The Giants (5-8) officially listed Jones as questionable for Sunday’s primetime home game against the Cleveland Browns (9-4). Fans should hope that’s nothing more than gamesmanship, because the risks far outweigh any potential benefits from playing Jones — especially Sunday, but really in any of the remaining games.
New York tried deploying Jones last Sunday after he missed one game with a strained hamstring, and look how that turned out. The second-year pro was a shell of himself as he posted his worst completion percentage (11-for-21) and secondfewest passing yards (127) of the season against a pedestrian Arizona defense.
Most notably, it was the only time in 25 career games that he had zero rushing attempts. Jones could barely scramble away from sacks, let alone pull off any of the designed runs that have become a critical component of his skill set this season.
Without those, he’s simply not nearly as effective.
Judge defended his decision to play Jones because the Giants felt he could protect himself in the pocket and wasn’t at risk of further injury. Yet that backfired because Jones ended up injuring his left ankle midway through the game was and noticeably limping toward the end, and Judge even tried to deny it Monday by saying Colt McCoy’s playing time in the final few minutes were about getting McCoy reps — not Jones’ health.
The team did not reveal until Wednesday that Jones injured his ankle.
There’s no way of knowing for sure if Jones’ less-than-100-percent right leg played a factor in his left leg getting hurt, but that’s beside the point. Jones wasn’t able to perform any better than McCoy did during the Week 13 upset in Seattle, so why even take the chance?
Plus, by splitting reps during the week and declining to name a starter until the last minute, McCoy is less prepared to step in and succeed. We know from the Seahawks game that McCoy is capable of game-managing the Giants to a win when the defense excels, so just let him take full command of the offense and see what happens down the stretch.
The Giants hold a tiebreaker over Washington (6-6), which leads the division by just one game.
“Obviously, to know sooner than later, that would be great,” McCoy said Friday. “But it’s all about how DJ feels. I thought he looked good today, but we’ll see where it goes.”
Either way, the Giants are justifiably a 6.5-point underdog to the Browns, who are on pace to make the playoffs for the first time since 1999 behind a balanced offense.
Sunday will be an interesting full-circle moment for McCoy, if he plays, and tight ends coach Freddie Kitchens.
McCoy was Cleveland’s third-round draft pick in 2010 but struggled during his three years with the team. Kitchens will call plays Sunday because offensive coordinator Jason Garrett tested positive for COVID-19, and he has a chance to exact revenge against the team that fired him after he won six games as the Browns head coach in 2019, his only season in charge.
“The fans and the people in Cleveland are awesome. My wife and I really enjoyed our time there. We just didn’t win enough,” McCoy said. “That’s about all I’ll say about Cleveland. I think right now our focus and
our team’s focus is we still have stuff to play for. They’re a good football team. They’ve won a lot of games. We have our hands full with their guys up front. We know what we need to do to win this game.”
The Giants, obviously, would love to develop Jones more and conclude before the offseason that, without a doubt, he’s the quarterback for them to build around.
If he doesn’t play again this year, they have an incomplete evaluation, but that’s partially the Giants’ own fault for operating such a conservative offense under Garrett. Jones has only eight touchdown passes in 12 starts. He had three times that many touchdown throws in the same number of starts as a rookie.
The Giants have sought to limit Jones’ turnovers and enhance his decision-making in Year 2, but all we’ve learned is that he can be an athletic game manager.
So again, what is there to gain from playing him under these circumstances?
“That’s not a decision that’s up to me. I don’t make those decisions,” Jones said. “My job is to prepare to play and do everything I can to be prepared. I’m working as hard as I can to get healthy and working with the trainers.”
He’s right. The Giants must make that call, and sitting Jones is the only sensible option — even if it ultimately costs them the division title.