Daniel Jones’ struggles in Giants’ first joint practice with Lions no reason to panic
ALLEN PARK, Mich. — Don’t panic yet. Seriously. It’s just one day. If this turns into a week? Month? Bleeds to the regular season? Sure. But now? No.
Tuesday marked the first time the Giants offense faced a defense other than their own since that playoff-eliminating loss to the Eagles. It looked like it. Quarterback Daniel Jones was bad. The line created very little running room for Saquon Barkley. It was, by most measures, a very bad day.
And that’s OK. Assuming the Giants build off it on Wednesday.
“There are certainly some things we can sharpen up, execution-wise,” Jones said. “Overall, we made some plays, we need to be more consistent to take advantage of some of those opportunities we had.”
The majority of the Giants' issues on Tuesday were under center. If you’re a silver-lining loving kinda fan, here it is: Guys were open. Darius Slayton got to the middle of the field twice. Darren Waller was way behind the defense once. Jones saw them, too. When it came to actually delivering the ball, though, he just … didn’t.
The newly-minted $160-million quarterback had a rough go of it. He missed left and right. Sailed several highs of his intended targets. Even the completions looked painful. Jones went 5 of 12 passing. He was sacked once. He should have thrown an interception on an ugly prayer that C.J. Gardner Johnson camped under, but couldn’t pull in.
The practice looked like one from the summer of 2022, where most storylines centered around when Tyrod Taylor would supplant Jones as Big Blue’s starter. It didn’t fit in with this summer where, most days, Jones has looked as calm, cool and comfortable as ever before in his career.
That could mean one of two things: Jones isn’t facing the Giants secondary (Jared Goff had quite the day on Tuesday), or this is what happens when you see a new defense filled with talented playmakers for the very first time.
“I missed a couple of them that normally I feel pretty good about,” Jones said.
There might be some of the former, but for now, it’s mostly the latter. The guys were there. The playmakers assembled by GM Joe Schoen were available to make plays. The ball simply didn’t get to them. Jones stayed late after practice to work on his passing.
Tuesday’s practice looks an awful lot different if Jones connects with Slayton over the middle on the first play of full-team drills. That easily could have gotten him going. Or maybe if he hit Waller deep down the field. He’s been doing that all summer. He didn’t on Tuesday.
Good news: He has a chance to bounce back.
The Giants and Lions will go back at it again on Wednesday. The easiest way to erase these struggles is by connecting on the throws he didn’t the day before.
If he doesn’t?
Well, maybe then raise an eyebrow.
