If you came to me in early September and guaranteed me the Giants would win 3 of the first 7 games I would have asked where to sign. If you told me the Giants would start 6-1, including wins against Aaron Rodgers and Lamar Jackson, I would have laughed in your face. But nonetheless, following a narrow victory against the Jacksonville Jaguars, the New York Football Giants are 6-1. While the main reason for the team's turnaround and culture change is the coaching staff, we will save that for another day. I wanna talk about Daniel Jones.
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| (via Rich Schultz/Getty Images) |
The biggest question going into this season wasn't Daboll, wasn't Saquon, it was DJ, and would he be the guy going forward or not. Prior to the season, my answer to that would be no. I would have said he needed to have an MVP type season in order to be on the team in 2023. But after 7 weeks he is starting to change not only my mind, but the minds of a lot of Giants fans and maybe even Brian Daboll. DJ has looked better and better week by week, and it's even more impressive that he's doing this with practice squad players starting at wide receiver.
A lot of people may say the offense is being carried by Saquon's impressive start to the season, while this may be true, DJ has been no slouch so far this season. He may not be throwing for 350 yards and 4 TDs like Mahomes or Allen, but he is winning just much as they are. DJ has 5 game-winning drives in 2022, 2 more than anyone else in the league through 7 weeks. So not only is he getting the job done but he's doing it when it matters, in the fourth quarter.
This is far and away Jones' best year yet and it has everything to do with the playcalling. The combination of Brian Daboll and Mike Kafka has executed two things perfectly so far this year with Daniel Jones, and that is preventing him from turning the ball over and using his athleticism to the team's advantage. Jones' biggest flaw has always been his turnovers, he was an interception and fumbling machine his rookie year, and while the interceptions got a bit better he still had trouble holding onto the ball. In this new-look offense, they have eliminated scenarios where DJ feels like he has to force the ball in a tight spot as well as situations where he is getting sacked while standing still in the pocket. The Giants' play calling is really pretty simple, run it down their throats with Saquon and then call the play action.
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| (via Steve Luciano/Associated Press) |
The play action opens everything up for the offense and is catered perfectly to Daniel Jones. Not only does the play action give him wide-open receivers to throw it to (especially since our receivers can't get open, to begin with), but it gets him out of the pocket. He then has more time to throw or can take off and run, which is something he also excels at. For reference, he is completing 67% of his passes (a career high) and running for 49 yards a game with 5.9 yards per carry.
Yesterday in the Giants' win in Jacksonville, Daniel Jones was 19/30 passing with 202 yards and a pass TD, he added to that stat line with 107 yards and a touchdown on the ground. If Danny can keep this hot streak going and continue to put up numbers like this he may very well get the Giants to the postseason for the first time since 2016. And if that happens you may even see him back in blue in 2023.
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