New York Giants: Grading Daniel Jones performance vs. NYJ

Accuracy and Arm Strength

Here I was looking to see how Jones got the ball to his receivers. There were three questions, I had.

Can Jones throw effectively into a tight window? As New York Giants analyst Carl Banks pointed out during the game, Jones looked very good putting his passes where only his receivers could catch the ball. He looked particularly good throwing the 10-ish yard out route.

Does he put the right touch on the ball? Another area in which the rookie did well. He zipped it when a pass needed some zip and got a little air under the ball when that was required as well. There were a few other issues which need, I’ll address later.

Do his receivers have to adjust after he releases the ball to make a catch? They didn’t have to adjust to balls in-flight, but then again, those weren’t the kind of plays the G-Men ran while he was in the game. This one is still in the question column.

Grade for accuracy and arm strength – B. Jones did well with what he had, but both his time on the field and play selections were quite limited. Pat Shurmer gets an A here for building the rookie’s confidence.

Command of the offense

In this section, I was interested to see how Jones ran the offense and how the team reacted to him as the leader.

Does Jones look confident under center (or in the gun), or is he tentative? He showed good posture in the pocket and certainly didn’t look overwhelmed.

Does he have a good grasp of the New York Giants offense? Shurmur and offensive coordinator David Shula kept it simple. Jones seemed to have a good grasp of the plays he ran.

Has he earned the respect of the men in his huddle? Unknown. The offensive line made it look like they were protecting a porcelain doll in the pocket. Was that respect, or was that protecting a rookie’s confidence?

Grade for command of the offense – Incomplete. He didn’t play enough to gauge his performance in this area.

Audibles and Reads

In this area, I was looking to see how Jones handled playing on the fly. Instead, the Giants ran pretty much a scripted offense. I’ll have to wait a bit longer to see how he performs.

How well does Jones read the defense pre-snap? This is a tough question to answer. I think Jones was sent into the game with instructions to run the plays called.

Can he work his receiver progressions and check downs? It never happened, he threw to his first option every time.

If necessary, does he buy time with his feet for receivers to get open? That skill wasn’t necessary either.

Grade for audibles and reads – Incomplete. There weren’t any.