New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones has stressed trust, decisiveness, and footwork as the avenues to get him back on track in Week 2 against the Washington Commanders following a nightmarish debut against the Vikings.
“Definitely some things to clean up and do better,” Jones said. “Some missed opportunities. I think overall just playing quicker, being cleaner with my feet. Definitely some things to clean up and I’ll look to do that.”
While Jones completed 22-of-42 passes for 186 yards and two interceptions, his afternoon was plagued by delayed reads that ultimately forced him to miss open targets, hold on to the ball for too long, and try to extend the play out of the pocket.
“I think just seeing it and trusting it, being decisive and going,” Jones said. “I think certain decisions here and there, I could have done a better job. Each play you try to take something from and learn something and then apply that to this week of practice and improve it.
“I think just playing and playing fast, trusting it. I think those are things you try to practice through the week and getting out there, getting to a rhythm, getting to a flow and getting going.”
The Giants offense as a whole has not been in any sort of flow since the start of the 2023 season. In Jones’ seven games under center during that stretch, Big Blue has been held to 20 or fewer points six times.
Part of that has to do with an offensive line that allowed an NFL-worst 85 sacks last season. In Week 1, though, a reworked unit looked for more competent. The issue was that Jones was not doing much with the time he was given.
When he did get the ball out of his hand, it was more often than not on the move and otherwise inaccurate. That is where the footwork comes in.
“When I say footwork, it’s not always a purely fundamental, ‘can I take a three-step drop,'” Jones began. “I think it’s specific to certain plays. It’s specific to the rush. It’s specific to where the throw needs to be. There’s a fundamental aspect to it, but there’s also a specific aspect to the play.”
Offensive coordinator Mike Kafka delved a bit more into it, eliminating the notion that Jones’ issue was something as trivial as the dropback.
“It’s kind of the accumulation of all the things and all the different schemes that we have in the run action game,” Kafka said. “When you’re turning around, you’re play-action faking to the back, turning your back to the defense. Now you have to flip back around and find your movement key. Now there’s a little bit of pressure. You got to slide, you got to push up. So just those details in working through your feet and every single play is not the exact same.
“We can go rep it 20 times on the practice field, but in the game, it might be a little bit different. So, that’s the repetition. We’re trying to build a base and build kind of a library of all those movements. And then we can go replicate it in the game.”
Kafka was also adamant in adding that this is nothing out of the ordinary for a veteran quarterback.
“Whether you’re in your first year, your sixth year, your 10th year, your 15th year, you’re always working on the fundamentals, and you’ve got to go back to that,” he said. “So that’s what you rely on. That’s what we work on in the offseason. We work on through training camp, all those little fundamentals. And so, once something goes wrong, that’s how you problem solve it. That’s how you self-correct is you lean on your fundamentals.”
Week 2 is becoming as important a game as ever for the 27-year-old Duke product. Another bad performance will only inch him closer to the bench and, ultimately, off the team. The Giants hold an option on his four-year, $160 million deal at the end of this season.
“I’m confident in my ability,” Jones said. “Confident in my ability to go out and execute and look forward to doing that on Sunday.”
