EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — From afar, the play looked like catharsis personified.
Daniel Jones kept the ball on a zone read from the Washington Commanders’ 3-yard line and was unfazed by the prospect of taking on two defenders. With less than 10 minutes to go in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s 27-22 loss, the New York Giants quarterback lowered his shoulder and bulldozed Commanders defensive back Mike Sainristil — the impact of the hit heard loud and clear throughout MetLife Stadium — then tossed linebacker Dante Fowler Jr. to the ground on his way to the end zone.
Daniel Jones with the POWER. TD @Giants!
📺: #WASvsNYG on FOX
📱: https://t.co/waVpO8ZBqG pic.twitter.com/CCrHCkROWT— NFL (@NFL) November 3, 2024
That’s when Jones let it out.
Still on his feet after the collisions, Jones whipped the ball away and screamed. Who knows what pent-up frustrations Jones may have released in that moment — or if he even did it at all. If the touchdown, his first rushing score at MetLife Stadium since Jan. 1, 2023 — he’d tallied his first passing TD in that same span earlier in the game — was indeed cathartic to Jones, he didn’t let anyone in on it.
“Excited to score,” Jones explained matter-of-factly after the game.
Clearly the emotions of that touchdown had long since faded — and been replaced by the distressing feelings of a fourth straight Giants defeat.
“Very frustrating,” Jones said after the Giants dropped to 2-7 — the sixth such start in eight seasons for the franchise. “Tough, tough position. We’ve got to find a way to make some more plays and win these games. So, yeah very frustrating.”
A lot has changed in the nearly two years since the last time Jones threw for or ran in a score at his home stadium. Back then, Jones was on the brink of rewriting his story in New York. After some frustrating seasons, it looked like the Giants might move on from Jones, but the QB was reinvigorated in 2022, leading the Giants to the playoffs and knocking off the Minnesota Vikings in the wild-card round with what was probably the best game of his career. A couple of months later, Jones signed a four-year, $160 million deal as the team entrusted him with the keys to the franchise.
Almost nothing has gone to plan since. Jones and the Giants got off to a wretched start in 2023 before the QB suffered a neck injury and tore his ACL last season, playing in just six games.
He returned this season, but it’s been another rough start, and it feels like Jones is back to where he was pre-2022 — on the brink of losing his hold on his job. In a way, Sunday’s game was a perfect encapsulation of why that feeling first arose. Jones showed encouraging flashes — he’s done that a few times this season — but it’s almost never enough.
The Giants keep losing. His resume keeps getting worse. The bad keeps outweighing the good.
On Sunday, Jones’ final stats looked great. He completed 20-of-26 passes for 174 yards and two touchdowns while adding 54 yards and a score on the ground. But there also was that costly fumble in the first quarter.
The offense was moving on its second possession of the game. The Giants had run five straight times and racked up 63 yards, including a 24-yard scamper by Jones. But then the Giants dialed up a screen pass, and things went haywire. Unaware he had pressure coming from his blindside, Jones was hit as he tried to throw. Initially, it was ruled an incomplete pass, but the call over was overturned, deemed a fumble recovered by Washington linebacker Bobby Wagner. Three plays later, Washington scored the first touchdown of the game to take a 7-0 lead.
Dan Quinn challenged the play. The @Commanders get the ball on the sack fumble!
📺: #WASvsNYG on FOX
📱: https://t.co/waVpO909ge pic.twitter.com/fEcMUk46de— NFL (@NFL) November 3, 2024
That’s not to suggest Jones’ fumble is the sole reason the Giants lost. It’s not, and again, he played well. He does that sometimes. It’s just never quite enough. And it’s getting to that point where he’s about to run out of chances.
The Giants have stuck with Jones as the starter even after Brian Daboll benched him with nearly a full quarter to go in the Giants’ loss to division rival Philadelphia two weeks ago. As Daboll said previously about sticking with Jones, “I think he gives us the best chance (to win).”
But as of this moment, he’s not helping them do that, so the time to move on is approaching.
The season is fast becoming unsalvageable, as The Athletic’s NFL Projection Model gives the Giants less than a 1 percent chance of making the playoffs. There’s also the $23 million injury guarantee in Jones’ contract, which throws a wrinkle into any looming QB decisions. The key info to know is if Jones suffers a major injury (he’s had two season-ending injuries over the last five years) and can’t pass a physical by March 16, 2025, $12 million of Jones’ $30 million salary for 2025 becomes fully guaranteed. There is no hard deadline for the other $11 million in the injury guarantee to be triggered.
While March may seem far away, it’s not. There’s a chance Jones could suffer a season-ending injury and not be able to pass a physical by that time. With the Giants pretty much of out playoff contention and Jones not looking like the long-term answer at QB, how long will they continue to risk rolling him out there?
Soon, it might not matter how well he plays game to game. At 2-7, New York has to prioritize its future — a future that likely doesn’t include Daniel Jones as the starting QB of the New York Giants.
(Photo: Luke Hales / Getty Images)
