The Giants leaned heavily on the pass game in their Thursday night matchup against the rival Dallas Cowboys and Daniel Jones largely came through for Big Blue.
Although they fell 20-15, Jones finished 29-for-40 for 281 yards and an interception — the turnover occurring on a Hail Mary at the end of the game. While not as successful as last week’s win, Brian Daboll praised his quarterback’s play on Thursday and in the weeks prior.
“He’s made good decisions, for three games he’s been locked in, seeing the field, delivering the ball where he needs to,” Daboll said after the game. “I’m proud of how he’s performed, how he’s prepared. He’s done a nice job for us.”
But there seems to be a troubling trend with Jones, at least in the early going.
On Thursday, Jones went 2-of-7 on throws 20 yards or more, which accounted for 67 yards. The fourth-year quarterback is now 4-of-16 this seasons on those passes. (h/t @JordanRaanan )
Those two throws were a 39-yard pass to Malik Nabers after the rookie wideout lost his defender anda 28-yard pitch to Darius Slayton. The next closest was a 19-yard play to Tyrone Tracy Jr., which highlights the dink-and-dunk nature of Jones’ night.
“You’ll like to hit them,” Daboll said of the lack of long pass completions. “I thought the quarterback played well. You like to have all completions but something we want to continue to work on.”
“Just gotta hit him and give a guy a chance to make a play,” Jones said of his lack of success deep. “For most part we moved well on the pass play. I’ll look where I can improve on those down-the-field opportunities.”
Despite the “big play” capability not being a factor, the Giants did have plenty of opportunities to get touchdowns, including two possessions in the red zone, but Daboll and the G-Men put up five field goals to account for their scoring.
It was the difference in Thursday’s loss and the team knows it’s something they have to clean up if they hope to bounce back from a 1-3 start.
“We gotta punch it in, finish drives,” Jones said. “Did that well in Cleveland, did that well in Washington. We just gotta punch it in.”
The Giants will hope to punch it in regularly starting in Week 5 against the Seahawks in Seattle, whether they can do so — especially if Nabers is out with injury — will be the team’s biggest test.
