Giants Give Crucial Update on Daniel Jones’ Playing Status

Analyst envisions Josh Allen leap for Daniel Jones

Getty Daniel Jones #8 of the New York Giants.

After losing seven of their first eight games, the New York Giants have rallied off three consecutive victories to position themselves atop the NFC East. With just five more weeks to go, they’ll travel to Seattle this Sunday in hopes of extending their winning streak to four games and further distancing themselves in the division lead.

Unfortunately, it’s looking more and more likely that they’ll be looking to do so without the services of their starting quarterback.

Daniel Jones is officially listed as doubtful for Sunday’s road contest against the Seahawks. The second-year pro suffered a right hamstring injury in last week’s 19-17 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals, making way for backup Colt McCoy. If Jones is ultimately unable to give it a go this weekend, the veteran will once again be called upon to man the role under center.

Jones did log a limited practice session on Friday, his first practice participation since sustaining his injury.

McCoy, 34, has started 28 games over his 11-year career. However, only six of those starts have come since 2012, with his last start coming in October of last year as a member of a division foe, Washington. In that game, he completed 18 of 27 passes for 122 yards with one interception.

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Daniel Jones: ‘I Certainly Want to Play’

While Jones’ status certainly appears to be in doubt, the quarterback is not quite ready to close the door on his availability.

“I think as far as my approach, I certainly want to play and I want to be out there and doing everything I can to get out there,” Jones told members of the media on Thursday. “Where that puts me or how I recover depends on what I do day to day and that’s what my focus is, on what I’m doing and focusing on healing up.”

“Luckily, there’s not a game today and to think of a hypothetical here, I’m sure we all use the week to prepare our bodies to play on Sundays. That’s part of the schedule and the way it works for all of us, so I’m not sure. My goal is to continue to improve throughout the week,” Jones said. “I think as far as where it puts me and how I recover, that’s up to me, up to how I approach this process and I’m doing everything I can to get back as soon as possible.”


Giants Show Faith in McCoy

Colt McCoy saw his first game action of the year last week against the Bengals. In spot duty, the 11-year-pro completed six of his 10 passes for 31 yards. While those numbers certainly aren’t anything to write home about it also hasn’t wavered the faith his teammates and coaches have in him. If anything, it’s only solidified their previous belief in the quarterback.

“He’s done a tremendous job all year,” coach Joe Judge said of McCoy. “Now while he may have had limited reps in certain weeks, he’s done a great job of doing everything he can to get himself mentally and physically ready, whether that’s playing against our defense giving the other team’s look, or whether that’s standing behind Daniel as he runs plays and getting the mental reps of declaring who the mike is, getting his dropback behind the scenes and a lot of things you can’t really see without being at practice. But every player for us we have confidence in. We expect anyone who’s at the game to give us production and perform at the level to help us have success.”

“I thought Colt did a really good job last week in the game getting comfortable and allowing us to function as an offense,” offensive coordinator Jason Garrett stated. “I thought he handled himself really well. … If he does have to play in the ball game this week, hopefully he’ll be comfortable. You look for things in his past he’s comfortable with. With you or with somebody else. Just so when that ball is snapped, it’s all internalized in him. He’s just going out there and playing football.”

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