It’s possible that the New York Giants have hit rock bottom after a 20-17 loss to the Carolina Panthers in Germany — although it’s also possible that the worst is still yet to come with quarterback Daniel Jones leading the offense.
Among Jones’ Week 10 miscues was a missed opportunity on a flea flicker that was called on a key 3rd-and-1 near midfield.
“You run a flea flicker on third and 1 at midfield, knowing full well if it falls incomplete, you go for it on fourth and 1,” NorthJersey.com beat reporter Art Stapleton explained after the game. “If it doesn’t work and guys are covered, you throw the ball away. But the play worked. Wan’Dale Robinson AND [Malik] Nabers were open with easy throws for chunk plays. For some reason, Jones took the sack instead.”
That, of course, was the one thing Jones could not do on this play call. Despite that, there was no criticism from head coach Brian Daboll after the loss.
“I wish I had [the play call] back, wish I had it back,” Daboll told reporters, regarding the flea flicker decision. “Didn’t work.”
When a reporter pushed back a bit, noting that receivers were open on the play and it did work, Daboll refused to blame his quarterback, responding: “I wish I had it back. Bad coaching.”
Brian Daboll Must Stop Defending Daniel Jones & Turn Giants Offense Over to New QB
Obviously, you don’t expect a head coach to throw his quarterback under the bus in front of a room full of reporters and hats off to Daboll for taking the heat. Having said that, constantly defending Jones hasn’t helped this team win football games so far and that’s unlikely to change in the second half.
At 2-8, Daboll must now prove he’s still the right man for the job. And being a head coach includes knowing when to make a change at quarterback.
“The time has come for the Giants to move past the Jones era, turn the focus on salvaging what is remaining in yet another lost season in the standings and truly assess the position and what comes next,” Stapleton wrote on November 10.
This is noteworthy, considering Stapleton was one of the last remaining defenders of Jones within the media heading into Week 10.
“The Giants have spent Daboll’s entire tenure trying to put Jones in a position to succeed based on hope – their hope of what he could be if they built the offensive line, gave him weapons, kept playmakers healthy and called the right plays at the right time,” the beat writer reasoned. “Jones is just not making the plays to win games, and when he does make plays, he often follows that up by making the wrong ones.”
Whether it’s Drew Lock or Tommy DeVito, the G-Men must try something new at quarterback when they return in Week 12. Daboll owes it to his players, and he owes it to himself.
Giants WR Malik Nabers Acknowledges Being Open on Flea Flicker, But Refuses to Blame Daniel Jones
Similar to Daboll, Nabers did his best to cover for Jones during his postgame press conference.
“Yeah, when you look at it, you can see that we were open but there’s many things that are going on in Daniel [Jones’] face that us receivers don’t see,” he said. “We just out there running our route. We see that we open but there’s a lot of things going on in the backfield that we don’t know [about].”
Nabers also told reporters that he spoke to Jones after the play, and that the Giants QB confirmed that he was unable to see his receivers downfield.
If the Giants elect to make a change at QB, the bye week might be the right time to do it. On his NYG career, Jones has led Big Blue to a regular season record of 24-43-1 and a playoff record of 1-1. He has a career passer rating of 84.9 and a career completion percentage of 64.2.
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Giants HC Brian Daboll Appears to Cover for Daniel Jones After Panthers Loss