New York Giants starting quarterback Daniel Jones saw his first preseason action during a game against the Houston Texans this weekend, marking his return from a season-ending ACL tear last season. But it’s safe to say it didn’t exactly go the way that he had hoped – and his coach called him out for it a little bit.
Daniel Jones threw two interceptions in the first quarter against the Texans, and head coach Brian Daboll called him out for one of them, calling the throw “a poor decision.”
“Tough to win a game when you turn the ball over five times,” Daboll said according to Pro Football Talk. “Start with that. So, one, decision back in our end zone, give up a score, one-on-one, [Texans cornerback Derek] Stingley makes a good play, and then turn it over there in the second half, so don’t give yourself much of a chance when you turn the ball over. Obviously, it’s something we need to improve on so that’s what we’ll try to do. . . . [Jones] moved to the left and made a poor decision, backed up.”
While Daboll clearly was not all that happy with this decision from Jones, he’s glad that he made this mistake in the preseason instead of the regular season where it matters.
“That’s what these games are for too,” Daboll said. “Some evaluation part of it, but, obviously you have a plan going into it. it’s a little bit different than I would say a regular season game where you’re scheming and doing things like that. I wanted to make sure we had enough plays where we were throwing it down the field, giving opportunities to throw it down the field. Again, there was some good things, good to get him out here and then a couple things we’ll learn from and that’s what these things are for.”
Jones is heading into a vitally important year as he looks to assert himself as the team’s franchise quarterback. We’ll have to see how he performs this year.
