Daniel Jones puts pressure on Giants after impressive debut

The New York Giants had a successful first pre-season game against their crosstown rival New York Jets.  They won the game 31-22 and had a handful of unknown names make an impact on the field.  The second biggest of them was Jake Carlock, a Long Island native who was playing in his first professional game.

Carlock, a Babylon native and C.W. Post graduate, deflected a Davis Webb pass at the line of scrimmage, intercepted it and returned in 59 yards for a touchdown.  Seaford native and University at Buffalo graduate James O’Hagan also got some time in at center for his hometown Giants.

However, the biggest impact in a game that essentially meant nothing was the incredible play of backup quarterback Daniel Jones.  After the Giants were chided for taking Jones #6 overall in the 2019 NFL Draft, Jones proved, even for a series, that the Giants may have been right about him.

Jones was 5-for-5 with 67 passing yards and a touchdown in the tune-up game.  He looked poised, threw crisp passes and had the moxie of a multi-year veteran in the pocket.  NFL Network analyst Brian Baldinger broke down what he liked about Jones below;

.@Giants #DanielJones @DukeFOOTBALL #Gmen was impressive in his debut going 5-5-67-1td and then the heavens opened up and the lightning struck. Was it the weather or the right arm of Jones? #BaldysBreakdowns pic.twitter.com/PRgVgUPD2g

— Brian Baldinger (@BaldyNFL) August 9, 2019

It was an impressive display by the young quarterback from Duke and Eli Manning may be thanking his lucky stars that Jones’ outing was shortened by a lightning delay.  Jones’ performance most certainly put more pressure on the Giants’ coaching staff to determine whether or not Eli Manning should still be the starting quarterback.

It’s a tough position to be in if you’re Pat Shurmur.  On one hand you have a two-time Super Bowl MVP and future Hall-Of-Famer.  On the other side you have an upstart young quarterback who will bring much more value at this point in his career than Eli Manning can.

The bad news is that Eli Manning will probably start the first game of the season because of his name and his history as Giants’ quarterback.  The good news is that it’s a positive sign that Daniel Jones is already chomping at the bit to start for the Giants.  If he faded into obscurity, the Giants may have known they made the wrong pick.