Daniel Jones was asked a question and he answered – totally – a little to the chagrin of coach Joe Judge. The 23-year-old is recovering from a hamstring injury that cost him time in stretching, followed by an ankle injury that only made things worse, but now he is back in uniform and on the pitch for the New York Giants. He’s not yet 100 percent, though, and as he heads towards the end of the regular winning season and you can make it against the Dallas Cowboys, that can certainly come into play.
Jones is also not minimizing his apparent lack of mobility. Losing three consecutive goals after winning four in a row with Jones at the center, the Giants may have to adjust their game plan and abandon their usual group of racing moves in Week 17, something the former first-round pick publicly admitted this week .
“I think you can tell by the tape that I can’t do many of the same things I’m used to,” he told the media, via the team’s website, noting that he will continue to depend on his arm and not his legs when the Cowboys arrive in the city. “… I played out of pocket for the past few weeks and I hope to continue doing so until I am healthy. We will see what exactly, but I expect the game plan and what I am asked to do to be very similar to what it has been in recent weeks.”
Of course, from the point of view of coaching, this was seen as over-sharing.
The judge would have preferred Jones to reduce his response to a point where the Cowboys had no idea what the plan is, or at least to allow speculation about whether the young quarterback is really healthy or not. There is no room for interpretation now, however, and the judge knows it – trying to rework Jones’ comments to at least try to give Dallas something extra to think about and plan for. Jones is the Giants’ second-largest rusher in 2020, but has only one carry on the last two outs.
“I read Daniel’s comments yesterday,” said Judge. “Probably a little more open than I would have been with this. But, as I said yesterday, we will do whatever it takes to win the game.”
That said, the judge readily admits that he will not pressure Jones to do more than he physically can.
“I can’t stress enough – I will always take into account the health of the players in what we call the game,” he said. “I can’t turn around and ‘take off my gloves’. Well, take off your gloves and you expose someone to a prolonged injury, this is not always the most opportune. We will make sure that we always put our players in a position of strength, and that includes their health. “
So, although the judge would have liked Jones to hold the team’s cards closer to the vest, the cat is out of the bag now and won’t be coming back.
“It is certainly something that I need to be aware of about my mobility and what I can do, and something that I am aware of playing in the game,” said Jones. “But it’s how I’ve been playing for the past weeks and a half that I’ve gotten used to.”
This could all be smoke and mirrors, however, which is something Cowboys should consider. If they fail [also] plan for Jones to suddenly regain his mobility, they may end up paying for it in style. If it is true that Jones will be more of a pocket passer, the Giants will be at a disadvantage, considering that even a healthy Jones was fired twice and hit a total of 10 times in the Cowboys’ victory over him and Big Blue in week 5 – too forcing a fumble that was recovered by Dallas. And with the latter leading the entire NFL in takeaways in December, Jones’ escape capacity or lack thereof will be ahead and center on January 3.
A defeat by the Washington Football Team will give the winner of this dispute the crown of the division, so Jones will have to dig deep for this one, in addition to not spilling the beans in interviews.