Is Daniel Jones the Answer for the Giants?

Author: Billy Taylor

As Daniel Jones enters the end of his second year, some Giant fans have been thinking about if the team should move into a different direction with their quarterback. While incredibly unfair, I’ve been comparing Daniel Jones to the man who preceded him: Eli Manning. I compare them because for the first two years of Eli’s career, people didn’t think very highly of him. This is somewhat similar to how Daniel Jones is viewed now – as a quarterback who shows flashes of talent but overall can’t seem to pull everything together.

Eli was supported by Tiki Barber, Brandon Jacobs, Amani Toomer, Plaxico Burress and Jeremy Shockey along with solid offensive and defensive lines his first two years. I think we can objectively say that is better than how the Giants are constructed now. Saquon Barkley’s injury is obviously a huge blow to the offense this year, but even when he’s healthy he can only do so much behind the inconsistent offensive line. You have to give the offensive line credit for the improvements they’ve made this year, but they still leave something to be desired. Darius Slayton definitely should be part of the future in New York, but he’s not exactly wide receiver one material and Sterling Shepard is a nice supporting piece if he can stay healthy. Evan Engram could be a top five tight end in the league, yet he continues to be consistently inconsistent. The defense has been the biggest surprise for the Giants this year. While it is nice to see, considering how horrible the past couple of years the defense has been, in reality they are kind of average and very boom or bust. They look like world beaters when they sacked Russel Wilson five times three weeks ago. Then they allow the Ravens to run all over them last week for 249 yards with 6.2 yards per rushing attempt.

The biggest concern with Daniel Jones individually is his pocket presence. He doesn’t feel pressure coming in at all which is one thing, but when he inevitably gets sacked you can bet your house on it that the ball is going to pop out of his hands. Eli always had problems with interceptions, but in a way that’s the price you pay when he gambled with his throws as much as he did. That risk could lead to a touchdown or a game winning drive. Having no pocket presence and ball security does nothing but kill drives and the chance to win a football game. Daniel also has injury concerns. You can’t expect Daniel to play every game of his career like Eli. Well, almost every game (Thanks Ben McAdoo!). But when you use your legs to gain yards like Daniel does it’s important to be one-hundred percent healthy. Daniel is also the type of guy who can’t play hurt. We saw this against the Cardinals and Ravens. He does not look comfortable out there which does not bode well at all for a chance to make the playoffs on the last game of the season coming up on Sunday. Another major concern is that Daniel could be on his third offensive coordinator in three years, and Jason Garrett doesn’t exactly make Giant fans jump for joy. Whereas Eli had much more coaching stability throughout his career. Daniel’s progress towards being able to read defenses in the NFL could very well get worse if the offensive coordinator position continues to change. Which really sucks considering that he does have talent especially when it comes to threading the needle on passes in-between defenders.

So, is Daniel Jones the answer for the Giants? Maybe. Next year is a critical year to answering that question as he nears the chance to get a second contract. I’ll cut him slack for some of his injuries, but the pocket presence and ball security are a huge cause to be concerned. If he can improve on that it would go a long way to winning more games. If the Giants can also help him with an improved offensive line and pair him with a certified wide receiver one, Jones could turn out to be a very good quarterback in the NFL. The question is will Giants GM Dave Gettleman make the right moves to put Daniel Jones in a position to succeeded? Well, that’s for a different article at a different time.

SPORTS ARE OUR UNIVERSE

Can the Packers Keep it Up?

Author: Matthew Iberger

After beating the New Orleans Saints 37-30 this past week, the Green Bay Packers have improved to 3-0 on the season. Now tied for 1st in the NFC North with the Chicago Bears, who are surprisingly undefeated as well, the season could not be off to a better start for Rodgers and Co. Averaging 40.7 PPG, the potent Packers offense has definitely been one of the biggest surprises so far this season despite an injury to Davante Adams in Week 2. Aaron Rodgers is a dark horse MVP candidate and Aaron Jones has looked as good as he did last season when he put up double digit touchdowns. The defense is nothing to scoff at either, while not the best unit in the league they get the job done when it comes to it. However, it seems that this team is really not getting the respect it deserves from the national media right now. Is Green Bay underrated, or is this just a hot start that is going to come grinding to a halt?

It all started last year. Despite reaching the NFC Championship game the Green Bay Packers under new head coach Matt LeFleur were considered by many to be a team that just got lucky with their 13-3 record, and that championship game was an exposure of their flaws as they were handily beaten by the San Francisco 49ers. Things got even worse in the public eye for the Packers when they drafted Jordan Love in the first round of the NFL Draft this year, one of if not the biggest shock to come out of the draft. They followed that up with another odd selection, RB AJ Dillion in the second round. This came as another shock as many had seen the Packers RB room as one of their strengths, with the one-two punch of Aaron Jones and Jamaal Williams. Many felt that these moves were from a team that decided to close its own Super Bowl window and move towards the future. With a year older Rodgers, it was not a controversial opinion to say this was the year the Packers fall flat.

This is why their start is so surprising. Despite building for the future with their early picks, Green Bay is still lighting up the scoreboard with its less than star studded WR and TE core. This is the best offense in the NFL in PPG right now, above the super bowl favorite Kansas City Chiefs and even the Seattle Seahawks who are being led by MVP frontrunner Russell Wilson. If this team had added a Tee Higgins or Michael Pittman-type WR late in the first round, we might have been seeing even greater fireworks on the field. Even if this offensive showcase does not last the entire season, there is still a strong possibility that the Packers are leading the NFC by the halfway point of the season. The thing working the most in Green Bay’s favor is that they do not have a very tough upcoming schedule. After an easy matchup with the Falcons this week on SNF, they head into their bye week likely 4-0. Their two tough matchups will be the Buccaneers the week after and a severely injured 49ers in Week 9. Hopefully by then Davante Adams will be back, and also Allen Lazard after injuring his core against the Saints. By Week 10, they could be 9-1 or 8-2 if everything goes according to plan. Even the rest of their schedule after Week 10 is not that hard, if the current teams stay as they are and do not get hot later on. This is much easier than the Seahawks, who will face the Cardinals, 49ers, Bills, Rams, and Cardinals again, who might get bogged down by their difficult schedule.

I know that the Packers have not had the toughest schedule so far, the mark of good teams is to make sure to take care of bad teams. With their easy schedule and early success, this is a team I could see being the 1 or 2 seed in the NFC. In a year where the 1st seed is more important than ever with the 2nd seed losing their first-round bye, the Packers need to keep putting away bad teams and not lose easy games. If the beginning of the season is an inclination, they will be just fine.

SPORTS ARE OUR UNIVERSE