LANDOVER, Md. — Daniel Jones was drafted to win games like the one he plays in on Sunday night, with chase for the first playoff berth of his career beginning in earnest against the Commanders.
He has never had the offensive line Eli Manning had in front of him during the glory days, or that Phil Simms had in front of him during the glory days that preceded the glory days, and Jones doesn’t have the receiving weapons Taylor Heinicke will be armed with inside FedEx Field.
No one should be asking Jones to show up as Simms in Pasadena, or Manning in crunch time against Tom Brady and Bill Belichick.
The mandate is this:
Be better than Taylor Heinicke and go win the damn game, with your arm and with your legs, on a night when Saquon Barkley will undoubtedly need help running against that daunting defensive front.
Be the battlefield commander, and be efficient and fearless, and put an end once and for all to your ghastly 0-9 prime-time curse.
The country will be watching.
New York will be watching.
Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll will be watching.
Daniel Jones needs to rise to the biggest occasion of his New York Football Giants life, because this is his biggest chance to show the world that he is the right man for the job now, that he is finally receiving the coaching that evaded him across the first three years of his NFL career.
He has a chance to make a loud statement, starting right here and right now, at the start of this fourth quarter of the season, that all franchise quarterbacks are asked to make at some point in time.
Daniel Jones has never been asked to make it because he has never been 7-5-1 in December. He has never been 7-5-1 in December for too many well-documented reasons to revisit, not the least of which is organizational failure.
It was his history of never flinching in the face of adversity at Duke that endeared him to former GM Dave Gettleman and former coach Pat Shurmur, but it didn’t keep a host of Giants fans from welcoming him with disdain when he was announced as the sixth pick of the 2019 draft.
Through it all — the broken offensive lines that were never fixed, the coaching changes from Shurmur to Joe Judge to Daboll, from coordinators Jason Garrett to Freddie Kitchens to Mike Kafka, the signing of Kenny Golladay and the drafting of Kadarius Toney, the injuries to Saquon Barkley and Sterling Shepard and rookie Wan’Dale Robinson — Jones quietly endured.
First one in the building, last one to leave. Same guy every day. The perfect temperament for the market. The right makeup to follow Easy Eli.
His teammates love him. His coaches love him. John Mara loves him. Because how can they not? Never has he thrown a teammate or coach under the bus. Never has he made excuses.
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You root for people like Daniel Jones. He has worked diligently at his craft. Daboll never promised Josh Allen II. He has helped transform Daniel Jones into the best version of Daniel Jones just as he said he would: a dual threat who has learned to honor the virtues of ball security.
The job of the quarterback: Get his team in the end zone and win games. There have been countless times when Jones must have felt as if he was driving a jalopy with a flat tire up a steep hill trying to get to the end zone.
To wit: You can complete 25 of 31 passes for 200 yards and one touchdown, and rush 12 times for 71 yards against the Commanders two weeks ago, and still only score 20 points in a 20-20 tie.
Jones has played well enough to deserve not to lose games. That in and of itself is not enough to break the bank for a franchise quarterback.
On the other hand, we have learned this season that you can win games with Daniel Jones even with a glaring lack of quality playmakers and protectors.
If you are warming to the notion to that Daniel Jones has yet to reach his ceiling, you are compelled to ask: Will there be a better option out there for next season and somewhat beyond? If so, who?
And as he has made strides in his first year under Daboll and his offensive aides, you ask yourself how much better he might be in his second year under their tutelage — with a No. 1 receiver and additional weapons?
He was a long shot when Schoen and Daboll declined his fifth-year option. He has fought like hell to rise above the rubble, and now he should no longer be a long shot to keep his dream job.
Here was what Jones told me two days after the 2019 draft:
“Being in New York, playing for the Giants, is something that you dream of growing up. I mean, that is the biggest stage. The Giants are the franchise in the NFL, an opportunity to play for them is playing on the biggest stage, and that’s what you dream of. I know I can handle it, and I’m looking forward to the opportunity.”
Because of the circumstances that had done everything possible to screw this kid up — not my words, Mara’s words — it is only fair to grade his career on a curve.
It would only be fair to grade a huge December game like this on a curve as well. A huge December game like this that can be the impetus for huge December and January games for a franchise starving to play and succeed in them.
Just because it is not a ”must win,” with the 7-7 Seahawks losing to the 49ers on Thursday night, does not mean that the 7-5-1 Giants shouldn’t view it as a “must win” given the need to stop their slide to prevent self-doubt from creeping in and sabotaging their ambitions.
This is the moment. This can be his moment.
Daniel Jones’ “8 is enough” moment.
