N.Y. Giants: Injuries Leave Daniel Jones With Empty Pockets

From the desk: DO IT FOR THE DUKE

Have Quarterback Will Run

ATTN GENERAL MANAGER: THIS IS NOT A SUSTAINABLE OFFENSIVE PLAN

Daniel Jones to date has started twelve of the Giants fourteen games.  He was a non-factor in the Giants running game (by design or scramble) during three of those games in which they won one and lost two.

• WK 5 - two runs for minus-7 yards in a loss versus Cowboys.
• WK 9 - six attempts for four yards in a victory over WFT.
• WK 13 - no attempts (strained hamstring) in a loss versus Cardinals.

Otherwise, Daniel, this season has "rushed" 55 times for 403 gross yards.  For my purpose, I'm subtracting the aforementioned three games - through nine games that translates into 48 rushes for 400 yards, which averages out to 5.3 attempts for 44.4 yards per game.  In these nine games, Jones accounted for 44.2% of all Big Blue's rushing yards.

And therein lies my issue ...

Through fourteen games, everyone not named Daniel Jones has thus far rushed for 915 yards.  Together, Daniel Jones and everyone else has to date amassed 1,589 yards rushing, which ranks them smack in the middle (16th) in the NFL.  If we subtract yards gained by Daniel Jones, the Giants would otherwise have rushed for 1,186, which would rank them last in the NFL slightly behind the Houston Texans.

All told, Daniel Jones accounts for more than 30% of the Giants running game, which is exactly what I do not want out of a quarterback.

Whether his recent poor performance against the Cardinals resulted from a strained hamstring and maybe even a compromised foot, he made no attempts to run.  Which was fine because Jones needs to prove himself in the pocket.  Against Arizona, he was 11/21 for 127 yards with no interceptions and no touchdowns.  However, he was sacked six times and fumbled three times, losing one.  Said another way, his internal clock and pocket presence were terrible, and it was critical the Giants over these last few games be able to assess him, but injuries just killed our view.