Daniel Jones left Sauce Gardner searching for words in training camp.
He and the New York Giants’ efforts in a season-opening loss to the Minnesota Vikings left Big Blue fans booing.
And, apparently, the Giants’ much-maligned quarterback even left the opposition sympathizing on Sunday.
“We kind of started to feel a little bit bad for him as we're still just completely taking away everything he wants to do,” Vikings outside linebacker Jonathan Greenard said on the Power Trip Morning Show of Jones of Minnesota’s 28-6 win. “Hey, it's good to be on the other side of it, and it's our job to not be on that side.”
Greenard and the Vikings terrorized Jones, who was 22 of 42 for 186 yards with two interceptions and a 44.3 passer rating. Minnesota piled up five sacks against Jones, who was pressured 18 times (36.7% pressure rate).
The Giants mustered a pair of Graham Gano field goals to account for their offense, a total equaled by Vikings linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel, whose 10-yard interception return for a touchdown put the finishing touches on Minnesota’s defensive masterpiece.
The Jones-led offense tallied just 240 net yards.
“It was good obviously because we got the dub,” Greenard said, “but everybody knows on the defensive side of the ball that they shouldn't have had any points.”
It was a dreadful start to a pivotal 2024 campaign that Jones just didn’t need.
Having inked a four-year, $160 million extension in the spring of 2023 that was scrutinized the moment it was reported, Jones and the Giants fell flat the ensuing season. The 2019 first-round pick was 1-5 as a starter in 2023, throwing two touchdowns to six interceptions before he was lost for the season with a torn ACL.
Coming off the injury and heading into the sixth season of his Giants career, Jones is on the hot seat in Gotham.
So scrutinized is Jones that even his perceived practice struggles became a story when Jets cornerback Gardner seemed to be at a loss for words when asked to describe the Giants QB after a joint practice on Aug. 21.
During Sunday’s opener, the boos rained down on Jones and Co. Having played through some trying seasons with the Houston Texans previously, Greenard can empathize.
“I’ve been a part of those boos when you walking on the field and your offense doesn’t make anything happen and there’s just, you would think it’s an away game at this point,” Greenard said. “But at that time, you know how, how we were attacking him and understanding like where he's at in his career based on you know, obviously the scheme that he has, you know, whatever the contract things going on. So, we understand he's dealing with a lot, and if we can add another aspect of you know, pressure onto the guy to make him speed up his reads a little bit more, make sure that he's not gonna get confident and comfortable back in the pocket. Man, it was a great feeling to see it on the first couple of drives.”
Obviously, it wasn’t a great feeling for Jones, who's now failed to throw a TD in five consecutive starts.
Head coach Brian Daboll was already fielding questions Monday about benching Jones, which the third-year coach said he wasn’t going to do.
Nonetheless, Jones’ travails continue and it’s never a great sign when your opponents are feeling sorry for you.