New York fans at a Yankees baseball game booed Giants rookie quarterback Daniel Jones when he appeared on the video board Monday night.
For his part, the first-year signal-caller dismissed the hullabaloo on Tuesday during a discussion on * The Rich Eisen Show*.
"I certainly don't pay a whole lot of attention to it," Jones told Eisen when asked about the boos. "You're aware of it. I'm focused on what we're doing here and focused on trying to practice as well as I could these past six weeks and show some progress over these six weeks. So, at the end of the day, I'm grateful to be part of this franchise, get this opportunity and looking forward to keeping it going."
When discussing potentially adding a rookie QB behind Eli Manning, GM Dave Gettleman noted that such a person must be mentally tough enough to survive the pressure of New York. It seems Jones passed the first test in that department.
Jones could know that New York fans aren't necessarily booing him personally, but rather the seemingly head-scratching series of decisions the front office has made, epitomized by his selection at No. 6 overall. Even that caveat doesn't make it any easier for a human to be booed by hometown fans.
As for the idea that Pat Shurmur opened the door to a full-blown QB competition between Manning and Jones once training camp begins, the rookie told Eisen he has not been told he could have a chance to start and downplayed the coach's comments.
"I don't know. I think everyone on our team is trying to prove that they can play," Jones said. "And everyone wants to play. When coach said that I think that's what any coach does at any level at any sport. Like I said, it's all of our goals to prove that we can play, rookie, veterans, everyone wants to be on the field. We'll see how it works out, but I'm excited to get a little bit of time off, but I'm excited to get back and get to work."
