Giants urge Daniel Jones to be more aggressive and less reckless

Let’s start by ruling out the ridiculous: Nobody’s going to high-five Daniel Jones for throwing an interception during Giants practice.

But there are certain circumstances in which an interception is perceived as more than it appears.

“I tell him to try to fit in tight shots,” said coach Brian Daboll. “You throw some picks at practice? no sweat That’s why we do it – to see what we can and can’t do.”

Imagine Kim Kardashian getting too private or Kevin Hart getting too serious. That kind of drastic overcorrection is similar to what happened with Jones, who was drilled into his head from every corner that his promising rookie season under fired head coach/play-caller Pat Shurmur was tainted by a disregard for ball safety.

While Jones’ annual percentage of interceptions per pass attempt (2.6 to 2.2 to 1.9), fumbles per 17 games (24.8 to 12.1 to 10.8), and percentage of turnover Worthy plays (5.5 to 3.1 to 2.7) are all In his three-year career he has decreased, as has his aggressiveness.

According to NextGenStats, as a rookie, Jones made a tight window throw (when the defender is within 1 yard at the time of completion or non-completion) 22.4 percent of the time, compared to 17.6 percent in 2020 and 18 percent in 2020 2021. He made a big-time throw — Pro Football Focus’ contrast to turnover-worth play — on just 1.8 percent of his attempts in 2021, down from 4.1 and 5 percent earlier in this career.

“The fact was we flipped the ball a lot and I flipped the ball a lot,” Jones said. “As a quarterback you have to be able to do both – be aggressive, take shots and also protect the ball. It finds balance there. And the best guys can do that.”

Daboll’s Bills offenses certainly found the middle ground.

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“I don’t think it’s like one big overarching mindset that you aimlessly apply to every game,” Jones said.

The Giants have the fewest 30-point outputs (nine) in the NFL over the past six seasons. Eight passed under Shurmur, including three quarterbacks from Jones, whose four highest-rated passes in a singles game came as a rookie.

Messaging is much the same now as it was then. The watchword in quarterbacks coach Shea Tierney’s briefing room is, “Be aggressive, not reckless.”

“I love that mentality for him,” Tierney said. “We try to emphasize that when we start here. If the throw is there, we’ll take it. He did a good job with that. You saw [last Thursday] He threw a few down and we want that.”

Sure enough, when one of those passes was intercepted by security guard Julian Love, no one looked disheartened.

“If he has a shot to the right side, let him go,” Daboll said. “There will be things that happen in every game. The defense will have a good game. It could be a tipped ball. We have to take good care of the football, but I want him to take it easy.”

Jones hasn’t worked in a vacuum for the past two seasons.

Despite professing a desire to do something different, former head coach Joe Judge carried out conservative management, playing to a strong defense and his background in special teams. Former offensive coordinator Jason Garrett’s play-calling was safe, especially in the third-and-longs.

“I think he’s improved [ball security] huge since his rookie year,” said Tierney. “We will always emphasize that this is the most important thing. Regardless of whether he had fluctuations or not, we will say that.”

The Giants’ offensive line allowed less time to throw than Jones as a rookie — 2.76 and 2.78 seconds, which ranked 19th in 2020 and 20th in 2021. And Golden Tate, Darius Slayton and Kenny Golladay were all among the bottom 12 receivers in Separation yards at one season or another, according to NextGenStats.

Aggressiveness only works if blocking holds and receivers play.

“We’re kind of letting the receiver know that we’re going to give them every opportunity to make plays, and we’re counting on you to make plays in certain situations,” Jones said. “It’s a mindset [Daboll] must attack a defense in low field. As a quarterback, as a decision maker, you’re a big part of it. It’s something we’ve talked about a lot and something he wants to see in practice.”