Daniel Jones

Wins aren't a quarterback stat. Not a real one anyway. More often than not, if a quarterback's record is bad, so is the rest of the team.

The 0-9 in primetime games is over. Jones passed for 160 yards without a score, but he made his share of big plays to contribute to the win and didn’t do anything to get in the way. [December 19, 2022] He hasn’t been great, but neither have the Giants. Not a real one anyway. Wins aren’t a quarterback stat.

This was supposed to be a rebuilding year for the Giants, but after beating Washington on Sunday night, they're on the verge of making the playoffs.

You’ve gotta have a feel for the game, a feel for your opponent, a feel for the matchup, a feel for the weather.” Rookie pass rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux managed seven tackles on his first 23 snaps in the first half, including a stripsack of Heinicke that he picked up and returned for a touchdown that was essentially the difference in the game. James and Hodges were the two leading receivers for the Giants on Sunday, with four catches each and 42 yards for James and 37 yards for Hodgins. Impossibly, the Giants were outscored in the final two minutes of the first half of games in 2021 by a margin of 79-0. There is so much thinking we can do to try and explain how the Giants keep winning these games, and whether the team will bring back key players like Jones and Barkley. Of the current NFL playoff field, every team is either a returning playoff team or one that was picked to potentially compete for a playoff spot. Hodgins was practicing with the starters in his first practice with the team. With five minutes left in the first half in a meaningless game against Washington, backed up to their own 2-yard line, the Giants ran a quarterback sneak on second-and-11. Their offense had been dead last in touchdowns in the previous two seasons combined, and in 2021 they endured a 40-plus possession stretch with just one touchdown. The Giants aren’t just on the verge of securing a playoff spot, they have an identity forming around the core players on this team. There was a version of this Giants season that could have been a pseudo-disaster. Had they lost, they would have had roughly a 30 percent chance, the biggest swing in postseason probabilities of any game this season, according to Pro Football Focus.

The Giants beat the Washington Commanders 20-12 Sunday night at FedEx Field behind outstanding performances by Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley.

Another 50-yard field goal by Gano made it 20-12 and the Giants were in for another wild ride to the finish, which came on a fourth-down incompletion by Heinicke that could have drawn a pass interference call on Darnay Holmes. They failed to take advantage of their opening possession of the second half and the Commanders countered by going 91 yards on six plays to pull within five points. The drive ended with Barkley taking a direct snap and running three yards untouched into the end zone. Jones threw to five different receivers and took 8 minutes and 35 seconds off the clock. Jones took the Giants 97 yards on 18 plays by completing 10 of 12 passes for 91 yards. He also picked up the loose ball and ran it in from the 1-yard line for his first career touchdown. So again, when you get pressure right away in the pocket and there’s not much you can do, then the most important thing is to take care of the ball and live to see another day. He had 48 yards on a drive that set up a Graham Gano 50-yard field goal late in the fourth quarter to make the score 20-12. In the pocket, taking care of the football, making the right decisions. In fact, even after his team was trounced last week by the Eagles, Daboll found time to praise Jones the following day. At the moment, the Giants are the No. Jones was at his absolute best when he led his team on an 18-play, 97-yard scoring drive that ate up most of the second-quarter clock.

The New York Giants challenged their players to step up in what was by far the biggest game of the 2022 regular season, and by golly, they delivered.

The Giants hold the sixth seed in the 7-member NFC playoff field and will all but certainly punch their ticket to the postseason for the first time since 2016 if they can defeat the Minnesota Vikings next weekend on Christmas Eve. Washington, having again gotten inside the Giants’ 10-yard line, threatened to potentially tie the game and send it into overtime. Not to be outdone, the defense had its share of big-moment performances. Nine plays later, kicker Graham Gano made it 20-12 on a 50-yard field goal. Better yet, Washington crossed into Giants’ territory seven times but only scored on three of those possessions. Then, three plays later, running back Saquon Barkley, who also had himself quite the game (87 yards on 18 carries, 4.8 average).

LANDOVER, Md. — Saquon Barkley wanted the Giants to put the biggest game of his NFL career on his shoulders. Then he lowered those shoulders and spun them ...

Or that a small sample was proof that a team’s best player cannot be a running back and that it would be foolish to give him a big contract extension after the season. We’ve got to find a way to end the game right there.” “Great play call and design by all the coaches,” Barkley said. A 14-yard run up the middle. “You relax, take a deep breath and let your body take over.” A 15-yard run up the middle.