Simply put, there were reasons Giants fans were burning Daniel Jones jerseys in the parking lot after Sunday’s game in the Meadowlands.
With an improved offensive line, a true No. 1 receiver in Malik Nabers, and in spite of losing Saquon Barkley, the Giants put forth optimism that Jones could show why he was drafted No. 6 overall. That did not happen in Week 1.
Jones struggled on 42 attempts with just 186 yards and two interceptions while getting sacked five times. Completing 22 passes, his average depth of target was just 3.8 yards. Nabers played his role with 66 yards and five catches on seven targets, but New York could not get in gear with only two field goals despite running 68 total plays.
Due to that low completion rate, paired with the modest depth of each throw, Jones recorded just 186 yards but still threw a pair of interceptions, one of which was returned for a touchdown.
With a passer rating of 44.3, it was the third-worst game of Jones’ career by that metric. It was also his third-worst game in terms of first downs recorded per pass attempt. All of this was despite the Vikings leading big for more or less the entire game, which should have led to a favorable game script for big passing numbers.
Perhaps most troublingly, Jones saw the second-lowest blitz rate (at 10.3%) he has ever faced in any game of his career, and the third-lowest of any quarterback through the 1 p.m. slot of Week 1. The Vikings’ defense knocked down six passes in the game, but Jones’ poor decisions made them easy knocks.
Big Blue has an NFC East matchup in Week 2 as they head down to Washington to take on Jayden Daniels and the Commanders.
