During the New York Giants’ Week 1 game against the Tennessee Titans, head coach Brian Daboll was shown yelling at quarterback Daniel Jones after a turnover.
This feeling that you are feeling, New York Giants fans, is called hope. For the first time in six years, the Giants opened up their season with a victory. The Giants defeated the Tennessee Titans 21-20 following a late touchdown in the fourth quarter, a made two-point conversion, and a missed game-winning field goal by Titans kicker Randy Bullock. But, it was far from an easy win for new head coach Brian Daboll.
In the second half, the Giants had the chance to put points on the board after the Titans muffed a punt while down 20-13. Instead, New York ended up with zero points after quarterback Daniel Jones threw a bad interception to Tennessee safety Amani Hooker on a pass intended for running back Saquon Barkley.
The FOX broadcast cut to the Giants sideline, where Daboll approached Jones after the interception and grilled him.
Giants: Brian Daboll grills Daniel Jones after bad interception
The head coach chewing out the quarterback is far from a first in the NFL. But it shows that Daboll was not happy with Jones’ performance on that drive. But that did not deter Jones at all on their final drive of the game.
Jones converted on a fourth-and-one play by running towards the left sideline on a fake handoff to Barkley. Then, on the 12th play of the drive, Jones threw a one-yard touchdown pass to fullback Chris Myarick to cut their deficit to 20-19. Instead of going for the tie, Daboll went for the lead. On their two point conversion, Jones faked a run to the end zone, but instead threw a quick shovel pass to Barkley, who ran it in for the two-point conversion to take the 21-20 lead.
There was a scare that the Giants win would not hold up, considering cornerback Darnay Holmes was called for a defensive holding penalty and surrendered a 21-yard pass from Ryan Tannehill to Kyle Philips to set the Titans up in field goal range. But, Bullock missed the 47-yard attempt as time expired to secure the Giants’ victory.
On the day, Jones completed 17-of-21 pass attempts for 188 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception. That, and he ran for 25 yards on six carries.
Jones is entering the final year of his contract with the Giants, as his fifth-year option was declined by the team. It is up to him to prove to Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen that he can be the guy to lead the Giants back to the Super Bowl. While there were some rough plays in Week 1, Jones did show some promise throughout the contest.
