Giants' Brian Daboll opens up about Daniel Jones' preseason debut

New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones tossed a pair of ugly interceptions, including one near his own end zone that was returned for a touchdown, while making his 2024 preseason debut against the Houston Texans this past Saturday.

During a Tuesday appearance on the WFAN "Boomer and Gio" program, Giants head coach Brian Daboll spoke about Jones making his in-game return from the torn ACL he suffered last November.

"He knew it wasn’t a good play," Daboll said about the pick-six, as shared by Ryan Chichester of Audacy. "The other interception, those are gonna happen. It was one-on-one outside... just keep pushing the ball down the field and let’s keep working on our timing. We did that quite a bit. I think half our throws were at least 20 yards. That was important to me and I think important to him."

Jones showing signs of rust this summer is understandable considering he missed time last fall with his second neck injury in three years before he went down with the ACL tear. With that said, Daboll and general manager Joe Scho en left little doubt when they explored drafting Jones' eventual replacement earlier this year that the 27-year-old is entering a make-or-break season regarding his Giants career.

"I wanted to do that a bunch this game," Daboll said about having Jones repeatedly throw down the field versus Houston. "One, to get his timing back...coming back from his ACL and having not played, I wanted the protection around him to be good. I wanted to develop the routes down the field and have him hang onto it if he needed to hang onto it , and see the decisions he made."

On Monday, former NFL quarterback and current analyst Dan Orlovsky ripped the decision-making that Jones displayed when he nearly took a safety before he tossed a gift of a pick-six at Houston's NRG Stadium. To his credit, Jones settled down while facing the Texans' backups en route to finishing 11-of-18 passing for 138 yards with no touchdowns and the two interceptions.

"It’s hard to have 15-play drives over and over...being able to push the ball down the field is gonna be important," Daboll added an offense that has promising rookie Malik Nabers as its new No. 1 wide receiver. "That’s something we’ve been focusing on since [organized team activities]."

How long that offense will feature Jones before Daboll and Schoen consider making a business decision that would allow them to part ways with the signal-caller early next year shall be seen.