November 06, 2023
The New York Giants lost starting quarterback Daniel Jones for the season, head coach Brian Daboll said today after MRI results confirmed an ACL tear in Jones' right knee. His final stat line of the season: 108 of 160 (67.5%) for 909 yards, 2 TDs, 6 INTs, 30 sacks, and 4 fumbles in 6 games (1-5 in those starts).
Jones was the sixth overall pick in the 2019 draft, and he had a disappointing 12-25 record his first three seasons with the team. However, under a new coaching / front office regime in 2022, the Giants went from laughingstocks to competency. They went 9-7-1 during the regular season, and won their first playoff game since the 2011 season, beating the Vikings on the road.
Along the way, they finally got a decent season out of Jones, who was a turnover machine the first couple years of his career, but who protected the ball far better over the last two seasons. He came so far along on the ball security front that he had the lowest INT percentage in the NFL in 2022, at 1.1 percent.
In the wake of Jones' seemingly promising 2022 season, the Giants were faced with three decisions on his future with the team:
They chose option No. 3, signing Jones to a four-year deal worth $160 million, tying him for seventh among NFL quarterbacks (at the time) at an average annual value of $40 million per season, a move that many panned.
That decision quickly proved to be a disastrous one, as the Giants have gotten out to a 2-7 start this season and their expensive quarterback is no longer available.
The Giants currently only have two quarterbacks on their active roster. There's Tommy DeVito, the No. 3 quarterback, and Matt Barkley, who is on the practice squad. The Giants' No. 2 quarterback, Tyrod Taylor, is on injured reserve with a ribs injury.
Well, the Eagles will face the Giants in Week 16 and Week 18. While the Eagles have owned the Giants over the years anyway, these very winnable division games should be even easier.
Those matchups against the Giants are also meaningful for tiebreaker purposes should the Eagles need them against the Cowboys later this season. The first three tiebreakers for the division are as follows:
The Eagles have a 2.5-game cushion over the Cowboys in the NFC East with a head-to-head win in hand. They have already clinched a split on that front. Should they sweep the Giants, they will have no worse than a 5-1 divisional record, and cannot lose that tiebreaker either.
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