Well it almost happened as I hoped in my post Giants Have Opportunity To Move Into First Place Tie In Division,. All games fell into place but the Giants did not come through. They were manhandled by the 49ers. That was a tough game for the Giants. it looked promising at 6-6 right before the half. But then it came apart. There were a few positives for the Giants from the game.
James Bradberry looked good in coverage. He led the game with three pass breakups. Bradberry leads the Giants this season with nine passes defended.
Linebacker Blake Martinez had nine tackles, a sack, two tackles for loss and a quarterback hit. Martinez leads the Giants this season with 30 tackles. The next closest play has only 19. In addition Martinez has zero missed tackles. This season Bradberry leads the team in targets with 15 and had the lowest completion percentage (47%) for players with more than one target. His 6.7 yards per target allowed is the lowest among Giant defensive backs with more than one target.
Kicker Graham Gano was three for three on field goals with one from 47 and one from 52 yards. For the year he is 6 for 7 on field goals and 2 for 2 on extra points. He has made every field goal under 50 yards.
Daniel Jones had some nice run plays. He had five carries for 49 yards. He had another long run that was called back for a penalty. This season Jones leads the team in rushing yards (92), yards per rush attempt (7.7) and rushing yards per game (30.7).
Jones had a streak going of 13 starts for a rookie with a passing touchdown. He was one of only three quarterbacks since 1950 that had at least one passing touchdown in each of their first thirteen starts. That streak broke last week at the Bears game. Jones has now not had a passing touchdown in the last two games. This will be a complaint on Jones among some fans. However among active quarterbacks he is still tie at fifth with Mathew Stafford for most passing touchdowns in their first 15 starts. One area of concern with Jones so far has been his turnovers. He had two more in the 49er game. He was credited for the turnover in the pitch to Evan Engram on a reverse around and he had one interception. Among active quarterbacks he is tie with DeShone Kizer for most turnovers in their first fifteen starts with 28. But lets not panic yet with Daniel Jones.
At the time of the 2019 draft, NFL analyst Gil Brandt compared Daniel Jones to Peyton Manning. Gil Brandt is a respected analyst and ran the Dallas Cowboys personnel operations for years before becoming an NFL analyst, At draft time Brandt had this to say about Daniel Jones.
““I. Love. Dan Jones,” Brandt said. “I have to say this carefully: When you watch him and you go back (20) years and watch Peyton Manning, you are watching the same guy. He’s athletic. He doesn’t have a rocket for an arm, but neither did Peyton. Very smart.”
Daniel Jones had coach David Cutcliffe at Duke. Cutcliffe was also Peyton Manning’s quarterback coach at Tennessee. Jones is lauded for his work ethic as was Peyton Manning. David Cutcliffe had this to say about his former player, Daniel Jones. “Trust me, he’s working 10 hours a day on his own mastering this,“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen anybody more eager. …He’s every bit the worker that Peyton and Eli were their entire careers.
So how does Daniel Jones stack up to Peyton Manning. Their first 15 career starts are eerily similar. In his first fifteen starts Peyton had one less turnover than Daniel Jones. Peyton made more in interceptions, but a turnover is a turnover. In passing touchdowns Peyton had one less than Daniel Jones. Their quarterback record of 3-12 are identical. Their yards per pass attempt are also identical to the tenths place. Check out the other stats presented here. Very close indeed.
| Player | From | To | Tm | G | W | L | Cmp | Att | Cmp% | Yds | TD | Int | Rate | Sk | Yds | Y/A | AY/A | Fmb | FL | FR | TO |
| Daniel Jones | 2019 | 2020 | NYG | 15 | 3 | 12 | 349 | 568 | 61.44 | 3709 | 26 | 16 | 84 | 47 | 347 | 6.53 | 6.18 | 19 | 12 | 3 | 28 |
| Peyton Manning | 1998 | 1998 | CLT | 15 | 3 | 12 | 309 | 541 | 57.12 | 3514 | 25 | 26 | 72.1 | 17 | 91 | 6.5 | 5.26 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 27 |
After going 3-13 his rookie year, Manning went 13-3 the next season and led the Colts to the playoffs. They lost that playoff game but he helped lead the Colts to two Super Bowls winning one of them. Daniel Jones shows a lot of promise. Keep the faith!
