It’s about to get real for Brian Daboll and the Giants.
Are they ready for the real thing — particularly on offense, which has been the bane of their existence for too long?
Sunday’s preseason finale against the Jets at MetLife Stadium, a 31-27 loss, was the Giants’ third and final dress rehearsal of the summer and critical questions linger as they prepare for their Sept. 11 season opener at Tennessee.
Like, whether quarterback Daniel Jones — in his fourth season playing for his third head coach and fourth offensive coordinator — is the franchise player the team believed it drafted sixth overall in 2019.
And, if the Giants’ skill-position players around Jones are ready to elevate their respective games.
Some six weeks of training camp and preseason games don’t seem to have answered a lot of questions about how good this offense might be in 2022 — largely because of a rash of injuries and some subpar play from some of the players expected to be of impact.
Jones appeared in the first two of the Giants’ three preseason games and didn’t lead the offense to a single touchdown. He completed 6 of 19 passes for 69 yards and no touchdowns against New England backups in the opener and against Bengals backups, he looked sharp enough, completing 14 of 16 passes for 116 yards and a deflected interception that was not his fault.
Daniel Jones is now playing for his third head coach.Getty ImagesAfter a sharp performance in the teams’ joint practice last week, Jones, didn’t play Sunday against the Jets — at least partly because the offensive line has taken so many injury hits this summer.
Jones’ receivers remain a potential spot of bother. Kenny Golladay hasn’t looked any better than he did in 2021 after signing that unwieldy $72 million free-agent contract and failing to score a single touchdown.
Sterling Shepard, a dependable slot target, only recently began practicing in his return from a late-2021 Achilles injury, and didn’t play a single preseason snap.
Kadarius Toney, the flashy second-year receiver with dizzying skills, has spent a lot more time working off to the side in practice this summer than he has working with the rest of the team because of injury issues — a trend that has taken on a disturbingly similar pattern to his stunted rookie season in ’21.
Darius Slayton hasn’t stood out this summer — so little so that he’s on the bubble to make the 53-man roster when cutdowns arrive Tuesday afternoon.
Running back Saquon Barkley, desperate to return to the offensive centerpiece form he displayed before his devastating 2020 knee injury, insists he feels better than ever physically. Yet he played in only one preseason game and had all of eight touches.
Saquon Barkley had just eight touches in preseason games. Bill Kostroun/New York Post
Kenny Golladay has struggled through an uninspiring preseason.Bill Kostroun/New York PostSo, what do we know about the Giants’ offense — other than the fact Daboll was hired as head coach this past offseason for his innovative offensive mind with hopes he can develop the same explosiveness he delivered in Buffalo as the Bills offensive coordinator.
Daboll, of course, was coaching quarterback Josh Allen as he developed into one of the league’s most dynamic players at his position.
Jones is his own man with his own skill set, and it’s not fair to expect him to be Allen. But Jones, with a 12-25 record as a starter and having thrown 21 touchdown passes in 25 games the past two seasons after throwing 24 his rookie season, of course has to be better or this will absolutely be his final season with the Giants.
Brian Daboll carries a plethora of questions to answer in the regular season. Noah K. Murray-NY PostBut this isn’t all on Jones.
If Golladay, who’s had a spotty preseason, isn’t better and Shepard isn’t healthy and Toney doesn’t mature and Barkley can’t recreate some of his rookie-season magic, Jones is in trouble and there will be a house cleaning in ’23.
Daboll, a sharp coach with an innate ability to connect with his players, called Jones “very consistent in his approach and how he does things,” adding, “He doesn’t get too high or too low, which it’s easy to in training camp.”
“He’s got a really good mindset in terms of staying even-keeled,” Daboll went on. “He’s very competitive. He’s a good leader. He’s a tireless worker.”
Until the results change — 4-13 last season and 22-58 in the past five years since the team’s last playoff berth — questions will remain.
Quite frankly, the three preseason games this summer haven’t made a lot of headway in answering those.
For sake of Giants fans, hopefully Daboll is seeing something the rest of us don’t.
