Daniel Jones’ return for New York Giants was terrible. Did Tom Brady jinx him?
The long-awaited return of the Giants’ quarterback did not go well and curiously, it came just days after the legendary signal caller made him the butt of a joke.
Returning from injury can always be tricky and even more so when you’ve had extensive downtime. Such was the situation that faced the Giants’ man in the middle of this weekend and truthfully, it was disastrous. This was not the Daniel Jones that took the league by storm in 2019 after being drafted with the No. 6 overall pick in that year’s NFL Draft. No, this was an uncertain player whose evening went from bad to worse.
Daniel Jones’ return sucked but did Tom Brady call it?
On Saturday, New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones played for the first time since an ACL tear ended his season in a Week 9 game in November 2023. Suffice it to say there was a great deal of anticipation as the 27-year-old took to the field to face the Houston Texans in a preseason game. With the start of the regular season less than a month away, it was understandably a big moment for Jones as he attempts to regain his form. Sadly, it was not a day he will remember fondly.
In only his first few possessions, it was made abundantly clear that Jones was out of practice, to say the least. Following a three-and-out on the Giants’ first possession, Jones followed it up with an unsightly pick-six on the team’s next drive. Then came the heavy hit in the end zone, after which Jones tried to avoid a sack by hurriedly dishing the ball to tight end Theo Johnson. In his carelessness, Jones failed to compensate for the Texans’ DB Jalen Pitre who was keeping a watchful eye on things, and with that, it was an easy pick-six. Believe it or not, things went even further south from there.
Just five minutes later on the Giants’ next possession, Jones again took a risk by throwing to Jalin Hyatt who was in single coverage with Derek Stingley Jr., who was more than happy to come away with an interception. Now, it has to be said that while these are early days, this is not a good omen. Do recall that though he had limited time on the field last season, in the minutes he did notch he was costly, throwing two touchdowns versus six interceptions in six games. What’s more is that Jones’ performance also comes on the back of recent comments by the legendary quarterback Tom Brady who appeared to take a shot at Jones during a recent Q&A.
“Let’s say Daniel Jones throws an interception,” Brady said as he used the Giants current quarterback to illustrate a point about being outrightly critical of players. At that point 47-year-old appeared to go on defense as he attempted to clarify, only to admit his intent. “I wasn’t even being critical of Daniel Jones,” he said before backtracking, “maybe I was a little bit.” While it would be a stretch to say that Jones’ awful outing on Saturday was down to Brady’s comments, it’s interesting to note that Brady could have used any player’s name to make his point yet it was Jones with whom he went, and that in turn was followed by Jones doing the one thing Brady imagined he would, throwing an interception. Jones and Co. will kickoff their season with a game against the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday, September 8th.