Daniel Jones' Giants, fumble trend is on everyone's mind

May 2024 · 4 minute read

When we last saw Daniel Jones on a football field, he was being purse-snatch robbed of the ball by Jets safety Jamal Adams, who returned the “fumble” 25 yards for a touchdown in a game the Giants lost by … a touchdown.

That was two Sundays ago as the Giants headed into their bye week, before returning for Sunday’s game against the Bears at Soldier Field.

While that was the most egregious, game-changing turnover of the season committed by Jones, it was one of far too many giveaways by the Giants’ promising rookie quarterback, who’s fumbled 13 times and lost a league-high nine of them.

Coupled with his eight interceptions, Jones has turned the ball over 17 times in eight-plus games.

So, yes, this is a trend. An alarming one.

And if you think Chicago’s game-wrecking linebacker Khalil Mack has not been salivating like a hungry bear staring at raw meat while watching tape of Jones and his slippery mitts this week, then you think Giants GM Dave Gettleman and head coach Pat Shurmur are the favorites for NFL Executive of the Year and Coach of the Year, respectively.

“Danny Dimes’’ has been “Danny the ATM’’ for opposing defenses.

For all the promise Jones has shown as the Giants’ next franchise quarterback — life after Eli — his ball-security problem is the elephant in the room for the 2-8 Giants, who will take a six-game losing streak to Chicago.

The signs have been there all season — in good games and in bad, during wins and during losses.

Five plays into Jones’ NFL career, during a late-game mop-up appearance in the Giants’ season-opening 35-17 loss at the Cowboys, he lost a fumble on a scramble.

We didn’t know it at the time, because it was dismissed as a meaningless garbage-time play by a raw rookie playing in his first NFL game, but it would be a harbinger of things to come.

And now, 10 games into a season gone sideways and 16 more turnovers on the stat sheet, it’s a topic of conversation that cannot be avoided.

“It’s something that I need to be mindful of constantly,’’ Jones said Wednesday, not shying away from the subject he surely would rather not discuss. “There’s certainly a number of things that I need to work on, but that’s definitely one of them. It probably is the most critical thing that I need to correct.

“I don’t think it’s necessarily a complex problem to fix. I think it is as simple as keeping two hands on the ball and getting it out on time. I definitely need to work on that.’’

Jones’ teammates are consistent and resolute in their belief Jones will fix the problem.

“I can tell he’s working hard at it,’’ linebacker Markus Golden told The Post. “You can tell in practice he’s trying to get the ball out faster. I believe in him. He’s a rookie. It comes with time. I know he’s going to fix it. If he works on something, I know, for sure, he’s going to get it right.’’

Guard Will Hernandez said he feels certain Jones is not letting the fumbling problem consume him psychologically.

“I think Daniel’s more mature than that,’’ Hernandez told The Post. “I feel like he’s more advanced than where he is as a rookie. I don’t think that kind of stuff affects him because he’s been putting up big numbers after he fumbles.

“Obviously, we all know he’s not doing it on purpose. All we can do is show him our support and encourage him. As teammates, we’ve got to be there as support and let him know that we’re with him — through good and bad we’ve got his back.’’

Center Jon Halapio said: “The last thing you want to do is tell him something he already knows. He knows that he has to do a better job with ball security. It’s not our job to coach him. It’s the coaches’ job to coach him. All we can do is support him.’’

Receiver Golden Tate called it “unfortunate’’ that the fumbles “are what the headlines are with him right now.’’

“It’s a collective effort,’’ Tate said. “It’s just unfortunate that he gets the stat line with the fumbles or the picks. But he’s going to figure it out. We have no doubt that DJ is working at it. He wants to get better at it and will get better at it. He holds himself to a very high standard.’’

For more on the Giants, listen to the latest episode of the “Blue Rush” podcast:

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