There was no need for Daniel Jones to be anything more than what he is, a rookie quarterback learning the ropes in his first handful of starts. No need for exploits and huge comebacks. This is progress for the Giants.
Never has .500 looked so good for a franchise that too often for too long exited September with few wins and even less hope.
“It’s been tough the past two years,’’ tight end Evan Engram said. “Cannot get complacent, can’t be satisfied.’’
Imagine that. The Giants worried about getting complacent and satisfied. Another sign of progress.
This is what happens when a team spends a warm early autumn Sunday thrashing an overmatched and dysfunctional opponent. Jones did plenty of good things in his second NFL start, but he also threw the first and second interceptions of his career, two of his offense’s four turnovers. No matter. The Redskins were in town, and that meant easy pickings as the Giants looked like defensive studs in a comfortable 24-3 victory in Jones’ MetLife Stadium debut.
The Giants were 0-4 after four games in 2017 and 1-3 last season. They went 0-2 this season with Eli Manning before the switch was made to Jones. Everything looks better now.
“Yeah, the energy is just different,’’ center Jon Halapio said. “ A lot of it has to do that we’re winning right now, a little winning streak. We just got to keep it going. We got Minnesota coming in here and they’re pretty good.’’
The Buccaneers and the Redskins surely helped apply salve to the Giants’ wounds. The Vikings and Patriots in a 5-day span will be more of an indicator of what the Giants are all about.
The Redskins are 0-4 and a perfect foil for the Giants to abuse. Coach Jay Gruden finally relented and, trailing 14-0, benched veteran Case Keenum in the second quarter. Rookie Dwayne Haskins made his debut and looked as unready at Gruden insisted he is. Haskins threw three interceptions, two to Janoris Jenkins and one that safety Jabrill Peppers returned 32 yards for a touchdown.
The only noise made by Redskins safety Landon Collins in his first game against his former team was the brief and heated exchange he had with Peppers and the Giants sideline afterwards.
“I wouldn’t say disappointed,’’ Collins said of the day. “I’m glad we didn’t get blown out.’’
Peppers didn’t make a big deal about the skirmish.
“When you are playing football, you have to tap into another dimension so you can be the player your team needs you to be,” Pepper said. “I just didn’t turn it off quick enough and I don’t think [Collins] did either. Nothing serious, it’s all love.’’This was not the highlight-film performance Jones enjoyed in his debut last week in Tampa, bringing his team back from an 18-point halftime deficit. He was solid, and spectacular only once, when he wriggled free of what should have been a sack inside a collapsed pocket in the third quarter on third-and-13 and scrambled for 16 yards.
“It was a great play. … He’s just got to learn how to slide feet-first,’’ Engram said.
“It’s awesome he can extend drives like that,’’ Halapio said. “It’s a huge momentum shift. You think it’s going to be a sack, he does what he did and we’re still out there.’’
Jones at times looked like a rookie. He was intercepted twice in the second quarter by cornerback Quinton Dunbar, on consecutive throws, both times targeting — too intently — Sterling Shepard.
“On the first one, just someone I didn’t see coming off a receiver and he made a play on the ball,’’ Jones said. “The second one was just a poor throw.’’
Engram said he could tell Jones was “definitely a little pissed off’’ after the first interception. On the sideline, Manning’s message, Jones said, was “just get back out there, that kind of stuff is going to happen.’’ Jones’ teammates were not concerned the 22-year old would crack.
“He’s always onto the next play and that’s what you want from a QB,’’ guard Kevin Zeitler said. “Everyone else in the world might be freaking out, you got to keep going because it never stops.’’The Giants survived one game without injured Saquon Barkley, with Wayne Gallman running for one touchdown and catching a 6-yard pass for another.
Haskins and the Redskins had no answers against a Giants defense that coach Pat Shurmur said “made a few tweaks’’ this week “that I think settled our guys down.’’
The scheme was simplified and the Redskins never threatened much.
“In the second half we were pretty much inept on offense in all phases,’’ Gruden said.
It is onto greater challenges for the Giants.