The Giants could breathe easier Monday knowing their starting quarterback avoided a long-term hamstring injury. But they cannot wave a magic wand and instantly heal Daniel Jones, which is why he is expected to miss Sunday’s game against the Seahawks in Seattle.
Jones underwent an MRI at the Hospital for Special Surgery, and while the imaging did not reveal a completely torn right hamstring, it did show a strain, The Post confirmed. That injury will need time to heal, making it highly unlikely Jones will recover in time to play this weekend.
That means Colt McCoy is about to make his first start for the Giants.
“There’s actually more question marks than answers right now, to be honest with you,’’ head coach Joe Judge said Monday. “We got some of the information back from the doctors but a lot of that is, we’ve got to wait and see how this guy responds in a couple of days. Can he move around the field and can he do anything?’’
Jones will need to rest, receive treatment and try to ease the discomfort in his right leg. Perhaps be will have to miss only one game and be able to return Dec. 13 against the Cardinals at MetLife Stadium. Perhaps he needs more time to heal. This is a soft-tissue injury and there is no way to fully know how Jones will recuperate.
“I couldn’t give you an answer whether it’s one week or more than one week,’’ Judge said. “I’m not qualified and the doctors I talked to, they don’t have that crystal ball to look through either right now.’’
The Giants (4-7) moved into first place in the NFC East with a 19-17 victory over the Bengals but Jones did not come out of the game unscathed. He hurt his right hamstring on a designed run that picked up 7 yards early in the third quarter.
McCoy finished up for Jones in Cincinnati and is expected to start in Seattle. The Giants have one other quarterback in their program; Clayton Thorson is on their practice squad and the likely backup to McCoy against the Seahawks. Thorson made a Big Ten-record 53 consecutive starts for Northwestern and was a 2019 fifth-round draft pick of the Eagles.
The Giants will look to sign another quarterback as quickly as possible to start COVID-19 protocols. Alex Tanney, a final-day cut after training camp, is a free agent and a logical option. Cooper Rush, on the Giants’ practice squad in September, is on the Cowboys’ practice squad and signing him means the Giants could have to put him on their roster and pay him for at least three weeks. That is unlikely to happen.
The Giants may have to protect Jones from himself. Judge said Jones on Monday experienced swelling and tightness in the hamstring, which is not a surprise.
“Look, this is a tough dude,’’ Judge said. “He’s a tough guy and he’s a very competitive guy and he wants to be out there and if we gave him the option today he’d jump out there and I’m sure with duct tape on his leg and try to go at it.’’
Judge laid out two prerequisites before a player can return from injury: Can the player make the injury worse by playing and can he protect himself on the field if he does play? The answers will come back “yes’’ and “no’’ for Jones this week.
Jones uses his legs as a weapon — he leads the Giants in rushing yards with 403 (Wayne Gallman has 369) and limited mobility would take away a large part of the threat he poses to opposing defenses.
Judge said a game plan could be formulated to reduce Jones’ running, but only if Jones can function in a game.
“If we felt this was something he couldn’t hurt worse or something he could still go out there and defend himself by just playing maybe a little bit different with the play-calling I would have no issue putting him out there,’’ Judge said. “There’s going to be guys rushing at him to try to take his head off. I want to make sure I don’t put a guy out there in a position where he can’t defend himself. That’s just not fair to him.
“He’s gonna go out there with a lot of courage, he’s gonna want to stand back there but we got to evaluate and make sure we do the right thing by him.’’