It was a confounding night for Daniel Jones.
It was a night that, in a painful way, encapsulates a career in which he was really good at times, but even then it was just not good enough.
Jones, the Giants’ most-maligned quarterback, wasn’t the reason the Cowboys lost, 20-15, on Thursday night at MetLife Stadium to drop to 1-3 and into the bottom of the NFC East.
But he wasn’t good enough to carry them to victory either.
Jones was good there, completing 29 of 40 passes for 281 yards with a garbage-time Hail Mary interception. But the most dangerous statistic next to his name on the score sheet is “0” in the “TD” category.
Jones and the Giants lost this game kicking five field goals without a touchdown.
Bill Parcells, former Giants head coach, famously said that quarterbacks are judged by how often they get the team in the zone and how often they lead the team to victory.
Jones, though he could have been better tonight, helped the Giants control the tempo of the game (35:37 in time of possession to Dallas’ 24:23), making good decisions and slinging the ball around, failing in both of Parcells’ benchmarks.
Still, after the game, current Giants head coach Brian Daboll went out of his way to praise the quarterback, as did Jones’ teammates.
Jones appears to be a game away from being benched after a terrible, tentative performance in the season-opening home loss to the Vikings, but has played well the past three games – silencing any chatter about him losing his job.
“Three games in a row … I’m proud of him,” Daboll said. “He made good decisions and threw the ball where he had to throw the ball. I think for three games, he was locked in, he played well, he looked around the field, he sent the ball where he had to.
“I’m proud of how he performed, how he prepared.”
Still, there is more out there for Jones. In the throw he certainly wants to return most of this game long ball underthrown to Darius Slayton in free play with the Cowboys has jumped offsides. Dallas cornerback Trevon Diggs took the pass off, undercutting Slayton for the ball.
The interception was negated by the penalty, but if the ball was thrown where it was needed, the Giants scored a goal and could win the game.
“Yeah, that throw down the field, (we) have to hit it,” Jones lamented after the game.
Daboll said: “I thought the quarterback played well. You want to finish everything, but…”
Jones’ teammates came to the defense — especially Wan’Dale Robinson, who dropped a pass from Jones to the left side with plenty of open real estate between him and the end zone.
“He’s a baller,” Robinson said of Jones. “Back to the wall, he always answered the bell. I couldn’t have asked for anybody better or a better leader. I shouldn’t have put it in the red zone when I was going to run. That was in me. I always thought it should have been a touchdown. I was walking (before I caught the catch).
Left tackle Andrew Thomas said there were a lot of “my bad” plays in the game but praised his quarterback.
“The DJ played well,” Thomas said. “He stood up in the pocket, made some unscheduled plays. We just have to be better up front for him.
Jones would have no share of the moral victory afterwards. When it was suggested that the team was getting a Cowboys team that had won seven straight against them and 14 of the past 15, Jones said: “No, we’re not comfortable. We’re not comfortable losing. We didn’t do enough to win, and we frustrated. We are not discouraged. We still believe in the team and what we can do.
“But no, we don’t like to lose.”
