G-MAN ON THE G-MEN

Jones following in the footsteps of a former Giant QB no, not Eli)

- Kevin Gleason

Our win-now culture isn’t going to cut Daniel Jones much slack. We dice up our sports heroes like salad fixings, cutting through the reality of playing the hardest position in all of sports. Not making an impact in your second season as an NFL quarterback, on a bad team, while working with your second coaching regime? Enter the discussion on whether he’s the right guy for the job.

It doesn’t help that a few quarterbacks have made major impacts within five seasons in the league. Guys such as Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson haven’t needed much of an apprenticeship before helping remake the position as spectacular dual threats.

Jones can throw and run as well, but there are two things that he can’t do, no matter how much fans and media folks scream from living rooms and press boxes.

He can’t block for himself.

And he can’t devise magically creative game plans like coaches and players on the top offensive teams in the league.

Blocking and outsmarting defenders are variables that go hand in hand. Only the smartest offensive coaches can compensate for mediocre to average offensive lines, and the Giants’ O-line belongs a notch down from that, somewhere between mediocre and awful. Andy Reid is excelling with a not-so-great offensive line in Kansas City, but with a uniquely gifted improvisational quarterback and receiving/running weapons all over the place.