Giants’ Joe Schoen offers soft defense of Brian Daboll, Daniel Jones

New York Giants general manager Joe Schoen held his annual bye week press conference on Tuesday.

Sitting alone at a long table in front of a gaggle of reporters, Schoen was hit with questions regarding his club’s many deficiencies this season. He did not, however, engage reporters who attempted to pull him down a rabbit hole about any regime, coach, or quarterback change.

Benching quarterback Daniel Jones has been a hot topic in these parts but Schoen refused to take the bait and dive into the subject too deeply.

“We’re going to evaluate it the rest of the week and the decisions we make will be football decisions,” he said. “We’re 2-8. So again, everybody needs to, including myself, look in the mirror and how can we do things better. That’s what we’re going to continue to do.

“I understand you guys want to ask about Daniel and it’s the quarterback position. I mean, that’s what comes with the territory, specifically in this market. It’s not all on one person.”

Many beg to differ. Last Sunday against Carolina in Munich, Jones’ play was a major contributor to the embarrassing loss. The six-year veteran is regressing with age, it seems. After tossing 24 touchdowns as a rookie in 2019, Jones hasn’t thrown more than 15 in a season since.

His two interceptions deep in Panthers territory on Sunday — and the Giants’ red zone performance in general this season — is an indictment of both him and Daboll’s play calling this season.

“We’re going to look at solutions,” said Schoen, again careful not to single anyone out. “He’s coming in every day. He’s working hard. The team is staying together. We had a really good practice today on a bye week, which is the first time we’ve done that in his three years here. He’s done a really good job, the guys are competing, keeping the locker room together.

“Again, we’re in these games. We’re in these games. We just got to find a way to finish it. We are 1-and-5 in one-score games. So, we got to find a way to get over the hump and make plays at critical times of the game, whether it’s red zone or third down. Or getting off the field on defense. Or tackling on punt coverage and not allowing a punt return for a touchdown. Again, there’s a lot of things that we can look at and we need to improve on.”

True. With a little more focus they could easily be 5-5 instead of 2-8. Six of their eight losses have come in tightly contested games.

But the takeaway from Tuesday’s presser was clear. If Schoen has any designs on making any changes, he’s playing things close to the vest. The media and fans will know soon enough.

Maybe that’s one reason ownership is choosing to keep him at the control panel while they navigate this latest storm.