Giants-Commanders first look: Is Daniel Jones playing for his job vs. Washington?

Here is a look at that and other Week 2 storylines

The New York Giants travel to Landover, Md. this weekend to face the Washington Commanders with both NFC East teams having lost their season-opening games. Let’s look at some of this week’s storylines.

Daniel’s last stand?

Quarterback Daniel Jones was anything but good in the season-opening blowout loss to the Minnesota Vikings. We have been over it, and over it, and over it some more. Click the links if you really want to read about the misery again.

Coach Brian Daboll announced Monday that Jones will continue to be the starter. But for how much longer? If he plays as poorly as he did against the Vikings and if the don’t look like a functional offense, which they did not while being the only team in Week 1 not to score double-digit points, Daboll might have no choice but to turn to Drew Lock and effectively end the Jones era.

Fortunately for Jones, the Commanders have often functioned as an elixir for him and the Giants. Jones is 5-1-1 in seven starts against Washington. For reference, he is 2-3 against the Dallas Cowboys and 1-7 against the Philadelphia Eagles.

Jones has thrown 10 of his 62 career touchdown passes against Washington and has been intercepted just three times. He has a 98.0 passer rating against Washington. The only team he has been better against, in terms of passer rating, is the Detroit Lions. He has a 98.3 passer rating against Detroit, but only a two-game sample size.

Yes, these are not the same Commanders we are used to. Josh Harris replaced Dan Snyder as the owner. Dan Quinn is in his first year as head coach. Jayden Daniels, the No. 2 overall pick in the draft, is the new franchise quarterback.

Still, Washington has always been a comfortable landing spot for Jones. He threw for 352 yards and a career-best five touchdowns against Washington as a rookie in 2019. He has never had a truly awful game statistically against Washington.

If Jones doesn’t play well against the Commanders, the possibility he won’t play again unless it’s an emergency has to exist.

Will the road be their happy place?

The Giants were treated rudely by the Vikings in their home opener. The treatment from their fans at MetLife Stadium, though, might have been worse. The booing started three offensive plays into the game — after the Giants had lost 9 yards. It continued throughout as the Giants struggled to do anything on offense. Fans left in droves beginning in the middle of the third quarter. Jones was unnecessarily harassed by ticket holders simply trying to leave the stadium and get to his car after the game.

The Giants are on the road this week against the Commanders and next week against the Cleveland Browns. Maybe getting away from the angry MetLife Stadium patrons will be a good thing — unless they return for a Week 4 Thursday night game against the Dallas Cowboys with an 0-3 record.

First matchup with Jayden

Giants fans will remember Daboll saying on ‘Hard Knocks’ that he would have been in favor of making a trade up in the 2024 NFL Draft to get Daniels, the Heisman Trophy-winning former LSU quarterback.

That was never on the table, though, since the Commanders were never letting him past the second overall pick.

Now, the Giants have to face a quarterback who was out of their reach twice a year. Sunday will be the first time.

Truthfully, now might be the time to play Daniels and the Commanders. Washington’s 37-20 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers showed that with a new coach and quarterback the revamped Commanders are still finding their footing.

Sunday might provide the Giants an opportunity. They could use one.