Brian Daboll says Daniel Jones “feels terrible” about not getting the protection set properly
On the biggest play of Monday night’s game, a strip-sack of New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones by Pittsburgh Steelers future Hall of Fame edge defender T.J. Watt, the biggest question was why the Giants left right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor 1-on-1 with Watt.
ESPN commentator Troy Aikman asked it. Fans on social media were asking it. Turns out Eluemunor was probably asking it, too, since he was expecting help.
“He [Watt] was supposed to be chipped,” said head coach Brian Daboll. “Jermaine was anticipating a chip.”
Daboll explained that Jones was supposed to move tight end Theo Johnson, aligned on the opposite side next to new left tackle Chris Hubbard, across the formation to help Eluemunor. That didn’t happen.
“We had a shift with the tight end to get back over to Watt and we didn’t get the shift.,” Daboll said. “We talked about it in the locker room. D.J. feels terrible to be honest with you. I know he’s going to own it. He came up here to say he owned it.”
The play by Watt, a four-time first-team All-Pro who had 19.0 sacks last season, came after Giants linebacker Bobby Okereke had set the Giants, trailing by eight points, up at the Pittsburgh 37-yard line by stripping Pittsburgh quarterback Russell Wilson and recovering the ball with 4:34 to play.
The Giants had third-and-7 at the Steelers’ 19-yard line with 3:04 to play when Watt stripped Jones.
“There was a shift that was accompanying the play,” Daboll said. “He was kind of surveying the coverage, deciding what he wanted to do and we didn’t get the shift.”
Jones went 24 of 38 for 264 yards with the fumble and an interception on the Giants’ last possession. He was sacked four times and hit on 12 other drop backs as the Giants struggled to contain Watt and Alex Highsmith, the Steelers other edge defender.
Jones also showed some uncharacteristic emotion at times, particularly after the Giants botched a two-point conversion.
“Loved it. I loved seeing his competitiveness,” Daboll said. “He played hard. I thought he did a lot of good things and unfortunately at the end of the game there we had a couple turnovers. But I thought he played extremely hard, competitive, fiery and that’s what you want from a quarterback.”
