We're not fond of proverbially kicking a man when he's down. After Saturday's matchup between the Houston Texans and the New York Giants, the only way to describe Daniel Jones is a man who is down. It's rare to struggle in a preseason game. Starters are so rarely on the field that you're never facing an opposing unit in its totality. Usually second and even third-stringers will be on the field with a handful of first-string players.
So guys usually look pretty good against other teams. Maybe better than they will look in the regular season. C.J. Stroud for instance only missed three passes out of 10 total. Will he have a 70% completion rate every week come the start of the season? Unlikely. The NFL is filled with talented players and even the best quarterbacks, like Stroud, are sure to have a rough outing now and then.
Yet, in the preseason, Stroud has looked untouchable. Again, that's due to the mixing of various talent levels being out on the field at the same time. So because it's so much easier to look good in the preseason, when someone looks bad, it's all the worst. When it comes to Jones, he looked bad.
He went 11-18 with 138 passing yards to his name, a stat that is already not great, but then you tack on his two interceptions, and there is plenty of concern for his play. Jones has been uneven since arriving in New York. While he looked like he may finally come into his own as a reliable starter once Brian Daboll landed there, he's been unable to show that same 2022 form.
Now, the talk of the town is how bad Jones looked in his first game back, a conversation that could easily be about any team's quarterback. We know the Texans have had those same conversations about guys in both the preseason and regular season. It's why the Texans could draft Stroud in the first place.
Had things been different, maybe with a different coach or maybe a different set of circumstances, it could be the Texans dealing with a similar situation. Be it with Stroud or another quarterback. That's how fine the line is in the NFL between success and failure. Landing a situation like the Giants have currently is very possible and very common.
The Giants are into Jones for a lot of money as well, so getting out from that contract isn't likely to happen any time soon. Which makes the fact the Texans have Stroud all the more soothing. This is a situation, barring an unforeseen circumstance, that the Texans don't have to worry about. They don't need to worry about Stroud finally reaching his potential four or five years into their run with him.
Stroud is already hitting his potential. That's not something that should be overlooked as a regular occurrence, as it rarely happens. Least of all so soon in one's career. The Texans are lucky that they don't have to deal with a Jones situation, and that luck shouldn't be dismissed so easily.
