The New York Giants might finally be reaching a point where they are willing to at least consider benching Daniel Jones as their starting quarterback. But the bigger question might be which coach will be the one ultimately deciding that.
The Giants have a lot of big questions to answer and a lot of self-evaluation to do after Sunday's ugly 20-17 loss to the Carolina Panthers in Munich, Germany.
The loss extended the Giants' current losing streak to five consecutive games and dropped them to 2-8 overall. The biggest culprit in those struggles continues to be an offense that can not seem to do anything right, with Jones continuing to struggle. He finished Sunday's game by completing 22-of-37 passes for 190 yards, zero touchdowns and two interceptions. He also took a sack on a flea-flicker where replay showed he had at least two wide-open wide receivers.
After Sunday's game head coach Brian Daboll, for the first time this season, did not completely dismiss the idea of a change.
“Yeah, I’d say we’ve got a lot of work to do here in the next few days, in the next week, and we’ll evaluate where we’re at and what we need to do,” said Daboll.
While that is not exactly a commitment to making a change, it is also not really a commitment to keeping Jones in the lineup.
Drew Lock and Tommy DeVito are the team's backups.
The Giants have been defiant in their loyalty to Jones, giving him every opportunity to play his way through his struggles. But he has never really taken a significant step forward and remains one of the least effective quarterbacks in the league every year. One of the reasons they keep trying to make it work is the fact they signed him to a $160 million contract that still has two years remaining on it.
At some point, however, you have to realize the results are not going to change and the quarterback situation is just not working out.
But what if Daboll is not the coach who ultimately gets to make that decision?
The Giants are entering their bye week, are 2-8, and since the start of the 2023 season are only 8-19, while progressively getting worse. With the Giants set to enter their bye week, this might be the time when ownership might consider making a coaching change. There would be no better time than right now to hit the reset button and see if somebody else can get something out of this roster.
Whether it is the coach, the quarterback, or both there is something not working here for the Giants, and there is little sign things are going to change for the better anytime soon.
