Haters were silenced on Sunday afternoon after an electrifying performance from the prodigal son of Duke football. Daniel Jones stepped onto the field at Raymond James Stadium and silenced a world of doubters with a gusty, impressive performance.
After flashing his potential against the Buccaneers, Jones has now emerged as the front-runner for Offensive Rookie of the Year upon the culmination of this season. The Giants come back from an 18 point deficit was the second-biggest comeback engineered by a rookie quarterback in their debut. Ever.
Some recent names that have yet put together a comeback of that degree are last year's No. 1 pick Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold and even the reigning MVP Patrick Mahomes.
Jones took over for an organization in need of a new spark as for the past two seasons, the Giants have been the laughing stock of the NFL and a punching bag for the NFC East. This was partially due to subpar quarterback play from Jones' predecessor Eli Manning, but New York also suffered from a weak defense and a mediocre offensive line.
General manager Dave Gettleman made offseason moves to bolster the offensive line and defense, including trading away superstar wide receiver Odell Beckham for strong safety Jabrill Peppers. Through the first two games however, the team looked no different from last year.
New York hinted throughout the offseason that Jones would take the reigns from the two-time Super Bowl MVP Manning, but it was unclear when the time would come. Earlier last week, that day came sooner than expected as the Giants announced that the Jones era would kickoff against Tampa Bay.
Jones being drafted No. 6 overall was quite the controversy amongst the NFL and the young quarterback received his fair share of criticism with his haters focusing on his 60 percent completion rate in college. Even Mayfield chipped in and took shots at the former Duke signal caller, calling him out for not winning enough games at the collegiate level.
Jones must have heard the disrespect as he wasted no time making a splash in his first game. He threw for 336 yards and two touchdowns in addition to contributing two more scores on the ground to lead a Giants squad missing the injured Saquon Barkley to their first win of the season.
It won't be long before the league views him as a legitimate NFL starting quarterback, and he has quickly shed the label of simply a potential longterm prospect. Jones posted a Quarterback Rating of 87.9 on Sunday, a number much higher than his rookie counterpart and No. 1 overall draft pick Kyler Murray’s on the year.
In addition, Jones' game winning drive with just under three minutes remaining in the ballgame showed his poise in big-time moments, while Murray is yet to secure a victory for the Cardinals. It is safe to say that Jones is the quarterback of the future in New York and that Gettleman did in fact know what he was doing on that hectic draft day this past April.
Despite playing the one game, there is no doubt that Jones looks primed to lead the Giants to a .500 season... at worst. With upcoming games against a stagnant Redskins team and a dysfunctional Arizona roster, Jones will have the opportunity to lead the Giants to their best record since 2016.
With the Jets' Darnold sidelined for a few more weeks with an illness, all of the Big Apple will be focused on Jones. This will not be a problem for the two-time bowl game winner as he has already proved to be more than competent at dealing with the notorious New York media.
If Jones can even come close to replicating his performance Sunday, he will finish the year with an impressive statline and will turn around the entire direction of the Giants. With a few more additions this upcoming offseason, the talk might become bigger than Jones just winning Offensive Rookie of the Year.
What is known now is that the award can already be inscribed with Jones’ name on the front of it. In the meantime though, everyone can enjoy the show. And Giants fans...relax. Your savior has arrived.
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Jake Piazza is a Trinity senior and was sports editor of The Chronicle's 117th volume.