Daniel Jones Impresses As Giants Top Jets in Preseason Opener

GIANTS 31 
JETS 22 

A one-hour rain delay did very little to dampen the mood of Giants rookie quarterback Daniel Jones. This year's controversial first round pick out of Duke gave Giants fans, and his critics, a glimpse as to why Giants GM David Gettleman selected him so high -- inspite of the constant cat calls and criticism since.

Granted it was a preseason game. And it was against the Jets second team defense, but for one series anyway, Jones looked good. He completed all of five of his passes while engineering an eight-play, 79 yard scoring drive as the Giants took a 7-6 lead on Gang Green.

On the drive Jones hit soon-to-be suspended wide out Golden Tate for 11 yards to move the chains to the Jets 46, then went deep and connected with Cody Latimer to the Jets' 23 yard line. Two plays later, Jones connected with Bennie Fowler for a 12-yard gain, before finding Fowler again in the back corner of the end zone on a beautiful back shoulder fade for the score.

Yes it was preseason, but it was something to build on. Jones was heavily criticized coming out of college, and the heat he has taken from the New York media and fans has been unforgiving ever since. This performance will take some of the heat off.

Instead now the conversation turns to whether the Giants do indeed have a quarterback competition on their hands. Eli Manning played only one series, an ineffective one mind you, to start the ball game. The leash he will be given by head coach Pat Schumur and Gettleman has been discussed at length, and the talk will only intensify in the coming week.

As for the Jets, the starters played only one series on Thursday. Sam Darnold looked pretty good, completing four-of-five passes including a touchdown to Jamison Crowder. Darnold nearly threw a pick on his first pass of the evening, but bounced back to complete his next four passes. Included in the series of completions was a nice 32-yard completion down the middle to tight end Chris Herndon.

Bottom line is Darnold moved the Jets efficiently, and it is clear he is soaking up Adam Gase's offense by the minute.

The Good, the Bad and Ugly:

The Bad: Well there was that whole one-hour rain delay that slowed things down suddenly. Who knows if we would have seen more of Daniel Jones had the rain held off. 

The Good: The Giants got a nice look at some young wide receivers who stood out in TJ Jones and Reggie White Jr. (not related to the late All Pro defensive end). Both wide outs impressed for Big Blue.

 The ugly: This was not an impressive day for the Jets who didn't do much offensively after the starters left. Trevor Siemian was ... well ... Trevor Siemian. Don't get me started on the other players. Gregg Williams can't be happy with his defense which got carved up by Jones and the Giants third and fourth team offensive players. And maybe its time the Jets found a kicker after Chandler Catanzaro missed two extra points.