If New York Giants co-owners John Mara and Steve Tisch are on the fence about head coach Pat Shurmur, the embattled coach can only hope that Sunday's performance could help his cause.
After pulling the plug on Eli Manning following his send-off against the Miami Dolphins last week, Shurmur went back to Jones, who was riding a personal eight-game losing streak.
The rookie turned out easily his best start of the season, a 352-yard masterpiece and five touchdowns -- granted it was against the Redskins, but still a five-touchdown effort nevertheless. Jones joined only Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford as the only rookie quarterbacks to throw for over 300-yards and five scores in a game.
Jones started the game tossing a 23-yard score to Sterling Shepherd to make it 7-0 Big Blue, and closed it out with his second touchdown of the day to rookie Kaden Smith in overtime to win it 41-35.
Jones was so good that he was going point for point with fellow rookie Dwayne Haskins, who tossed a pair of touchdowns to keep Washington in the mix in the early stages.
Sunday's game was also a huge day for running back Saquon Barkley, who exploded with 189 yards rushing and 90-yards receiving on the day -- easily his best effort of the season. Barkley's burst was exactly what the Giants had been missing from the Pro Bowl running back all season. Maybe, he's finally getting healthy.
With the game tied at 7, Barkely broke free of a few tacklers and sprinted down the sideline for a 67-yard touchdown run to give the Giants the lead back at 14-7.
Later with 9:16 to go in the second quarter, Barkley was all alone down the middle of the field as Jones hit the running back in stride for a 33-yard touchdown to give the Giants a 21-14 advantage.
The Giants tacked on one more score before the half on a 10-yard touchdown pass by Jones to Cody Latimer to push Big Blue's lead to 28-14.
The Redskins would comeback, eventually tying the game at 35 behind back-up quarterback Case Keenum who had come in for an injured Haskins in the third quarter. Keenum engineered an improbable 14-play 99-yard drive in the final six minutes for the tying score, where it appeared Keenum had fumbled at the one yard line. The officials however ruled that Kennum had crossed the plain.
In OT, Jones moved the Giants with alacrity down field for the winning score. He hit Sterling Shepherd on a critical 23-yard pass to the Washington 40, before Barkley picked apart the Skins defense on a handful of nifty runs. Finally on third and goal from the three, Jones found Kaden Smith for the game winner.
The win did leave a sour taste in the mouths of many Giants fans, as Big Blue slips in the draft order behind the Bengals and Redskins. A lot of fans want the team to draft Ohio State defensive end Chase Young if he comes out. Still what fans should really worry about is whether a strong finish by the Giants prompts ownership to keep Shurmur and Gettleman around.
There has been a lot of rumors that Shurmur is definitely on the hot seat, but the Giants are known as a franchise that does not like to change coaches too often. We'll see if another strong effort by Daniel Jones in week 17 sways the final verdict.
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