QB Daniel Jones -- November 6, 2019
Q: As you continue to go through a series of your firsts your rookie year, what have guys said about this rare Giants-Jets regular season matchup?
A: Yeah, I think it’ll be exciting. It gives both teams from New York an opportunity to compete against each other. I mean guys have said there is always a lot of energy in the game. It’s kind of unique playing an away game at home, but it’ll be fun.
Q: How are you feeling physically? I know you’ve taken a lot of hits during some of these games.
A: I feel good. Obviously, it’s a short week this week, so it’s important to make sure we are recovered and feeling good for the game. But yeah, I feel good.
Q: When you look at the red zone offense, how are you guys approaching that this week to try to improve that?
A: I think there are a number of things. We had chances on Monday night and didn’t do a good job converting those. I think it’s understanding what happened there, making sure we’re getting positive plays on first and second downs, so our third downs are manageable, but that’s always… open field, that’s always what we’re thinking. I think those ideas, but when you look at the tape, we had opportunities, we just have to convert them.
Q: Are there things that you can do to avoid taking some of the big hits that you are taking? Not necessarily behind the line of scrimmage, but at the end of plays.
A: Yeah, I could do a better job sliding and getting down or getting out of bounds at times. That’s something that I’ll continue to work on.
Q: Do you have to fight your own competitiveness there? That third down comes to mind, where you’re fighting for the first down sticks but at the end of the play you take a big hit. Or the one on the sideline, I guess the guy with the boom mic gives you the big hit.
A: I think on the third down, I’m going to try to get the first down. I’ve got to do a better job of taking care of and protecting the ball there in that situation. But yeah, when I have the chance to get out of bounds or when I have the first down, I need to be mindful of that to get down or get out of bounds.
Q: Whether it’s ball management like that or whatever the case may be, despite the results of the last five games, where do you feel you’ve improved?
A: I think in some of my reads, some of my progressions, I’ve made improvements and have seen things better at times than I had before. There is still a lot to work on, and I think I realize that.
Q: You had a block on the reverse, you ended up downfield blocking. (Head Coach) Pat (Shurmur) said maybe you’d want to think about not doing that, but that’s spur of the moment, right?
A: Yeah, I’ve got to do a better job of getting my pads down and make a better block. In that situation, I’m going to try to block him, but I could definitely do a better job of protecting myself or making a better block.
Q: Did your facemask get bent at one point in that play or a different play?
A: I don’t know, yeah. I don’t know when that happened, but I think so.
Q: As the years go by, would you like to get to know Sam Darnold a little personally? I figure as much as Eli (Manning) can help you or Tanney can help you, the person who probably knows your shoes best as a young guy in New York, the pressure, a rebuilding team— is Darnold. Would you guys want to get to know each other better?
A: Yeah, I’ve met him at the Manning camp and have seen him at a couple other places here and there. I think he’s a guy who certainly I can relate to and learn from. So yeah, I’d say I’d like to.
Q: Have you guys run into each other much this season?
A: I haven’t seen him this season yet, no.
Q: If Pio (Jon Halapio) can’t go, how much of an adjustment is it with you and Spencer (Pulley)?
A: Obviously, it’s tough to see Pio, and hopefully he’s feeling alright. I certainly hope for the best there. I certainly have a lot of reps with Spence, back to the spring really and through the summer. I feel really good about him. I think we’re all really confident in him.
Q: Did you watch the Duke hoops game last night?
A: I watched a little bit of it, I didn’t get to see much of it, but I saw they won— off to a good start.
Q: The picture of you with (RJ) Barrett… did you know him much? I think you said before you didn’t really know him well.
A: Yeah, I hadn’t spent a lot of time with him before that, but it was cool to see him. He’s been playing well, I think, and he’s off to a good start. It was good to see him, and I look forward to seeing him again soon. Hopefully making it to a game.
Q: Did you not go to his game? Where was that picture?
A: That was at Giants stadium, that was at our game.
Q: Do you think you’d like to go see him, are you a basketball fan?
A: Yeah, I’d like to. When I have a chance, certainly.
I think as fans we sometimes take these questions at face value and tend to forget that reporters often ask questions to get quotes that they can use in an article they're writing.
No doubt whichever report was asking the Darnold questions has an article planned about what it's like being a young, NY QBs as the two go head to head on Sunday.