Daniel Jones still could trip and roll his ankle.
Or get the flu. Or miss the team bus. Or suffer any other number of unforeseen hiccups.
Otherwise, he will be starting Sunday for the Giants against the Redskins.
Pat Shurmur made official Friday what has been clear since Jones practiced in full with only tape on his ankle Wednesday — the rookie quarterback is resuming his spot on the depth chart ahead of Eli Manning after missing the past two games with a high ankle sprain.
“Barring anything crazy,” Shurmur said, “he’ll start. And Eli will back him up.”
Jones’ last win came Sept. 29, in Week 4 against the Redskins. Last Sunday, Manning guided the Giants to a win against the Dolphins to snap a nine-game losing streak.
“He looked good,” Shurmur said after Jones’ third straight full practice with first-team snaps. “He is prepared and ready to go.”
It will be the first time in Jones’ short NFL career that he has started against the same team twice — and handling all the adjustments from both teams that come with familiarity.
Jones came off the bench for one series against the Cowboys in Week 1 and started against Dallas in Week 9.
“I’d much rather play than watch,” Jones said earlier this week. “I’m excited to hopefully get back out there. There’s a process to this and it’s part of the game to be able to handle this — be able to recover and get back out there. I understand that.”
The primary area in which Jones can show improvement heading into the offseason is ball security. He has committed 21 turnovers (11 interceptions and 10 lost of 15 fumbles) in 12 games as he wrestles with the “fine line” of NFL quarterbacking.
Manning committed 15 turnovers last season, but has had three seasons of 27 or more, including a career high 30 in 2010.
“Being able to protect the ball, but also being aggressive is our job and what you’re trained to do, what you’re coached to do,” Jones said. “That balance and that skill in being able to do that is what you have to do to be good at this level. I’ve worked on it, but I think you have to be able to do both.”
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