Joe Judge didn’t have a say in drafting Daniel Jones, but he is committed to him.
Asked a blanket question Monday about how long it takes to be sure that a young quarterback is right for the job, the Giants’ first-year head coach saw through the generality and offered a vote of confidence for his struggling second-year starter.
“If you are asking if Daniel is our quarterback, Daniel is our quarterback,” Judge said. “That’s who we are playing with, and we support him. We have a lot of confidence in him. We have faith in him.”
Jones has committed seven turnovers during the Giants’ 0-4 start, which includes back-to-back games without a touchdown for the first time since 1998. Only the Eagles’ Carson Wentz has a lower quarterback rating than Jones (68.3) among full-time starters.
Joe Judge talks to Daniel Jones during practice.Charles Wenzelberg/New York Post“He is a young guy who is developing, and we see a lot of progress from him day-to-day,” Judge said. “Are there things he has to correct and clean up? And do we have to do a better job as coaches to put him in the right situations? Absolutely.”
Colt McCoy, 34, is the only other quarterback on the active roster.
Jones has led the Giants in rushing in three of the four games but didn’t take off with room to run on second down from the 18-yard line in the final minute of the 17-9 loss to the Rams. His pass to Damion Ratley on the sideline was intercepted.
“You have to see it through the perspective of the quarterback,” Judge said. “It’s easy for us on the sideline or watching on tape to say, ‘You should’ve done this, or you should’ve done that.’
“Execution is the most important thing. Every play he has different options. He made the decision he made. We can’t handcuff our quarterback by looking over his shoulder all the time and second-guessing everything he does.”
Rookie offensive guard Shane Lemieux made his NFL debut against the Rams with one snap at fullback. The sixth-round draft pick is not changing positions to challenge starter Eli Penny.
“We’re just looking to get all of our players involved. However, we think it could create an advantage,” Judge said. “That was something that we thought would give us something in certain plays and situations. Shane was the guy that fit the role.”
Judge did not have an update Monday afternoon from Los Angeles on the injury status of outside linebackers Kyler Fackrell and Oshane Ximines or safety Adrian Colbert. Fackrell returned to the game, but the others did not.
“We’ll see where they are as far as going long term,” Judge said, “but I talked to all the players, and they are in good spirits after the game in terms of health-wise.”
The Giants were scheduled to return to headquarters around 8 p.m.
Wide receiver Alex Bachman and defensive lineman David Moa signed to the practice squad after passing through the COVID-19 protocols over the weekend. The Giants cleared the one necessary practice-squad spot by cutting wide receiver Johnny Holton, who played in one game.




