The pass should have been caught. Head coach Brian Daboll said as much.

Rookie tight end Daniel Bellinger did not make the catch in the second preseason game, and the initial response from Daniel Jones — who threw the pass — was this: “I can probably do a better job of getting the ball down, and I know he’ll make that play.’’

Fine. Jones is not going to call out a 21-year-old NFL novice. But did he have to critique his own involvement in the play as he protected his young teammate?

“Everybody does it in their own way,’’ new Giants quarterbacks coach Shea Tierney the told The Post. “That’s the one thing I always want Daniel to do is just be him. I’ve been around a lot of quarterbacks, I haven’t really been around a quarterback who will dress down guys in front of people. They kind of understand who they’re talking to, understand who they are first and just handle it in their own way, which Daniel has done. That’s how we want him to be.’’

How the Giants want Jones to be does not always sync with what fans of the team want their quarterback to be. It did not seem possible that Jones could be more reserved in his outward demeanor than Eli Manning, but he is. Of course, by his fourth NFL season, Manning had already twice taken the Giants to the playoffs. In his fourth year, Manning helped the franchise win its third Super Bowl.

Jones is pleasantly bland and predictably self-analytical when it comes to his performance, spreading praise when it is appropriate and unfailingly changing the subject whenever there is merely a hint of accusation that his protection was not solid or one of his receivers ran a sloppy route.

“I’ve never seen him have a side to where he was upset or something like that,’’ said receiver David Sills, one of Jones’ closest friends on the team.

“Maybe joking around after the game or something like that. But he’s never on the sideline like, ‘I need you to catch that ball.’ We hold each other to a high standard, so even if it’s not said, we know that we need to make the play.’’

Jones’ best attribute might be his patience. When Manning, who was in the same offense for more than a decade, was told he had to learn an entirely new system — new plays, new footwork, new reads, new priorities (this was when Tom Coughlin hired Ben McAdoo in 2014) — Manning was more than a bit restless. Everything he worked so diligently to master was altered, and he did not enjoy feeling like the new kid in class.

Jones has been put through the ringer, first learning Pat Shurmur’s offense, then Jason Garrett’s offense, then making adjustments when Garrett was replaced by Freddie Kitchens. As he is set to embark on his fourth NFL season, Jones was handed Daboll’s playbook, and it was back to square one.

“It’s a process, and we’re constantly learning and improving day-to-day,’’ Jones said. “I felt like we’ve had a good camp. What is most important is what we do from this point on and how much we can still improve. That’s what we’re focused on.’’

There were days in training camp when Jones and the offense looked lost. Other sessions were better but rarely inspiring. In two preseason games, Jones has completed 76.9 percent of his passes, mostly sticking to short and intermediate stuff. The five series with their starting quarterback: field goal, punt, stopped on downs, interception, running back rushing touchdown. The Giants ran base plays and kept their offense vanilla, with Daboll expected to add plenty of flavor once the games count.

It is foolhardy to expect Jones will have it all down in a few weeks and get to the Sept. 11 season opener against the Titans with full command of this new system.

“I don’t think you ever get to 100 percent,’’ Tierney said. “You are always pushing the envelope of what you can do to make this skill set of the guys you have better.’’

Daboll, Jones, offensive coordinator Mike Kafka and Tierney are in the nascent stages of their working relationship. In the past few weeks, Jones has become more comfortable making suggestions, more forceful in verbalizing which plays he wants more of and which he can do without.

“If you like those plays, we’re going to put them in,’’ Daboll said, revealing some of his conversation with Jones. “Those are comfortable plays for you, we’ll put them in. It’s not a big deal. He’s like, ‘OK.’ We’re still building that process, that relationship. And I love the kid, figuring out exactly what we’re going to try to be.’’

This was the way it was when Daboll ran the offense in Buffalo and was handed Josh Allen as his young quarterback.

“The plays four years ago we were running were way different than the plays we were running four years from now,’’ Daboll said of the development of the Bills’ offense with Allen. “It’s a continual evolution of time, effort, timing, discussions, protections, routes, all these different things, personnel groupings that go into it. And it takes time.’’

Will Jones be afforded that time? He is entering the final year of his contract. Daboll and new general manager Joe Schoen want it to work, but they did not draft Jones and thus are not as invested in him as the Bills’ coaching staff and front office was in Allen. Plus, there is a viable option behind him in Tyrod Taylor, ready at a moment’s notice.

After the Giants won the Super Bowl following the 2007 season, Manning’s “street cred’’ in the locker room was untouchable. Jones is indisputably popular with the players around him — there is virtually nothing not to like about him — but until he experiences any real success and the Giants start winning some games, the hangdog look affixed to Jones’ face after losses will be his familiar countenance.

Swagger without winning is a lack of self-awareness. Jones understands players at his position are judged by the results on the scoreboard. He keeps a low profile, but those on the inside insist he can let loose within the confines of the team.

“He has it,’’ Tierney said. “It doesn’t always have to be an every-minute thing. Some guys when they get on the field they have it. When they’re in the meeting room, they have it. And Daniel does. Even more recently the last few weeks probably seen it more than I have previously, that just speaks to how comfortable he’s getting.’’

Comfort takes time, and the clock is ticking.