Daniel Jones may have dazzled in his Giants preseason debut, but head coach Pat Shurmur is not ready to give any credence to an open quarterback competition.
"We're not going to play the what-ifs," Shurmur said Friday on a conference call. I would say this: Nothing has changed. This is the first game and I expect Daniel to play well, go out and improve and for the people that don't know him, impress them.
"We expect that from him, we expect that from Eli [Manning], we expect that from everybody. Expectations have not changed."
Jones started the Giants' second series under center and engineered an eight-play, 79-yard touchdown drive. The sixth overall pick went 5-for-5 and threw for 67 yards, including a 12-yard touchdown pass to Bennie Fowler in the back right corner of the end zone.
Shurmur said that if not for a weather delay that halted the game for some time, Jones would have came back out for eight to 10 more snaps.
Meanwhile, Manning opened the game with a three-and-out and completed one pass for three yards.
"He's our starter," Shurmur said of playing Manning. "It's important that he played to some degree. The idea was not to go three-and-out. The idea was to go on a scoring drive. That's why, that's what I get out of [playing Manning]."
Manning had a chance to make a play down field with tight end Rhett Ellison on the first play of the game, but the 38-year-old quarterback opted to throw a three-yard pass to tight end Scott Simonson instead. When Shurmur was asked about that decision-making, the head coach essentially shrugged.
"It's the first play of the game ... quarterbacks are always trained to keep their eyes down field," Shurmur said. "We got a completion. You could make the case he could've thrown the ball down field to Rhett. You move the chains and you move on."
As for Jones, Shurmur is still looking to see him improve as the remainder of the preseason progresses.
"Keep playing, keep improving," he said. "As well as he's been trained in college there's many things he's doing for the first time. Things he needs to get on the practice field and games. ... Expose him to more things -- the two-minute drive and some of the other things you would see in the course of a game."
UNDER REVIEW
Giants corner Corey Ballentine had a 33-yard pass deflection negated after the Jets challenged he committed defensive pass interference by reviewing the play under the new rules. The contact seemed to be benign, but Shurmur had no issue with how it played out.
"I think the process played out just like we'll probably see it play out," he said. "The naked eye, game speed, it looked like an excellent play by Corey -- I still think it was -- and clearly, the words they use are 'clear and obvious,' and clearly and obviously he was grabbing the receiver's wrist and that could be seen on replay."
Shurmur added: "If it was flipped we would've challenged just like they did."
INJURY UPDATES
Shumur said that there were no injuries "of note," following Thursday's preseason game. RB Jonathan Hilliman is in the concussion protocol after leaving the game early. LB Alec Ogletree has a "bit of a calf strain," and RB Wayne Gallman has "a little but of a foot strain." He added the next 48 hours should clear up the injury picture heading into next week.