Pat Shurmur pleased with Giants' Daniel Jones: 'He didn't disappoint'

Jones ran in for the game-winning touchdown with 1:16 left

9/23/2019, 12:59 AM

After the Giants' 32-31 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday afternoon, the Daniel Jones doubters were silenced.

The rookie quarterback impressed many in his first career start, throwing for 336 yards and two touchdowns. Jones also showed off his running ability, gaining 28 yards rushing and scoring two touchdowns on the ground.

Head coach Pat Shurmur was proud of Jones' performance, and was confident in his ability at the NFL level.

 

"There's certain things that I knew about this kid when we drafted him," Shurmur said. "He was tough, he was competitive, and in my opinion he's a winner. Now the rest of it is just pure quarterback stuff, and because of those first three things, that's why he'll have a chance moving forward.

Now Jones has his first NFL win under his belt, and his head coach is going to continue to believe in him.

"I thought he did a pretty good job first time out," Shurmur said. "As you go along, he'll continue to get better. There were mistakes within there, there were a couple times when we took a couple sacks, the fumbles, and some of that loose stuff. We can work on that, there's drills for that. But the stuff that he did in the game, there's not drills for that. We believed in him from the day we drafted him. First time out, he didn't disappoint."

The Giants defense forced a punt, and got the ball back on their own 25 yard line with 3:16 left in the game and down 31-25. On second down at the Tampa 48 yard line, Jones connected with wide out Sterling Shepard for 36 yards right before the two-minute warning. Jones then found Bennie Fowler for a gain of five yards, as the Giants got even closer to the end zone.

After two incomplete passes, Daniel Jones ran up the middle for a seven yard touchdown to give the Giants the lead. 

"I saw him hit the middle, and I was like, 'Oh, he's gone,'" Shepard said. "You guys see his wheels? Something serious."

The Jones era got off to a great start, and the rookie quarterback was rightfully so excited after scoring the game-winner.

"They were playing some kind of man, and it just kind of opened up there. Saw the grass and took it," Jones said. "Fun finish to it, exciting last drive, and thought we did a good job of getting people open and good job protecting."

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