When the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Eagles face off this Saturday in the divisional round of the playoffs, one of those defenses will have to deal with a quarterback who has been lighting opponents up as a runner.
This quarterback has amassed a total EPA of 34.54 on the ground in the 2022 NFL season, which ranks third-best among all players in the league. His 0.25 EPA per attempt is tied for second-best, behind only Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields, his 137 rushing attempts ranks third in the league, his 786 rushing yards ranks second, his 238 yards after contact ranks fourth, his seven rushing touchdowns is tied for third-most with Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills, and his five runs of 15 or more yards is tied for third-best behind Lamar Jackson and Justin Fields.
You, of course, probably already know — based on this article’s headline — that we are not talking about Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts. We are talking about Giants quarterback Daniel Jones.
Go figure. This may come as a surprise if your only memory of Jones as a runner is his running out of gas against the Eagles in 2020.
Daniel Jones trips after 80 Yard Run, a breakdown@TalkinGiants pic.twitter.com/Ykjjf6GJk0
— Jomboy (@Jomboy_) October 23, 2020
Things are different now.
We all know how effective Jalen Hurts has been as a runner this season — when he’s on the field, the Eagles can deploy all their multiple run concepts post-snap, while disguising their intentions with fairly static pre-snap looks. Including a ton of big runs out of passing personnel, which defenses really don’t like.
But it’s time to recognize what two Giants coaches — first-year head coach Brian Daboll and first-year offensive coordinator Mike Kafka — have done to make Jones such an effective runner. We’re not just talking about scrambles here; Jones’ designed runs have become a crucial part of Big Blue’s offense.
Daniel Jones huge factor in the run game. Continues to run over this D pic.twitter.com/2S4UVmFWki
— The Irish NFL Show (@IreNFL) January 15, 2023
The Eagles are well aware of this. On Tuesday, Philadelphia head coach Nick Sirianni mentioned that he’s hoping his defense will be well-suited to deal with Jones as a runner based on facing Hurts in practice.
“Well, the good thing is they’ve got a lot of reps versus a guy like Hurts, so Daniel Jones is dangerous in the pocket and when he gets out of the pocket. He’s really playing really good football. He’s continuing to get better. Hats off to him and that coaching staff for allowing that to happen.
“But that’s one thing you always are appreciative of is that these guys, the two practices that we had last week, because Jalen still may not have thrown, but he still practiced last week, and then all the training camp practices, all the good versus good periods, they’ve had to defend a quarterback with that ability to scramble.
“So, we feel like we got a lot of good reps at it, but we know also that he obviously — how dangerous he is and how good we’re going to have to be to do the things we need to do to be successful in this game against Daniel.”
That Sirianni is talking about Hurts as a preparatory devise for Jones tells you just how much Jones can impact things in that regard. And the Eagles saw this in Week 14. With 10:50 left in the third quarter of Philly’s eventual 48-22 win, the Giants gave the Eagles a taste of their own medicine with an inside zone read run by Jones. The Eagles’ aggressive front went with the Giants’ slide to the left, keyed on running back Saquon Barkley, and Jones had an open lane for a 17-yard run.
Daboll spoke recently about how well Jones and Barkley work together on these plays.
“The first thing, I think, they really appreciate one another – the type of teammate that each person is. I’d say they both work extremely hard. They’ve been here for some time. I think they’ve had probably some ups and downs. And they’re pretty close, so I think that helps. In the running game, if you are choosing to use a quarterback on runs, that’s a pretty important chemistry that you have with one another between the two of them with the ball handling and the decision-making and the reads. And then in the passing game, those guys have worked hard together to make sure they’re on the same page. But both of those guys, I think, respect one another’s responsibilities. I think they’re good captains for us. And I think they work well together.”
Using the threat of Barkley as the back, and the Giants’ slide to one side, is a common construct in Jones’ explosive runs; this 25-yarder against the Indianapolis Colts in Week 17 was another example. This was 11 personnel again (one tight end, one running back, three receivers), and Jones was reading left defensive end Kwity Paye to see when Paye would take off after Barkley, and when Jones himself should just… well, take off. Note the presence of tight end Daniel Bellinger blocking cornerback Dallis Flowers at the second level; these kinds of blocks are also key to Jones’ big-play runs.
This 12-yard run against the Minnesota Vikings in the wild-card round had a couple of different wrinkles. It was still 11 personnel, but this time, running back Matt Breida played the role of Jones’ backfield foil, receiver Richie James took a fake handoff from left to right, and Bellinger pulled all the way across the formation from right to left to stick cornerback Duke Shelley with a block. Receiver Isaiah Hodgins tried to block cornerback Chandon Sullivan on this play, but Sullivan got past Hodgins to approach Jones. That’s when the quarterback showed his moves.
The Giants will obviously want to keep this game closer than that Week 14 contest against the Eagles — Philadelphia had leads of 21-0 and 27-7 along the way. If it is closer this time, don’t be surprised if it’s Daniel Jones showing his wheels in ways you may not have expected.
