EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Daniel Jones is just 25 years old, but he's already hit 50 – career starts.
On Sunday, Jones became the sixth quarterback in the Super Bowl era to make 50 regular season starts for the Giants. He joins Eli Manning, Kerry Collins, Dave Brown, Phil Simms and Fran Tarkenton. Remarkably, he has thrown precisely the same number of passes as Eli Manning, the quarterback Jones replaced as a rookie in 2019, did in his first 50 starts (1,638).
Some other tidbits from the statistical comparison of the six quarterbacks at 50:
*Jones and Manning are tied for the second-most pass attempts, 137 fewer than Kerry Collins.
*Jones' 1,040 completions place him second – just one behind Collins.
*Jones' 64.5 completion percentage is easily the highest of the six passers. Collins is second at 58.6%.
*Jones' 10,915 yards are second, behind Collins' 12,107 yards.
*Only Brown, with 38 touchdown passes, has a lower total than Jones' 57.
*Jones, however, has by far the fewest interceptions with 33. Brown and Tarkenton are tied for second with 47.
*Jones' 86.0 rating is the highest among the six quarterbacks, slightly above Tarkenton's 84.9.
*Three of the six quarterbacks – Manning, Collins and Tarkenton – were .500 or above.
A look at the six quarterbacks through 50 starts:
Name | ATT | COMP | PCT | YDS | TD | INT | RATING | RECORD |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Daniel Jones | 1,638 | 1,040 | 63.5 | 10,915 | 57 | 33 | 86.0 | 19-30-1 |
Eli Manning | 1,638 | 904 | 55.2 | 10,359 | 70 | 59 | 73.7 | 27-23 |
Kerry Collins | 1,775 | 1,041 | 58.6 | 12,107 | 59 | 51 | 78.5 | 27-23 |
Dave Brown | 1,312 | 726 | 55.3 | 8,406 | 38 | 47 | 69.6 | 21-29 |
Phil Simms | 1,497 | 777 | 51.9 | 10,024 | 60 | 58 | 70.5 | 23-27 |
Fran Tarkenton | 1,340 | 726 | 54.2 | 10,102 | 84 | 47 | 84.9 | 25-25 |
*Eleven quarterbacks were chosen in the 2019 NFL Draft. Only two of them have started at least 50 games. Fittingly, they were the first two quarterbacks selected, Arizona's Kyler Murray at first overall and Jones at No. 6.
A 50-start comparison:
Name | ATT | COMP | PCT | YDS | TD | INT | RATING | RECORD |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Daniel Jones | 1,638 | 1,040 | 63.5 | 10,915 | 57 | 33 | 86.0 | 19-30-1 |
Kyler Murray | 1,754 | 1,170 | 66.7 | 12,471 | 75 | 36 | 93.0 | 24-25-1 |
*Jones scored his 10th career rushing touchdown Sunday on a one-yard run in the Giants' loss to Philadelphia. That tied him with Tarkenton for the most career rushing touchdowns by a Giants quarterback since 1950.
That might also be the all-time franchise record. Hall of Famer Tuffy Leemans ran for 17 touchdowns in his eight-year Giants career (1936-43). He is listed as a fullback/quarterback on the Giants' all-time roster, as well as a tailback and defensive back elsewhere. Leemans threw 383 career passes and led the Giants in attempts in each of his final three seasons.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it is impossible to know how many of Leeman's 17 rushing touchdowns were scored when he played quarterback. So, for now, Jones and Tarkenton share the record.
*Jones wasn't the only Giants quarterback to make rushing news against Philadelphia. Backup Tyrod Taylor played the final two series and rushed for a team-high 40 yards on two carries, one of them a 32-yarder.
*Taylor is the first Giants quarterback to enter a game as a reserve and lead the team in rushing yardage since Dec. 3, 1978, when Randy Dean relieved Joe Pisarcik and ran for 63 yards in a 20-17 home loss to the Rams.
*Jones led the Giants with 71 rushing yards in the 20-20 tie with Washington the previous week. This is the first time in the Super Bowl era two different quarterbacks led the Giants in rushing in consecutive games.
*Jones has started all 13 games this season. It is the third time in his career he started 13 consecutive games.
Jones started the last two games of his 2019 rookie season and the first 11 in 2020 before suffering a hamstring injury in Cincinnati that sidelined him the following week in Seattle. After missing two of three games, he started the final two in 2020 and the first 11 in 2021 before a neck injury forced him to miss the final six games of the season.
View photos of Giants quarterback Daniel Jones throughout his NFL career.
*The Giants are 0-3-1 vs. NFC East opponents this season. Since the NFL expanded to 32 teams in 2002, no team has advanced to the postseason with fewer than two division wins, a total reached by many playoff teams, most recently the 2021 San Francisco 49ers – who advanced to the NFC Championship Game. The Giants have two division games remaining, at Washington on Sunday night and at Philadelphia in Week 18.
*Philadelphia scored on a 40-yard run and touchdown passes of 41 and 33 yards Sunday to become the first Giants opponent with three rush/pass touchdowns of at least 33 yards since Nov. 12, 2017, when the San Francisco 49ers scored on a 33-yard run and passes of 47 and 83 yards. The 33-yard run was by Matt Breida, now a Giants backup running back.
*The Eagles rushed for 253 yards, the eighth time since the 1970 merger the Giants allowed more than 250 yards on the ground, the league's sixth-highest total. Five of them occurred since the NFL expanded to 32 teams in 2002.
*Philadelphia had just two accepted penalties for nine yards, the lowest totals for a Giants opponent since the Rams had one penalty for five yards on Oct. 4, 2020.
*The Eagles scored 24 points in each half, the first Giants opponent to do that since Nov. 5, 2017, when the Rams scored 27 in the first and 24 in the second in the 51-17 victory.
*Jalen Hurts' 10-yard touchdown run was the longest by an opposing quarterback since Kirk Cousins – then with Washington – scored on a 12-yarder on Dec. 31, 2017.
*The Commanders were on their bye last week and will face the Giants in consecutive games. According to Elias, it is the third time since the 1970 merger a team will play the same opponent in consecutive games. In 1991, the Seattle Seahawks and San Diego Chargers played in back-to-back games (each team had a bye in-between). Last year, the Cleveland Browns played Baltimore in consecutive games (the Browns had their bye in the interim).
*Philadelphia is the last team to face the Giants in consecutive games. On Nov. 20 and 27, 1960, the Eagles won the first game in Yankee Stadium, 17-10, and the second in Franklin Field, 31-23. That Eagles team finished 10-2 and won the NFL championship.
*Saquon Barkley's 28 rushing yards Sunday increased his career total to 4,020. He is the seventh player to rush for more than 4,000 yards in a Giants uniform. Ahmad Bradshaw is immediately ahead of him on the franchise's career list with 4,232.
*Barkley's two receptions Sunday increased his career total to 232. He moved passed David Meggett (231) and into a tie with Lionel Manuel for 21st on the Giants' all-time list. Del Shofner is 20th with 239.
*Barkley is the fifth player in franchise history with at least 4,000 rushing yards and 100 receptions:
Tiki Barber - 10,449 rush yards, 586 receptions
Rodney Hampton - 6,897, 174
Alex Webster - 4,638, 240
Ahmad Bradshaw - 4,232, 132
Saquon Barkley - 4,020, 232