At halftime of the Giants’ Week 2 matchup vs. the Arizona Cardinals, it looked like Big Blue was headed for another humiliating defeat. The Cowboys beat them 40-0 in Week 1 and Arizona was up 20-0 after two quarters. But that’s when Daniel Jones and the squad woke up to give everyone some hope.
Could the Giants’ 21-point comeback off the strength of 24 unanswered points be a mirage? I mean, maybe — this is the Cardinals we’re talking about. They’re not expected to be any good this year. Watching Big Blue roar back and snatch victory from the jaws of defeat was better than the alternative, though.
Jones ended the game with some big numbers. He completed 26-of-37 passes for 321 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. The signal-caller also added nine rushes for 59 yards and a touchdown on the ground.
Virtually all of that production came after halftime. If you want to talk about going to work, that’s exactly what Jones did in the second half. So much so that he just did something no other quarterback has done in NFL history.
In the second half today, the @Giants' Daniel Jones:
– threw for 250+ yards
– rushed for 50+ yards
– threw multiple TD passes
– rushed for a TD
– had no turnoversNo other QB in NFL history has done all of that in the second half of a game. pic.twitter.com/CjP4Lovwkm
— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) September 18, 2023
And if we take out the “no turnovers” part from this equation, the last player to have one-half of football this productive was Michael Vick… in 2010.
Daniel Jones is the 1st player in @Giants history with 250 Pass yards, 50 Rush yards, 2 Pass TD and a Rush TD in a GAME. He did this in the 2nd HALF. The only other player to do this in a half since 2000 was Michael Vick at Washington in 2010.#NFL
— Boomer Esiason (@7BOOMERESIASON) September 18, 2023
There are lots of people saying, “Well, duh — he did it against the Cardinals.” I totally understand where they’re coming from. But still, Arizona is an NFL team, no matter how good or bad they are. Daniel Jones still had to go out and do this. Every other QB in NFL history has had a chance to do this against a terrible team, and they didn’t do it.
And, what would you rather him do — just lie down and take the beating as New York did at MetLife Stadium last week? This is just more proof there are haters regardless of what happens. If you get your butt whooped, they laugh at you for the following week. If you find a way to dominate, they’ll make excuses for it.
But, hey — who cares? The Giants got a much-needed win before a Thursday Night Football showdown in San Francisco against the 49ers. Going up against a tough opponent like that with a 0-2 record would’ve been disastrous. So, it’s a good thing they avoided it.
You can reach Matt Musico at matt.musico@xlmedia.com. You can follow him on Twitter: @mmusico8.
