Giants QB Daniel Jones is history in making

Daniel Jones couldn’t say exactly what he was doing each of the past three Wednesdays following the conclusion of the regular season, but he admitted on this latest one it probably consisted of a lot of sitting on his couch and reflecting on the plays, decisions and failures which had brought him there.

So even as he partook in what is undoubtedly the most painful part of his football week – talking to the reporters who have pestered and doubted him for most of his tenure in New York – he couldn’t help but smile at his new vantage point.

“This certainly beats that,” he said of being a quarterback in the playoffs as opposed to one on the outside looking in.

But Jones also knows there is a huge difference between just being here in the postseason and truly putting one’s stamp on the sport. This is the time of year when quarterback legacies are burnished or shattered, for better or for worse, fairly or unjustly. And now, after three years of waiting, after a season in which he has proven to be a quarterback who can lead the Giants this far and deserves a chance to return next season, he has an opportunity to truly etch his name in the storied legacy of the nearly century-old franchise.

He can do that with a win on Sunday. Two or three after that would be nice, too, but just winning a playoff game for the Giants would put him in exclusive company.

In the Super Bowl era there have been only five quarterbacks who have won playoff games for the team: Eli Manning, Phil Simms, Jeff Hostetler, Kerry Collins and Scott Brunner. That’s it. You want to go back to the beginning? Back to 1933 when the Giants played in the first ever scheduled postseason game in NFL history? There are only two others: Ed Danowski and Don Heinrich.

None of that is lost on Jones. He’s already raised his reputation and his name out of the gutter with this season’s performance. Now he has a chance to lift it even higher.

Even though he is making his postseason debut, one of a half dozen or so “rookie” quarterbacks in these playoffs depending on who gets the starts for Miami and Baltimore, the Giants have just as much faith in him as the players on teams with more proven quarterbacks enjoy.

“I think he’s a great quarterback,” running back Matt Breida said. “He’s been proving people wrong all year long. People say he’s not good, whatever, but he’s playing at a top level and people are starting to see that now.”

Center Jon Feliciano has gone into postseasons with a wide spectrum of quarterbacks. His first such game was with Oakland when Derek Carr was injured and they turned to Connor Cook in their wild card matchup. That memory elicited an eye roll. His last six were with the Bills where Josh Allen certainly instilled a higher level or confidence (not to mention three victories and a heartbreaker loss to Kansas City last year that could have been one).

Where does Jones land on the Believe-o-meter between Cook and Allen?

“A lot closer to Josh,” Feliciano said with a laugh. “I have full confidence in Daniel, though. I’m excited. His back has been against the wall all season and I have no doubt he’s going to keep doing what he’s been doing.”

Of course Jones isn’t flinching from the moment. Steely Dan remains a steady constant no matter the size of the stage or the number of microphones and cameras in front of him. He stood back and waited patiently Wednesday for those outside elements of the postseason to be set up so they could capture and amplify what he had to say.

On Sunday, it will be the zoom lens of the playoffs that provides amplification on however he performs. Any success will be transcendent, any failure abysmal. There will be no in-between.

“There are a lot of quarterbacks who play in the playoffs,” Jones said. “It’s all about what you do now.”

By Tom Rock

tom.rock@newsday.com@TomRock_Newsday

Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.