HOUSTON — Daniel Jones’ first pass should have been intercepted, but his first tackle led to a much bigger disaster.
In his first live game since tearing his right anterior cruciate ligament in November, the San Francisco Giants quarterback had a nightmare first quarter on Saturday as he threw two interceptions in the first 13 minutes, including one that was returned for an easy touchdown.
Jones, head coach/playing call-up Brian Daboll and the rest of the starting offensive line improved slightly as the first half progressed — not coincidentally after the Texans pulled their starting defensive players.
“I felt a little shaky at first,” Jones said after the 28-10 loss to Texas. “My knee felt good. It was fun to be on the field. We didn’t start out perfect, but we started out, and I feel good physically.”
But Jones’ final stats couldn’t be hidden in what could be his only preseason game before entering a crucial year: He completed 11 of 18 passes for 138 yards and had a 45.8 passer rating during the first half.
“One of the plans was to call some live plays and throw a bunch of deep balls today — to see how our line performs on the rebound and feel a little bit of [pass] “Rushing when the ball is live, pushing the ball down the field, that was the focus,” Daboll said.
After three consecutive passes early in the game to ease the tension of returning to play, Jones started the second possession in the shadow of his own end zone with zero margin for error.
He made a big mistake — and there was no way to blame that mistake on the rebuilt offensive line that had been tarnished last season.
Jones held onto the ball too long when nothing developed on the second attempt, putting him in position to get a safety.
As Derek Barnett pulled him down, Jones threw a very inaccurate pass behind new signing Theo Johnson into the arms of Jalen Petra, who returned it into the box for a goal from 5 yards out.
“Intentionally putting the ground down there is a safety, so you have to make sure you put the ground down at his feet,” Jones said. “Obviously, he can’t be dropped down there in the end zone.”
Daboll called the decision a “bad decision” and Jones agreed he “can’t stand it.”
“There are things I can fix, and I’m confident I’ll be ready to go,” Jones said.
The next series allowed Jones to show he was physically back from knee reconstruction surgery as he struggled to make a 12-yard gain.
But moments later, he threw his second interception, which he called a “bad throw” to Jalen Hiatt, as Derek Stingley Jr. cut down the distance he traveled for the interception in single coverage.
“He left” [the throw] “A little bit of an insider,” Daboul said. “The decision.” [was] “Well, Stingley made a great play.”
Unlike last week, when Jones sat and Drew Lock started, the Giants made sure to get dynamic rookie receiver Malik Nubers involved early.
Or at least Daboll tried to by calling Nabers’ number on two of his first three passes, both of which were incomplete.
Nabers, who missed six days with a sprained ankle, caught four passes for 54 yards.
He showed his jumping ability, footwork skills and stop-and-go speed after playing 12 shots without scoring a goal last week.
“It’s nice to do that in the context of the game, for sure,” Jones said. “He made some great passes there.”
Texas coach DeMicco Ryans pulled his starting defensive players after the first quarter, but that didn’t stop Daboll from giving his offense half the work.
This could be the only preseason test for the starter, as Daboll could use Wednesday’s joint practice against the New York Jets as the big test instead of Saturday’s final exhibition game.
The Giants got some momentum against the Texans’ backup defensive linemen, with Jones leading scoring drives of 68 and 64 yards.
A 44-yard pass completion from Jones to Darius Slayton paved the way for a one-yard touchdown run by Devin Singletary.
“You don’t have time to leave him” [an interception] “It affects your confidence or your mood,” Jones said. “I think I did a good job of that.”
Jones ran a 12-play, non-stop offense late in the first half that ended with a 31-yard field goal by Graham Gano.
With only the hip lock available in case of emergency, Tommy DeVito took over the middle throughout the second half of the game, when the Giants committed the last three of five exhausting errors.
“It’s always important to keep our rhythm and try to find out what we can do,” Hayat said. “It’s the first pre-season game we’ve played together. There are a lot of things we need to correct and improve.”
