Daniel Jones’ return ‘brings a lot of energy’ for Giants ahead of matchup with Las Vegas Raiders

After firing HC Josh McDaniels, former Giant Antonio Pierce is Raiders’ interim HC

Week 9 for the Giants will have no shortage of storylines, but perhaps none more important is the return of quarterback Daniel Jones.

After missing three straight weeks with a neck injury, Jones was fully cleared earlier this week to play and will start Sunday’s game against the Las Vegas Raiders after practicing fully on Wednesday.

“I’m excited to be back in the swing of things and going through the week preparing to play,” Jones said.

While Tyrod Taylor did a good job in Jones’ absence – even leading them to a win against the Washington Commanders – his own injury sustained last Sunday against the Jets meant it was all the more crucial that Jones came back.

Fellow players agreed and were also excited that their starting quarterback and captain will be back out on the field with them.

“It means a lot. He’s a great leader in this locker room, he goes about things the right way so it brings a lot of energy for us this week,” said linebacker Bobby Okereke.

“Obviously we’ve been missing him out there in action, but he had to get healthy,” said safety Xavier McKinney. “He’s gotten healthy and to have him back will be good for us and it’ll be good for our team and our offense.”

Darius Slayton, one of Jones’ favorite targets, said “it’s been weird without him” and that he’s “happy” to have the 26-year-old back in the mix.

However, with Jones back under center that doesn’t mean all of the Giants problems on offense will be solved. Don’t forget, it was with Jones that Big Blue lost to the Dallas Cowboys, San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks earlier this season by a combined score of 94-15.

To his credit, Jones did lead a massive second-half comeback against the Arizona Cardinals to avoid total embarrassment, but the fifth-year starter has not been at his best this season.

In five games, Jones has just two passing touchdowns and while his 68.9 completion percentage is the best of his career, he’s also thrown six interceptions and fumbled the ball four times, once for a loss.

“I’m gonna continue to be aggressive and look for opportunities to run when they’re there and be smart, get down and protect myself also,” Jones said, coming back from his neck injury. “That’s something I’ve always tried to do and try to continue to improve at so that won’t change.”

Despite the overall numbers this season, Jones showed last season that he’s capable of playing well and taking his team to the playoffs. With an offensive line that’s also getting healthier, Jones and the Giants hope they can get back to last season’s success.

“It’s good to get everyone that was supposed to be a starter going into the season out there and hopefully we get some of the offensive linemen back and start rolling,” said offensive lineman Justin Pugh, who was signed to the active roster just two weeks ago due to injuries.

As the Giants get healthier, their first test will be playing a Raiders team who will likely be fired up after recently firing head coach Josh McDaniels and GM Dave Ziegler after a disappointing start to the season themselves.

And as fate would have it, former Giant Antonio Pierce will be serving as the interim head coach after being promoted from linebackers coach.

“It’s funny how life works,” Slayton said. “Conveniently, they’re being coached by a guy who’s played here, what better start for him than to beat us so I’m sure they’re gonna come out there with a lot of energy and be ready to play, ready to go.”

McKinney added: “We expect a high energy team. Obviously they’re gonna have a new head coach in there so their energy level is gonna be boosted. They’re gonna be hungry to get a win so we gotta go in there and match their intensity.”

Even though Big Blue expects an intense game against an opponent who made some coaching changes, it’s the Giants who should be even hungrier for a win, sitting at 2-6 and in last place in the NFC East.

With their starting quarterback back, it’s now or never for New York. The pressure is on.

“It doesn’t matter whatever your record is, every guy in here has a why as to why he’s playing, you just gotta dig down deep and go fight for that because if we don’t go out there and fight and win games we’re all gonna be looking for jobs too and I’ve seen that happen time and time again,” Pugh said. “So the pressure is go fight for your job, go fight for your livelihood, go fight for the fans. We have to win games. Everything is still in front of us. We start reeling off some wins, it’ll change the conversation.”