Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians watched Jameis Winston throw 30 interceptions while going 7-9 last season, so he has some experience with quarterbacks whose penchant for turnovers sinks his team’s chances of winning far too often.
Arians benefitted from playing against such a quarterback on Monday night. Daniel Jones threw a pair of interceptions that led to 10 Buccaneers points in the second half and the Giants ultimately lost 25-23 after a failed two-point attempt with 28 seconds left to play.
Arians said in his postgame press conference that he thought Jones was “trying to do too much” and “cost them basically the ballgame” with the two interceptions. Giants head coach Joe Judge said the turnovers were a “major factor,” but not the only one when asked about Arians’ comments.
Judge also talked about how to move forward with a quarterback who has 21 interceptions in 21 career games and has turned the ball over at least once in each of his last nine games.
“I told Daniel on both times the play happened, tonight I just told him to be patient with it, stay committed with it, we’re going to need you down the stretch, we need you to make plays, and obviously on that final drive he made a lot of big plays for us. . . . We all have to hold ourselves accountable, the man next to us accountable. But Daniel’s our quarterback, clearly put,” Judge said.
The Giants made Jones the sixth overall pick of the 2019 draft and they’re going to give him every chance to prove that was the correct choice, but seeing some sign that the mistakes will stop coming as frequently would make it easier to stomach some of the wins that have slipped away this season.