The New York Giants are pretty much on life support as they head into their game Sunday, December 15, against the Baltimore Ravens with a 2-11 record. One big question for the past few games has been which quarterback head coach Brian Daboll is going to play, with Daniel Jones now with Minnesota.
At first, Daboll started fan favorite Tommy DeVito, but then switched to Drew Lock. Now, Daboll has made a call on which quarterback is going to play against Lamar Jackson and the Ravens.
Brian Daboll Makes Final Quarterback Decision for Ravens Game
Speaking with press on Monday, December 9, Daboll said the Giants would be starting Lock, as long as he’s healthy enough.
“Yeah, Drew will be at quarterback this week, unless he can’t be based on injury,” Daboll said.
The move is somewhat of a surprise, since Lock’s stats from the past two games haven’t been great. Lock completed 51.9% of his passes for a total of 405 yards, two interceptions and no touchdowns in the Giants’ losses to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New Orleans Saints.
NFL writer and expert Matt Sidney of GmenHQ stated that the move was a bit “puzzling.”
“The Giants face the Ravens this week, a team sitting at 8-5 and fighting for playoff positioning in the AFC. Baltimore opened as a heavy favorite, and few are expecting a Drew Lock-led offense to offer much resistance,” he stated in a December 10 feature. “With nothing to lose, the decision to stick with Lock feels more puzzling than purposeful.”
Of Lock, Sidney also stated, “While he did provide a brief spark with his legs, rushing for a team-high 59 yards, his overall performance was emblematic of the Giants’ season: uninspired, inconsistent, and ultimately ineffective.”
Giants HC Brian Daboll Talks Losing Streaks, Winning Streaks
Elsewhere in the press conference, Daboll talked about the Giants’ losing streak and said he’s been apart of losing streaks before.
“I’ve been part of some losing streaks like this and some winning streaks,” he told reporters. “I think you are part of a lot of different things when you do it for as long as I have. You get a little bit of roll; you start playing good. Turnovers are a big, usually a big factor in that. Situational football is usually a big factor in that. Whether that be red zone, third down, and that helps scoring points, or preventing points.”
Daboll added that he’s been a part of losing streaks where they started out and had a bunch of losses but then “finished strong.”
“Again, every season’s different, every game’s different,” Daboll added. Then, regarding the loss against the New Orleans Saints on Sunday, December 8, he said there were “ebbs and flows” to the matchup and that they “had some opportunities there, I’d say, in all three phases.”
He also talked about the red zone plays of the game, stating, “We had the one thing in the red zone there, defensively, where they did a good job of shifting out, we had an uncovered guy. So, there’s plays every game, every season. Got to figure out a way to make those.”
