When the New York Giants signed quarterback Daniel Jones to a four-year, $160 million contract last March, a lot of fans were very unhappy with the organization. He has had one decent season under his belt, with the rest of them being very underwhelming, and that is being nice. John Mara was torched over giving him that kind of deal, which he insisted was a “bargain” at the time. Looking back at it now, I wonder if he feels the same way after the first three games of this season.
To be fair to Jones, he actually hasn’t been that bad when the spotlight hasn’t been shining directly on him. In games that are scheduled for 1pm ET or earlier in the day, he is 19-18-1 straight up and 22-16 against the spread. Whether those stats would be worthy of the amount of cash he is being paid is one thing, but those aren’t the worst numbers a starting QB could have. However, he must really get nervous when all eyes are on him, because he performs substantially worse when they are.
After the 1pm ET window, when more people nationally are tuned in to the same game, Jones has been a disaster. He is just 5-21 SU with an 11-15 ATS record in his career, and going into Thursday Night Football this week, he has lost six straight ATS in games after 1pm. According to Action Network, the 5-21 SU mark after 1pm ET is ranked 254th of 258 QBs in moneyline profitability in the last 20 years and is the worst mark by win percentage with a minimum of 20 starts.
Indeed, it has been a serious struggle for Jones in the afternoon and at night, but let’s take a look at how he has done in island prime time night games. In these instances, Jones is 1-13 SU and 5-9 ATS in his career, including 0-6 SU at home at night. Since 2003, his 1-13 SU mark is the lowest winning percentage among all quarterbacks with a minimum of five starts. It has been just ugly when he finds himself in the spotlight.
Just as Saturday Night Live made famous the “Not Ready For Prime Time Players” many decades ago, it seems as if Jones has personified this in the NFL. I don’t think the script writers could have come up with a more hysterical plot than what Jones has been doing to this point, and if you are someone that takes these trends with more than a grain of salt, you get a great chance to fade him on Thursday this week.
The Giants are +4.5 underdogs on Thursday, but with the pace that dogs have been winning, are you willing to lay it with the Cowboys? We’ll see if Jones can shake off the butterflies.
Get up to $1,500 in Bonus Bets at BetMGM! All you need to do is CLICK HERE, sign up for a new account, make your first deposit and bet! Don’t miss out!
Related
