Giants news, 1/18: Eli’s advice to Daniel Jones, Hurts, more headlines

Good morning, New York Giants fans!

Giants-Eagles X Factor: How healthy is Eagles’ QB Jalen Hurts?

Mark Schofield discussed the impact of Hurts’ health on the Philadelphia offense during Wednesday’s episode of the ‘Valentine’s Views’ podcast.

“It hurts them a lot [if they can’t use the designed runs],” Schofield said. “Jason Kelce [Eagles center] said on his show with his brother that their entire offense — run game, pass game — starts with Jalen Hurts. Everything the do builds off of Jalen Hurts.

“The stuff they do in the pass game, the RPO stuff that they do, obviously the drop back stuff that they do. Obviously the quarterback plays a huge role there,” Schofield said.

“But so much of what they do in the run game and some of their play-action elements build with his ability to run as a foundational principle. If they’re not in a position to rely on that stuff, if he’s not healthy enough where they feel like they can use his threat as a runner to set up some of this stuff that’s a big chunk of their playbook that’s kind of out the window.”

“His health is a huge storyline heading into this game.”

More from Big Blue View

• QB Jalen Hurts not on Eagles’ Tuesday injury report
• Injured Giants Azeez Ojulari, Jason Pinnock ‘day-to-day’
• Giants know they will be walking into hostile environment
• Who is Daniel Jones, and who might he become?
• All 8 remaining NFL playoffs teams, ranked by likelihood of winning it all

Other Giant observations

Eli Manning gave ‘little pep talk’ to Daniel Jones before monster playoff debut | Giants.com

During Monday’s Wild Card edition of the ManningCast, Manning revealed that he gave Jones a “little pep talk” – but only after the current signal-caller sought him out.

“With Daniel, I never reach out to Daniel...he reached out and was kind of like, ‘Hey, first playoff game. Anything I need to know about?’ And I said, ‘Just play the way you’ve been playing. You don’t all of a sudden get to the playoffs and say I’ve got to try to change something or do something new.’ I said, ‘You’ve been playing great all year.’“

“He’s like, ‘What about the speed? Is it faster in the playoffs?’ I’m like, ‘That’s just something people say because they’ve got to say something. The speed’s the same. No one all of a sudden gets faster all of a sudden for this game. It’s just if people are playing harder, you’re going to play harder. If you have a third-and-five, you’re going to lay out for that first down. People are just going to the whistle.”

The Fox telecast is sure to have a hard shot of Eli on Saturday night

Judging NFL playoff overreactions - Dallas to Super Bowl LVII? | ESPN.com

Jones might not be the “perfect” franchise quarterback, he “might be exactly what the Giants need ... assuming they can come to an agreement on something sensible, it makes a lot more sense for the Giants to keep Jones and build around him than try to replace him and start over with someone new.”

Ranking all 32 teams' need at quarterback entering the 2023 NFL offseason | PFF

Daniel Jones has silenced a lot of critics this year (myself included). I’m not about to put him in an elite tier or anything, but this was certainly his best year with maybe his worst supporting cast in the passing game. Jones finished the regular season with a 78.9 overall grade, a 73.1 passing grade and an 82.3 rushing grade — with the overall and rushing grades being team highs. Jones is up for a contract extension, so there is some uncertainty, but with the Giants still alive in the playoffs, it’s hard to imagine anyone else under center for them in 2023.

Why Brian Daboll’s work with Daniel Jones rivals his development of Josh Allen | The Athletic

Daboll arrived in New York with a strong reputation for developing Bills quarterback Josh Allen from a raw rookie into an MVP candidate. In some ways, Daboll’s work with Jones is more impressive. Allen was unmolded clay with an abundance of talent, so Daboll was able to build him from the ground up.

But Jones already had experienced three years of NFL coaching, plus four years at Duke with quarterback guru David Cutcliffe. Jones was hardly a blank canvas, but Daboll and his staff have pushed the right buttons to bring out the best in Jones.

RT Evan Neal has not time for smack talk on the field

Giants’ Minnesota after-party the start of something big | New York Post

“I went from getting actual threats to now getting ticket requests,” Chris Mara would tell The Post. “It’s good to feel this way again.”

Dexter Lawrence on how the Giants staff has built the confidence of the players

Why Giants Should Have Confidence Facing Eagles in NFL Playoffs | The 33rd Team

The Giants should feel great going into their divisional matchup against the Eagles after hanging with Philadelphia in Week 18, despite resting their key starters. Eric Mangini thinks New York has enough momentum going into the matchup to sneak away with a win.

This week’s opponent

Eagles' Jalen Hurts not worried about Giants targeting shoulder | ESPN.com

"It's football. I've got a bounty on me every week I go out there on the field," Hurts said, seemingly unfazed when asked about that possibility Tuesday. "So, I'm going to go out there and just play my game, and whatever happens, happens."

How the Eagles pushed (and sometimes pulled) Jalen Hurts to the top of the NFC | The Athletic

According to TruMedia, the Eagles sneaked 32 times this season (we defined a QB sneak as a designed rush by a quarterback under center with 2 yards or less to convert) for a 90.6 percent conversion rate. That’s more than any team has sneaked in a season in this millennium (as far back as TruMedia’s data goes) and more than double the Eagles’ number from last season (14, 92.9 percent conversion).

“They’ve taken it to another level,” said Giants defensive line coach Andre Patterson. “One guy is on each cheek and one guy is behind, and all three are pushing him forward. That makes it real difficult to stop.”

Around the league

Commanders interview Pat Shurmur for offensive coordinator position | ProFootballTalk

Chargers fire two offensive coaches | CBSSports.com

Packers QB Aaron Rodgers: 'I think I can win MVP again in the right situation' | NFL.com

BBV mailbag

Have a Giants-related question? E-mail it to bigblueview@gmail.com and it might be featured in our weekly mailbag.

BBV podcast

You can find and subscribe to Big Blue View radio from the show’s home page

BBV social platforms

BBV on Twitter | BBV on Facebook | BBV on Instagram | BBV Radio (available on all of your favorite podcast platforms) | BBV on YouTube

Follow us on social media

BBV on Twitter: Follow @BigBlueView

Ed Valentine: Follow @Valentine_Ed

BBV on Facebook: Click here to like the Big Blue View Facebook page

BBV on YouTube: Subscribe to the Big Blue View YouTube channel

BBV on Instagram: Click here to follow our Instagram page

BBV podcasts: Click here to subscribe to BBV Radio