For most teams and most players, it’s all about home-field advantage. For New York Giants QB Daniel Jones, it’s the complete opposite. Get him away from Giants Stadium and he’s a solid quarterback. Have him play in front of the home crowd and he sinks to the bottom.
So while the Giants are the away team Monday night, it might work in their favor.
The numbers are as stark as they are confounding. Here are Jones’ basic home/road splits over the course of his five-year career.
Home: 63.6-percent completion rate, 27 TDs, 30 INTs – 77.9 QB Rating
Away: 64.6-percent completion rate, 41 TDs, 14 INTs – 91.8 QB Rating
Off the top, those differences are clear enough. A slightly higher completion percentage away than home. His touchdown-to-interception ratio is completely flipped from sub-1 at home to 2.9:1 on the road. And his QB rating takes a major leap.
To put that into greater perspective, his 77.9 QB rating at home is 37th out of 37 qualifying quarterbacks (minimum 500 attempts). Worse than Sam Darnold, Zach Wilson, and Mitch Trubisky.
On the road? His 91.8 QB rating is 22nd overall. Far from great but much better. His QB rating is 13.9 points higher on the road than at home, the biggest delta increase of any quarterback since he’s been drafted. The next closest is Philip Rivers, who was 9.8 points better on the road than at home.
This season has been more of the same. Actually, it’s been more pronounced. Granted, it’s a smaller sample size but it shows an away-field advantage for Jones.
Daniel Jones’ 2024 Splits
Home: 60.4-percent completion rate, 5.4 YPA 0 TDs 4 INTs – 63.2 QB rating
Away: 65.6-percent completion rate, 7.0 YPA 6 TDs 0 INTs – 106.7 QB rating
Incredible difference. He’s 2-1 on the road, 0-4 at home.
Why? I have no idea. Maybe the pressure of the New York media and fan base (technically New Jersey, I know) plays a role. Maybe it’s totally random. Whatever the reason, Jones is a different QB on the road. Mind you, not a great one historically, but far improved, and this year, he’s been excellent.
Pittsburgh’s only faced Jones once. That came in a 2020 Steelers victory and Jones was poor overall. He threw two touchdowns but also a pair of picks and finished with a 79.2 QB rating. Naturally, that came with the Giants at home. Monday night, New York comes to town. If history is an indication, Jones will look like a different quarterback.
