Colts head coach Shane Steichen didn’t hold back in his praise for Daniel Jones.
The ex-Giants quarterback is thriving in his first season with the Colts, who own a 3-0 record and have quickly become one of the biggest stories of the season.
“You’ve got a guy that’s the signal-caller back there that studies his tail off, looks at tape all day every day, grinding, looking at different things, knowing the checks, understanding what we’re trying to get done offensively, getting us in and out of the right plays,” Steichen said after the Colts’ 41-20 win over the Titans on Sunday in Tennessee. “That stuff pays huge dividends in this league, because there’s a lot going on. Obviously, this is one of the toughest positions in all of sports to play, and he’s doing it right now as good as it gets.”
Jones completed 18 of 25 passes for 228 yards and a touchdown while also adding 27 yards on the ground in the win.
Through three games, Jones has completed 71.6 percent of his passes for 816 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions while also adding 55 yards and three more touchdowns on the ground.
Entering Monday, Jones’ 111.7 passer rating was third-best in the NFL.
“He’s just seeing it really well,” Steichen said. “Getting us in and out of the right plays, delivering the ball with accuracy. He’s playing freakin’ really good right now.”
The Colts have punted just once this season — that is the fewest by any team in the first three games of a season since at least 1940.
“We certainly expect to play at a high level,” Jones said after Sunday’s win. “Every time we step out there, every time we get the ball, we expect to execute and to go down the field and score. I don’t think the expectation changes at any point.”
Jones, 28, signed a one-year, $14 million contract with the Colts this past offseason and beat out Anthony Richardson for the starting job.
The Giants cut him midseason last year — he asked to be released — after they benched him and subsequently relegated him to fourth-string on the depth chart due to the injury guarantee in his contract, putting an end to his rocky five-plus years with the team that drafted him with the No. 6 pick in 2019.
He spent the rest of last year with the Vikings, though he never saw any game action.
The Giants, meanwhile, have started the season 0-3.