Ever play a card game called Hearts? It’s not that complicated. 4 people are dealt 13 cards, and for whichever suit is led, the highest card of that suit takes the trick. You can discard if you are void in that suit. All hearts are worth a point. The Queen of spades is worth 13 points. The object of the game is to take in the fewest number of points, and the one with the fewest points when someone hits 100 points wins the game.
There’s a wrinkle- if you can manage to somehow take in all 26 points, you “shoot the moon.” If that happens, all of your opponents get 26 points. Shooting the moon entered the vernacular because it described someone who was going for the summit in a high stakes gambit with great risk and great reward. As the card game implies, if one isn’t perfect and only collects ~24 points, they’ve swallowed the poison pill. Like people who climb Mt. Everest and come up short, you can pay dearly if you miss.
And so here we are, the football season is now over, and the Giants are sitting with the 1.06 pick in an upcoming draft with a very strong crop of Quarterbacks. When the Giants’ season was over at 2-6, we hinted at this set of QBs. We watched Daniel Jones flounder one too many times this season with an inability to manage the pocket, throw vertically, and most importantly not go through his progressions. Another issue for Jones also resurfaced- a second neck injury plus an ACL. When you are questioning not only ability but also availability, you have to assess if the franchise can go the distance and get to a Super Bowl championship with this guy.
Remember, it’s QB, Protect QB, Rush the QB. IN THAT ORDER. So as much as this NY Giants blog has been going nuts about the failure at Offensive Line, it’s implied that you need a QB first and foremost who can get you there. I thought Jones had been resurrected by Daboll in 2022. I was wrong. Andrew Thomas and the B-gap simplified his game. When defenses adjusted to Jones checkdown run (plus losing his blindside protector), it was so ugly. We saw all of the ugly Jones. The poise was lost. The turnovers were back. The processing (which was never good) was awful. The vertical reads were lost. And then the injuries resurfaced from the pounding.
Let’s be clear- we all know that Jones’ OL was a M*A*S*H unit. Yet if you look at the great QBs, they go through patches in each season where they have to adjust and make do. Eli Manning was great. The backside of his career was littered with year after year of terrible OL play, but he soldiered and competed. It cost him and the Giants, but Manning covered for it silently. In a handful of games in 2023, Jones completely crumbled.
I live in Houston TX. It’s been nothing short of breathtaking to watch the impact of CJ Stroud on this town and this franchise. This ain’t no Tommy Cutlets. This rookie 1.02 QB has taken a completely dysfunctional franchise (they make the Giants look like Apple or Microsoft) and singlehandedly turned them around. He sees the field. He attacks. He has poise on and off the field. He’s a bonafide star. I’ve watched him all season. His playmaking is astounding. Everyone remembers the incredible bomb on the first play last night versus IND. But watch the play at xx:xx. That’s the holy grail. That’s truly special. That’s when you know you have the QB who can win you a Super Bowl. I’d rather shoot the moon going for that than toil with question marks.
Will Joe Schoen have another pick this high in a QB draft this good? The cards have been dealt. I believe that, assuming there’s a couple of QBs coming out who are deemed special, it is time to shoot the moon. The cost of trading up is expensive. Yet we know the rewards are just as rich if you hit. It’s a high stakes game- you do it because you’re going to be right. It can cripple your franchise for 4 years or you can have a warrior for 15. Shoot the moon.