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Jordan Raanan, ESPN Staff Writer
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones has “a chance” to play Sunday against the Washington Commanders and is officially listed as questionable with a neck injury.
Jones missed Sunday night’s 14-9 loss to the Buffalo Bills. He was a limited participant in practice throughout the week. He threw and did individual drills but has not been cleared for contact.
Coach Brian Daboll left open the possibility it could happen in the next couple of days.
“We’ll see,” he said Friday. “We’re talking to medical people and just take it day-by-day here.”
Jones at least has a chance to return this week.
“A chance, yep,” Daboll said.
Tyrod Taylor would make his second straight start if Jones is unable to play. Taylor went 24-of-36 passing for 200 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions against the Bills in his first start for the Giants.
Whoever starts at quarterback will be playing behind a makeshift offensive line. The Giants placed fill-in left tackle Josh Ezeudu (toe) on injured reserve and signed three players — Justin Pugh, Tyre Phillips and Josh Miles — off practice squads this week.
Starting left tackle Andrew Thomas (hamstring), center John Michael Schmitz (shoulder) and tackle Matt Peart (shoulder) didn’t practice this week and were ruled out for Sunday. Starting right tackle Evan Neal (ankle) is questionable. He did not practice Friday.
“Obviously we can sit here and say what we want about how the offensive line has been playing,” running back Saquon Barkley said this week, “and I am not going to sit here and make any excuses for them, but the reality is, what? We’ve had six, seven — I don’t even know the number of how many starting combinations and how many people have been out and been down, in and out.
“That’s the toughest position to play because all five of those guys have got to be in sync and sometimes it helps when you play with each other for a long time, but that has not been the case and you can see when we are all able to be on the same page it may not be perfect but we will be able to split some long runs and be able to go down the field and make plays. None of our confidence is lost in those guys, we know we are only going to get better, we know we are going to get guys healthy and then they’ll come back and just keep trusting in them.”
Barkley returned Sunday after missing three games with a high ankle sprain. He was a limited participant in practices this week but was not given an injury designation.
The Pro Bowl running back, who said this week there were “no setbacks,” is expected to play.
It still seems unlikely that Jones will play considering he did not take any team reps this week. But Daboll did not completely close the door.
“Yeah, he’s played a lot of football for us. He’s been in the system for a while. So, again, we’ll take that one, get all the information and then make the right decision for him and for us,” Daboll said.
This isn’t the first time Jones has injured his neck. He had a disk problem in 2022 that cost him the final six games of that season.
But Jones has insisted this injury is different, and said this week that he’s not far from returning.
“I’m close. I’m pretty close,” he said. “I’ve just got to keep doing what I’m doing and trust the doctors and trainers and what they’re telling me to do and keep going about it.”
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