Giants have ‘confidence’ in Tyrod Taylor starting for injured Daniel Jones

Tyrod Taylor returns to Buffalo to face one of his former teams, but he'll be the Giants’ starting quarterback after Daniel Jones was ruled out on Friday with a neck injury. Even with the backup elevated, Big Blue’s offensive staff has confidence in the ability of the veteran.

“Tyrod has a done great job since he's been here. I have a lot of confidence in him and all the guys on our offense really to go out there and execute,” offensive coordinator Mike Kafka said earlier this week.

Even before it was made official that Taylor would start Sunday night, New York’s offensive staff stressed that they wouldn’t be changing much with quarterback coach Shea Tierney saying that “nothing really changes with our process and everything like that.”

“We just try to do the best to put whoever’s in there in the best position possible,” he said. “That’s the same thing we do with any position. Doesn’t change. Keep doing our same process.”

And when it comes to the offense, playing to strengths as much as possible is part of Kafka’s philosophy.

“I think whenever you look at, really any of the players on offense, you want to try out and pull out their strengths as much as you can,” he said Thursday. “You want to try to eliminate as much weaknesses as you can. So, that's what we are doing this week, is to put together the best plan for the players that are going to be out there.”

The offensive coordinator believes that Taylor’s strengths first come in the form of his experience and control of the huddle. 

“I think he does a great job of, obviously, getting the ball out,” he said. “He can make plays outside the pocket as well. He's done that his whole career.”

The 13-year NFL veteran has plenty of experience with 85 appearances and 53 starts with a 26-25-1 record. And in his final full season as a starter, he went 8-6 with Buffalo and made the playoffs. (That was the year of his mid-season benching only for Nathan Peterman to throw five first-half interceptions).

Tierney added that throwing on the move is a strength of Taylor’s but not his only one.

“Throw on the move, he can throw from the pocket, he can create,” the QB coach said. “He’s done it throughout his career you go all the way back to watching him at Virginia Tech and he’s always thrown well on the move, yes, for sure, but Tyrod’s got a lot of strengths and done a lot of good things in this league.”

In his career, Taylor has completed 61.5 percent of his passes (7.0 yards per attempt) with 60 touchdowns to 26 interceptions. Though older, he can run still with 2,087 yards on 370 attempts with 19 scores. But fumbles (25 in his career) have hurt him in the past.

And Taylor may have to lean on that strength either by design or out of necessity as the Giants' offensive line has struggled this season and will be without Andrew Thomas, Matt Peart and John Michael Schmitz in Buffalo, and have listed tackle Evan Neal and guard Shane Lemieux are questionable.

“Part of the job description as quarterback is know you're gonna get hit and there's different ways to handle that,” Tierney said. “Sometimes it's standing in there and making throws, sometimes it's using your legs to go ahead and get out, sometimes it’s alright we don’t have anything here, the risk vs. reward of when that is happening.”

He added that he isn’t worried about the quarterbacks getting skittish in the pocket “at all” in playing behind a battered and struggling O-line.

With the potential for injury and Taylor starting with the inexperienced Tommy DeVito behind him, the Giants won't ask him to change his game.

"I don't think you can go out there and play any differently, you're playing football, so the minute you get cautious is probably the minute you shouldn’t be out there,” Tierney said. “I have no worries of Tyrod going out there and playing with no fear and playing how he knows how to play the game.”

And in the face of on offense that is looking to find some rhythm and consistency, Tierney said he’s been telling the players that “shooters keep shooting.”

“It’s what we’re gonna do as coaches, it’s what we’re gonna do with them as players and just keep shooting and putting them in the best position we can to help them make plays,” he said. “And then they’re gonna go out and do it. We have full confidence in those guys to go out there and do that. We’re just gonna keep shooting our shot."