Why Is Daniel Jones Falling Back To Earth?

Not a great way to go into the second half of the season.

So, what's gone wrong with Jones' game of late? When Jones beat out Anthony Richardson in the preseason, head coach and offensive shot-caller Shane Steichen set his quarterback up well with pretty easy reads throughout the progression, especially his first read. No matter where Jones went with the ball, good things were to follow.

Over the last two games, things have been a bit more complex, and Jones has struggled to respond. The timing of the throws have not been what they were, and as a result, Jones is putting the ball in harm's way more than he did before.

Even when the openings are there, Jones isn't always seeing them.

As far as the fumbles, Jones' pressure rate hasn't been epidemic of late; it was actually worse earlier in the season. He was pressured on 28.6% of his snaps against the Steelers, and 35.9% of his snaps against the Falcons. Go back to Week 2 against the Denver Broncos (42.1%), Week 4 against the Los Angeles Rams (51.4%), and Week 7 against the Los Angeles Charges (45.9%) if you want to see Jones pressured more often, and playing more comfortably against it than he is now.

The Falcons did blitz Jones mercilessly, and that might be something for the Colts' future opponents to study. Pre Next Gen Stats, Jones was blitzed on over 40% of his dropbacks (46.2%) for the first time since Week 2 and was sacked five times against the blitz against the Falcons — more sacks against the blitz than he had taken through Weeks 1-9 combined (three).

He was sacked on 7 of his 16 pressured dropbacks overall, including both a strip-sack fumble and an interception, and Jones has now committed five turnovers when under pressure over the past two weeks, after having avoided a turnover under pressure in Weeks 1-8.

"We've got a good football team," Jones said after the Falcons game. "We've got a really good running back, that's for sure. But yeah, I think across the board, when you look at a lot of those things today, we hurt ourselves in some key spots that we can't afford to do, and that's on me. I've got to clean those up and make sure I'm protecting the ball, make sure we're converting in situations where we need to, especially down in the red zone. Obviously we'll look to correct that, but the fact we were able to win anyway and to battle through a number of those situations, I think, says a lot about our team, says a lot about our fight, our mental stamina, mental toughness, as well."

No question. The Colts are a great team, and their 8-2 record, along with their status as the AFC's one-seed, reflect all of that. But when the postseason comes around, and the Colts are facing the most dynamic offenses and formidable defenses possible, they'll need more than the Daniel Jones who has bent to the NFL's will over the last two games.

They'll need the Daniel Jones who convinced the NFL that his abysmal time with the New York Giants was more about the New York Giants than it was about Daniel Jones. If that is the quarterback the Colts have down the stretch, there's no telling how far they can go.

Without that quarterback, things could get pretty thin at higher altitudes.