Giants, Cardinals Are Big Winners Of 2019 NFL Preseason Week 1 As Daniel Jones, Kyler Murray Impress

For most teams, Week 1 of the NFL preseason is considered a success if they are able to escape without any injuries. The bar is set a little higher for those with rookie quarterbacks on the roster, hoping to see signs that the young signal callers will be ready to compete when the regular season rolls around.

The Arizona Cardinals and New York Giants found themselves in such a position Thursday night. They were the first two teams to take a quarterback in the 2019 NFL Draft.

No.1 overall pick Kyler Murray made his professional football debut when the Cardinals hosted the Los Angeles Chargers. No.6 pick Daniel Jones took the field in his first NFL game as the Giants faced off with the New York Jets.

Both teams have to be happy with what they saw from their quarterbacks of the future.

Murray got the start Thursday in Arizona’s 17-13 victory. The Heisman Trophy winner completed six of seven passes for 44 yards in his only drive of the game, posting a 92.9 passer rating. Murray was unable to lead the Cardinals out of their own territory. A sack on third down forced the team to punt from the 35-yard-line.

Murray was impressive, despite the drive ending prematurely. His only incompletion was the result of his receiver stepping out of bounds. The 22-year-old looked ready to be an NFL starter in the brief sample size.

That’s much more important than anything, considering Murray will be given the keys to the team when Arizona starts playing meaningful games in September.

Jones isn’t expected to be the Giants’ starter with Eli Manning on the roster. Maybe that will change if Thursday proves to be a regular occurrence.

After Manning completed just one pass for three yards in the Giants’ opening drive, Jones took over and led the team down the field and into the end zone. The Duke product was perfect, completing all five of his passes for 67 yards. Jones finished off his only drive of the game with a 12-yard touchdown pass to Bennie Fowler.

Giants’ general manager Dave Gettleman has received plenty of criticism for taking Jones sixth overall instead of Dwayne Haskins. Haskins went No.15 to the Washington Redskins.

The Cleveland Browns beat Washington 30-10 in their 2019 preseason debut. Haskins had the worst showing of the three first-round quarterbacks with two interceptions. The rookie did complete eight of his 14 attempts for 117 yards, getting more playing time than Murray and Jones.

Haskins and Jones might go head-to-head in the regular season with the Giants and Redskins set to meet in Week 4 and Week 16.