Former Duke Blue Devils star quarterback Daniel Jones had a mixed return from his torn Achilles injury.
Former Duke Blue Devils standout quarterback Daniel Jones made his return from a torn Achilles on Sunday afternoon for the Indianapolis Colts.
Prior to tearing his Achilles last season, Jones had started turning his career around with the Colts. He had a rollercoaster start to his NFL career with the New York Giants. At times, he looked like a legitimate franchise quarterback, but other moments led to him being cut.
Jones played in 13 games during his first season in Indianapolis. Before the injury, he completed 68 percent of his pass attempts for 3,101 yards, 19 touchdowns, and eight interceptions, while also chipping in with 164 yards and five touchdowns on the ground.
In the Colts' Week 1 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, Jones had his ups and downs.
When everything was said and done, the 29-year-old quarterback threw for 166 yards, a touchdown, and an interception. He completed 19 of his 31 passes while also running for four yards. It wasn't the return he dreamed of, but it wasn't the worst way to return either.
Unfortunately, Indianapolis ended up losing the game by a final score of 41-23.
Following the game, the former Duke star was brutally honest about both his and his team's performance against the Ravens.
"Just not good enough," Jones said. "Obviously, didn't play well enough on offense. Didn't move the ball well. Didn't score. Didn't take care of it. A lot of things we set out to do every game, we didn't accomplish."
Coming back from an Achilles tear is no easy feat. Jones will need at least a couple of weeks to truly ramp back up into game action. Even though he may be fine physically, he'll need to re-learn mental confidence and the speed of the game.
During his time with the Blue Devils, Jones played at a high level. He played in three seasons for Duke, throwing for 8,201 yards, 52 touchdowns, and 29 interceptions. Jones completed 59.9 percent of his career pass attempts and ran for 1,323 ayrds and 17 touchdowns.
Those numbers led to the Giants selecting Jones with the No. 6 overall pick in the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft.
All of that being said, Duke fans will continue rooting for Jones to get back to the level of play he showed last season before injuries took over. His Week 1 performance wasn't great, but it was good enough for a quarterback coming back from such a serious injury.
