A New York Giants fan base starving for one (1) single reason for hope finally got it on Sunday, as Jaxson Dart — and a ferocious pass rush — led Big Blue to an upset victory over the previously undefeated Los Angeles Chargers. And it was, admittedly, a stirring performance: It was obvious after only a few plays that Dart was a shot in the arm for a team in desperate need of one, both because of his ability to make plays with his legs and because of the way his energy inspired the players around him.
I'm not here to rain on that parade, or to rag on Dart as a prospect. He's clearly got the physical tools to succeed in the NFL, he's clearly worlds better than any other quarterback currently on the Giants roster and he deserves all the credit in the world for the way he played on Sunday. This is in no way an indictment of anything he's done on the field so far in his NFL career.
And yet, at the same time ... man, I can't help but feel like Charlie Brown trying to kick the football for the millionth time. Maybe it's just because a decade-plus of Giants dysfunction (to put it charitably) has worn me down and extinguished my capacity for optimism. Or maybe it's just that I remember the last time a New York rookie looked like the future of the franchise in his first career start. Either way, I simply can't ignore the red flags here, ones that seem destined to sink this season just like all the others and cost Brian Daboll his job.
It's only a matter of time before the Giants fail Jaxson Dart, too
Let's start with a simple fact: The Giants' offense wasn't actually very good on Sunday. Big Blue gained just 250 yards at a measly 3.6 yards per play, a number that would've ranked last in the league by a mile last season. There's context needed here, of course: The Chargers are one of the toughest defenses in football under Jesse Minter, and Dart lost star wideout Malik Nabers to a torn ACL. The fact that he kept his head above water and looked like he belonged is a win in and of itself.
But it bears repeating that the Giants still aren't functional on that side of the ball. The only idea Daboll seems to have, and the only way New York had any hope of success on Sunday, were RPOs, scripted runs and asking Dart to scramble. That worked just well enough to notch the team's first win of the season, but is it sustainable? How will Daboll evolve once teams start getting film on what this offense looks like with Dart at the helm? And more pressingly, how will Dart survive an NFL schedule if his head coach knows that the only way he can keep his job is by riding his QB until the wheels fall off?
That's barely an exaggeration. Dart has never been one to step out of bounds when he can initiate contact, and he was briefly pulled from Sunday's game for a concussion check after trying to puncutate a big run by throwing a stiff arm with his throwing arm. (Needless to say, it didn't really work.) The Giants can't really do any of the normal things a functional NFL offense can do, and Daboll knows he needs to be competitive ASAP if he wants to stick around to see 2026. He's going to put Dart's body in harm's way over and over and over again, and that's no way to live against some of the fiercest athletes in the world.
If all of this sounds familiar, well, it should. It wasn't all that long ago that Giants fans were proclaiming a rookie named Daniel Jones the savior after torching the Tampa Bay Bucs en route to a comeback win in his NFL debut. We know what happened next: Defenses adjusted to a player they hadn't seen before, Daboll didn't trust his young quarterback to do anything else and the offense promptly collapsed. The Giants have something worth building on in Dart, but if they don't put the right infrastucture around him, he could be headed for a similar fate.