Russell Wilson was brought in to revive an offense that felt like it was a quarterback away from being sufficient. The Daniel Jones era ended so badly that his last memory as a New York Giant was playing practice squad safety before he was ultimately waived. This year, the entire offseason injected hype into a team with one of the toughest schedules in the NFL and a coaching staff that knew it would be playing for its jobs this year.
Yet, after Week 1, not even Wilson could absolve the Giants from their own mediocrity. Things got so bad in a season-opening loss to the Washington Commanders that Wilson couldn’t even handle a clean pocket when the team afforded him one. The offensive line was miserable, and it led to Wilson looking inept in a situation that should have been set up for him to thrive.
If Wilson couldn’t figure out how to get things going — and keep in mind, he’s been the most sacked quarterback in the NFL over the last four years, according to The Athletic — why should Brian Daboll commit to a rookie with a season that has high stakes for him and his coaching future?
Daboll committed to Wilson for the Giants' Week 2 game against the Dallas Cowboys, a second straight division game to start the year, and it’s probably in his best interest to do that. If Wilson can’t figure out how to score a touchdown with the current state of this offense, no quarterback on that roster will, least of all Jaxson Dart.
Russell Wilson’s shoddy Week 1 performance magnifies bigger problem with New York Giants
The Giants are in a worse position than they probably realize after a touchdown-less Week 1. Wilson completed just 17 of his 37 passing attempts with less than 200 passing yards. While he didn’t turn the ball over, it was a disappointing showing.
According to Pro Football Reference, Wilson wasn’t blitzed once in Sunday’s game, but was still sacked twice and pressured on just over four percent of his dropbacks, despite a scheme from Daboll that was designed to get the ball out of his hands as quickly as possible. The Giants' line, which is still missing left tackle Andrew Thomas, simply wasn't good enough, either in the passing game or in the running game (Tyrone Tracy managed just 24 yards on his 10 carries).
And if Wilson is struggling like that as a player that’s been sacked 166 times over the last four years (and led the NFL in 2022 with 55 sacks), why do fans think that Dart would realistically be the answer? No quarterback should have to deal with that kind of pressure, but if anybody should know how to handle a suspect offensive line, it’s Wilson. Dart is the significantly better athlete at this stage of their respective careers, but New York can't throw him out there and rely on him running for his life. He needs to run a functional offense to have any chance to succeed, and right now, that's not a possibility.
Throwing Jaxson Dart to the wolves this early would set himself up for failure, seal Brian Daboll’s fate
Daboll knows throwing Dart into this fire will set him up for immediate failure. He knows playing him right now will not only mess with his potential, and also put Daboll's own job security in jeopardy. Wilson didn’t look great, but he didn’t necessarily play badly. He didn’t get much help from his offensive line, and the offense struggled because of it.
Dart isn’t some magical quarterback prospect that’s going to come in and make everyone forget how bad the offensive line is. Think about Joe Burrow’s first year with the Cincinnati Bengals: He tore his ACL and got abused because of how bad that line was. That was amplified during the Bengals' Super Bowl run the following year, when poor offensive line play probably cost them a shot at a title.
During that 2021 season, Burrow was sacked 51 times and was brought down on nearly nine percent of his dropbacks. We can all agree that Dart is no Joe Burrow, which is why putting him out there when he’s not even talented enough right now to win with the Giants would only hurt his potential.
Daboll knows that, and knows his job is tied both to how well Wilson plays this year and how he develops Dart. Failing to manage this quarterback room would give Giants ownership the green light to fire him, which is probably overdue at this point.
Dart isn’t the answer to the Giants' problems right now. For one, Wilson needs to learn that with the offensive line struggles, they need to focus on quick hitting plays on offense and not long developing ones. They also need to involve Malik Nabers more, because you’re only as good as your best player’s success. It worked with Ja’Marr Chase and the Bengals, so it’s got to work with the Giants and Nabers, right?