Brian Daboll told Jaxson Dart on draft night that he was banking on him. While that might have been perceived as somewhat humorous at the time, now the Giants head coach is literally banking on the first-round rookie to save his job.
Dart needs to be the savior. Dart needs to be the one to galvanize this franchise, to transform the offense, to put up points, to win a decent number of games in order for ownership to avoid hitting the reset button for the fourth time in the last eight years.
No pressure, right?
“I feel like pressure is given to those who play at a high level, and the best players in the world are the ones that are kind of involved with that word: pressure,” Dart said this week after being named the Giants’ new starting quarterback for Sunday’s home against the Chargers. “I don’t feel it in that standpoint. My focus is just trying to win one game at a time.”
Only time will tell if his play backs up his confidence, but let’s get one thing straight: Dart can’t do this alone.
While the NFL is clearly a quarterback-driven league, quarterbacks also need strong support systems. The Giants clearly have not fostered those for the last three seasons under Daboll. When you currently lead the league in penalty yards and have lost 14 of your last 15 games, you have widespread problems.
One big concern is that Daboll, who’s supposed to be an offensive guru, hasn’t been running the most imaginative schemes. The latest example came last Sunday night when the Chiefs completely shut down the passing game simply by deploying split-safeties on 78.9 percent of the Giants’ dropbacks, according to New Gen Stats.
“We’re looking at everything that’s kind of given us trouble and going from there and just trying to figure out solutions,” wide receiver Wan’Dale Robinson said. “I think we know the coverages that are kind of giving us problems from the zones and just going to figure out ways to attack those.”
Fans can only hope that screens and other creative passing concepts have been lacking because Russell Wilson was more compromised as a quarterback than the Giants expected. That’s fair to speculate, at least to some extent, because Wilson’s game seems largely predicated on deep balls at this stage of his career.
“Look, we’ve all got to do a better job,” Daboll said generically when I asked whether fans can expect to see some schematic differences in the offense with Dart at quarterback. “We’re going to do what we think we need to do, and get him ready to play, along with everybody else.”
It’s hard to read much into that as Daboll is clearly being coy and conservative with optics because his job is at stake. But given Dart’s skill set and what we saw in the preseason, it’s reasonable to expect some wrinkles includes zone reads where Dart is deciding whether the hand the ball off or keep it, as well as more passing over the middle of the field.
“I think that any time a new quarterback is injected into an offense, it always changes because you have to kind of mold it to what they’re comfortable with and how they’re used to playing,” right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor said.
Eluemunor indicated that the Giants are ready to oblige, in part because there’s a different “energy” around Dart that at least some believe can shake up the offense in a positive way.
“He has like a different aura about him that when he gets on that field, you can sense how much he wants to play and how much he wants to be out there and how excited he is to be out there,” Eluemunor said. “For an older guy like me, having a young guy like that can — I already play with a ton of energy — but with a guy like that, it just makes you want to go out there and block even longer and harder and just make sure he gets all the success that I think he deserves.”
The 3-0 Chargers and their exotic defensive schemes aren’t exactly a soft “landing spot” for Dart, in terms of people speculating for weeks as to when the “right time” would be to turn the reins over to the rookie.
But guess what? Dart was going to have to persevere through good defenses no matter what. That’s the nature of the Giants’ brutal schedule. The Eagles, for example, loom in two of the next five games.
The time to make a change was now. The offense had little life with Wilson running the show, and now it will be fascinating to see whether Dart can make a significant difference in the coming weeks … or whether Daboll’s entire system is simply broken beyond repair.
“The biggest thing for me is I want to do my best to be a spark,” Dart said. “I want to create excitement on the field. I want to be explosive when opportunities are there. Try to just bring a little bit of swagger.”
Greg Johnson covers the New York Giants and NFL for MediaNews Group. Reach him at gjohnson@trentonian.com.
Giants Gameday
The Game: Chargers (3-0) at Giants (0-3), MetLife Stadium, Sunday, 1 p.m. ET (CBS)
The Line: Los Angeles by 6.5
History: The Chargers lead the all-time series, 8-5, and have won five in a row. The Giants haven’t won this matchup since 1998.
Key Matchups:
Giants QB Jaxson Dart vs. Chargers defense: Los Angeles plays a lot of zone with disguises, which makes this a tricky debut for Dart. The Chargers allow the second-fewest yards per pass attempt (5.1). On the flip side, they have only three takeaways on the season.
Giants WR Malik Nabers vs. Chargers CB Tarheeb Still: Simply put, the Giants need to figure out how to get their best play-maker the ball after a career-low 13 receiving yards against the Chiefs. The Chargers haven’t faced a receiver as good as Nabers this year yet, but they were susceptible to a few big plays last week vs. Denver. Courtland Sutton had six catches for 118 yards.
Giants rushing defense vs. Chiefs rushing offense: This would *seem* to be a softer matchup for a Giants front that desperately needs to start stopping the run. The Chargers rank 27th with 3.5 yards per rush, and now they are even thinner in the backfield with the loss of Najee Harris to a torn Achilles. The Giants have allowed the fifth-most yards per rush (5.2), and that has to change in order for their much-hyped pass rush to make a bigger impact.
Giants CB Paulson Adebo vs. Chargers WR Quentin Johnston: Johnston has had a breakout year with 239 receiving yards (sixth in the NFL) and three receiving touchdowns (tied for second). Adebo has been decent in coverage but could really use an interception soon. The Giants have only one takeaway as a team this season.
Injury Report:
Giants: OUT: K Graham Gano (groin), RB Tyrone Tracy Jr. (shoulder), DL Chauncey Golston (ankle); DOUBTFUL: DL Rakeem Nunez-Roches (foot).
Chargers: OUT: G Mekhi Becton (concussion), WR Derius Davis (knee), TE Will Dissly (knee); QUESTIONABLE: C Bradley Bozeman (back), DB Elijah Molden (hamstring).
Giant Facts: Eli Manning and Daniel Jones are the only other Giants QB draft picks this century to make their starting debuts as rookies. Manning lost to the Falcons in 2004, while Jones beat the Bucs in 2019. … The Giants rank 25th in turnover differential (-2). …The Giants are averaging the most penalty yards per game (92.3).
The Prediction: Chargers 24, Giants 20
