MetLife Stadium is just across the parking lot from the New York Giants’ practice facility. Players look at the louvred gray lady every time they practice at, or even report to Quest Diagnostics Training Center.
Rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart will debut inside MetLife on Saturday night in a preseason game against the New York Jets. As close as it is to where Dart has been learning his NFL craft, Saturday will be just Dart’s second time inside the building and his first as a player.
The other time? For a Zach Bryan concert.
Dart remembers “just standing there and being able to look at all the great players’ names in the stadium and then just kind of seeing the atmosphere and trying to picture what a sold-out stadium is going to be like and just the energy involved.”
Preseason game that doesn’t count or not, Dart is looking forward to playing in front of Giants fans. And, yes, we know there will also be Jets fans in the building.
“I can’t wait,” Dart said earlier in the week. “It’s going to be a lot of fun. I hope that the fans come out, and they’re super passionate. I hope that we can make a home field advantage for us. But I can’t wait, and I know that there’s going to be a lot of energy for sure.”
Dart drew raves for his preseason debut against the Buffalo Bills, during which he went 12 of 19 for 154 yards with a touchdown and a 106.0 passer rating after taking over from Russell Wilson midway through the first quarter.
I wrote after the game that “Dart showed the New York Giants everything they hoped to see from the rookie quarterback.”
Former NFL quarterback Chase Daniel was banging the drum after the game for Giants head coach Brian Daboll to give Dart the keys to the franchise right now.
That is not going to happen Week 1. Still, it is going to happen in the not-too-distant future.
The idea, as we sit here on August 16 in the middle of the preseason, that this will be a redshirt year for Dart, seems ludicrous. The way he has performed to date, the confident “I know I’m a starting quarterback” way in which he carries himself for a rookie, and both the attention Daboll pays to Dart and the way he speaks about the 22-year-old rookie scream otherwise.
Daboll was asked this week about a particular throw Dart made during one of the joint practices against the Jets.
“I think when you have players that have instincts, which that’s a very important quality to have at any position, certainly at the quarterback position, those have to take over. You don’t want guys that are box thinkers,” Daboll said. “He’s got good vision. He’s got good awareness. There’s going to be times where, he’s a young player, that he gets tricked or maybe doesn’t do the thing you want him to do, and then you just go back and you correct it just like you would with any other player.
“But players that have good instincts, that can go out there and play fast and can see it. Seeing it is also you’re teaching what to see on tape and you’re going through defenders, you’re going through coverages. But a lot of times these quarterbacks, the ones that can see, are the productive ones. Talk about see defenders, see defenses, understand spots. It’s a very good quality to have as a quarterback.”
Dart said this week he sees “a world of difference” in his play since since spring practice began.
“Obviously, you just feel more and more comfortable each and every day.,” Dart said. “I think the biggest thing just starts with the relationships that I have with the guys in the facility, just all around, and really being able to come to work every single day and just love it. I think this is just a special place where people hold each other to a high standard, and I kind of want to be a part of that to raise it. I think that we’re all just hungry to win here, so we’re chasing that for sure.
“I think that just from a knowledge standpoint, I’m way ahead from where I was, and I think that’s just kind of the maturity of it when you get into an NFL system is that you’re just constantly learning and being around a special group of guys that are here and some great veterans, especially in the quarterback room … I think now when I’m able to step out on the field, I know that it’s still early, but being able to go through so many different scenarios and situations and your understanding of ball and why (assistant head coach/offensive coordinator) Coach (Mike) Kafka is calling a certain type of play and just the different looks. In the NFL, there’s a lot of disguise pre-snap, and just being able to see that and being able to start my eyes in the right spot. So I think that I’ve made some big strides since I first got here.”
Once the regular season begins those strides will continue to be taken by Dart behind the scenes, in meetings and practices away from the scrutiny of media and the fans.
That, though, won’t last forever. Dart’s time is coming.
