“We want Dart.”
The chant started with :49 left in the first half of Sunday’s 22-9 loss by the New York Giants to the Kansas City Chiefs.
That’s when Russell Wilson threw his second interception of the game, a pass lofted toward Malik Nabers near the right corner of the end zone with the Giants facing second-and-7 from the Kansas City 23-yard line in a 6-6 tie game.
It was the kind of ball Nabers will usually win, if given a decent chance. Unfortunately, this ball was woefully underthrown, Nabers never had a chance to get near it, and Jaylen Watson of Kansas City picked it off.
The “we want Dart” chants continued sporadically throughout the second half.
In the fourth quarter, with the Giants trailing 16-6 and in the red zone at the Chiefs’ 12-yard line, Dart entered the game and handed off to Cam Skattebo twice.
When Wilson came back into the game on third down, unhappy fans at MetLife Stadium booed lustily. Their mood didn’t improve when Wilson was dragged down for a loss on a zone read keeper Dart, 15 years younger, is better-equipped to run.
Dart and edge defender Brian Burns claimed — ridiculously — in the aftermath that they didn’t hear the “we want Dart” chants.
Wilson certainly heard them.
“There are highs and lows and always tough moments. You got to have thick skin, you know what I mean? You got to be able to know who you are, the player that you are, know what you’re capable of,” Wilson said when asked about them.
“Obviously I’ve been able to show that throughout my career and obviously last week and everything else, too, what we’re capable of as an offense. I think they made a couple more plays than us today. I think it was a 9-6 game for most of the game. Pretty tight.
“We needed one or two big plays. Unfortunately didn’t come our way.”
Daboll certainly heard the calls for Dart, though he didn’t heed them.
“Look, Jaxson is progressing well. We’ll continue to work with him. I got a lot of confidence in him, his development that he’s had,” Daboll said. “That’s what we’ll continue to do. Look, I would be booing, too, to be honest with you, in terms of not being good enough, not scoring, not finishing. I understand that. That’s the nature of it. We got to do better.”
Can they do better with Wilson at quarterback?
Weeks 1 and 3 when the Giants scored just 15 points with Wilson completing barely 50% of his passes (35 of 69, 50.7%) and often looking uncomfortable seem to show that the vintage 450-yard Week 2 performance by the 14-year veteran was an aberration.
How much longer can the Giants wait to start Dart? Is there any point in waiting any longer?
The plan has clearly not been for the rookie to be the starter early in the season. That is why Wilson is on the roster in the first place.
The Giants, though, are 0-3. Another season is slipping away. Fall just arrived, but it may already be Winter for the 2025 Giants.
The Giants are 9-28 since that unlikely, unexpected 2022 playoff season. They are 3-17 since the beginning of the 2024 season. They have lost 14 of 15 games.
An offensive-minded coach, Daboll has clearly not been able to conjure a consistently functional offense with the Giants. His job is clearly in jeopardy.
I thought perhaps if the Giants’ defense underwhelmed again on Sunday night Daboll could or would scapegoat defensive coordinator Shane Bowen. The defense, despite missing a couple of opportunities for game-changing turnovers, clearly did its part against the Chiefs. So, can’t do that. At least not credibly.
Which brings us back to Dart and Wilson.
At this point, is there any point in playing a soon-to-be 37-year-old quarterback who likely is one-and-done with the Giants when the 22-year-old hopeful future of the franchise is running zone reads and otherwise biding his time and waiting for the call?
Whether it’s best for Dart or not, the answer is probably no.
Daboll wouldn’t answer the “who is your starting quarterback in Week 4 against the Los Angeles Chargers?” question on Sunday night.
“You guys have asked me about players after games,” Daboll said. “I’m not going answer that.
“Everybody has to be better. We’re not going to put this on one person. Everybody has to be better collectively.”
Fixing what ails the Giants is not a one-man job. It would be unfair to expect Dart to by himself magically transform the Giants into an offensive juggernaut.
Daboll, though, might not have a choice. If he wants to have any chance to keep his job, getting Dart on the field and — hopefully — showing ownership that there is a brighter future ahead might be the only way.
Graham Gano’s injury
It is unfair to rip Daboll as being unprepared for Gano’s pre-game injury Sunday night. Nobody keeps a second placekicker active, most teams don’t even have a second placekicker, just in case their completely healthy kicker pulls a groin five minutes before a game starts.
It is fair to wonder how much longer the Giants can roster Gano as their kicker. Before the injury, Gano was 4 of 4 on field-goal attempts with a long of 55 yards. Clearly, he can still kick. He just can’t stay healthy. This is three straight seasons with leg injuries for the 38-year-old. It is the second time in two seasons a Gano injury has left them without a kicker for most or all of a game.
“The fight is different”
Should anyone believe that this season will be different than last season, when 0-2 turned into 3-14? Edge defender Brian Burns, a defensive captain who turned in a fantastic effort vs. Kansas City, wants to believe it can be.
“I feel like guys still don’t bat an eye. It’s like the fight is different,” Burns said. “Like I said, I’m not here for moral victories, but the fight is different. In all three losses, we really fought our behinds off. It just didn’t fold our way. The cards didn’t fold our way.
“But last year there was a sense of like, oh, here we go again. And this year it really isn’t like that. I still see guys fighting and feeling like we still can win the game. So, I would say I guess that’s different.”
Players, though, know the score. They may not know the math, that only four of 165 0-3 teams since 1990 (2.4%) have made the playoffs, but they know this is another season where they won’t be participating in the postseason.
Unless something changes quickly — and dramatically — how long will that fight actually be there?
Random thoughts
- It was good to see Andrew Thomas play, and play well, Sunday night. Even if it was in a limited 28-snap performance. Daboll said the plan for Thomas was 25 snaps, and that he seemed to come out of it fine.
- I probably should have given Bobby Okereke a ‘Wet Willie’ for letting Patrick Mahomes strip a potential game-changing fumble recovery inside the Kansas City 10-yard out of his hands with the score 6-6 in the second quarter. C’mon, Bobby. Can’t let this happen.
- There was a time when I looked at the Week 4 game against the Chargers as an opportunity for the Giants. With Los Angeles 3-0 and the Giants one again reeling I don’t know about that.
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