The New York Giants scored 32 points in their devastating — and almost unfathomable — fourth quarter collapse in Denver against the No. 1 ranked Broncos’ defense. Brian Daboll and this Giants’ regime are becoming synonymous with inventive and historic ways of losing football games. What should not be lost in this mire, though, is the play of rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart.
The Denver Broncos allowed just six touchdowns through six games — the Giants scored four; three from Dart’s hand and one with his legs. Prior to Week 7, the Broncos’ defense had the best explosive play-rate (5.6% ); they were the No. 1 defense by many metrics. Denver allowed just 20 plays of 15+ yards through six weeks — the Giants had 10 such plays in Week 7.
It’s almost unconscionable that New York blew this 18-point fourth quarter lead. The math doesn’t make sense outside of outlier situations, like an inexperienced kicker missing two extra points and the Giants’ failing to convert on two two-point conversions. New York scored five touchdowns; the Broncos scored four with a field goal and Denver one. Again, this is a product of bad football teams who can’t get out of their own way.
Logical arguments can be made that would suggest the Giants should be undefeated since Dart took over the reigns as the primary signal caller. Alas, they’re not! Still, Dart went into Denver and had over 300 yards of total offense, with 285 passing yards. The rookie comported himself well, making several checks at the line of scrimmage that resulted in massive plays for the Giants’ offense.
Dart was 8 of 14 for 193 yards with two touchdowns against the blitz. Unfortunately, his lone back-breaking interception was against the blitz as well.
Dart failed to see Justin Strnad (40), who sank underneath the crossing route on third-and-five. I would have preferred the Giants run for a third straight time and force Sean Payton to burn his final timeout with less than five minutes left and a ten point lead, but that didn’t happen.
Still, even with this mistake, there’s plenty of positive takeaways from the Giants’ brutal loss, albeit there are no moral victories. Dart went into a hostile environment against a top-level defense and played well. Here are five plays from Dart that showcase his development.
Wan’Dale Robinson for 23 yards
Dart has an innate ability to understand space in the pocket and extend plays with his legs. He’s shown this valuable trait in each game he’s started so far in his short tenure. On second-and-10, Dart extended the play and put a beautiful pass over an underneath defender, with touch, well out of structure. Dart can play within or outside of structure and he can have an unorthodox way of delivering the football.
The offensive line is playing the best football we’ve seen in years, and Dart is one reason for that level of play, as well as the coaching and return of Andrew Thomas. Dart’s ability to keep his eyes downfield and understand the location of the rushers is a precocious trait that seems to be innate, and one that is present in elite quarterbacks; Dart has a long way to go to earn that label, but it’s positive that he’s displayed this capability often at such an early age.
Daniel Bellinger touchdown
What’s even more impressive about this play is that Dart checked out of a shotgun formation and shifted to a condensed — under center — look with Tyrone Tracy Jr. as the singleback. Dart recognized the middle-of-the-field closed defense and the loaded box and thought “Let’s run double-Y verticals against this look” — something I’m sure Brian Daboll and Mike Kafka discussed with the young quarterback.
Dart saw the advantageous defensive look and Talanoa Hufanga was occupied by the backside dig from Wan’Dale Robinson, which led to the blown coverage. The Giants schemed up multiple blown coverages out of 12 personnel, which is a credit to the coaching staff, but Dart deserves praise for capitalizing on the defensive mistakes and executing for points.
Daniel Bellinger for 29 yards
Speaking of checks at the line of scrimmage…
We unfortunately can’t see it here, due to time constraints with the GIF, but Dart checked out of this play and checked into the SAME exact play as the previous one, which was a 13-yard flat pass to Cam Skattebo. Tracy Jr. entered the game and Dart liked the defensive look for the same 12 personnel Post/Wheel, out-and-up, to Daniel Bellinger, with the tight ends on the same side.
Just an excellent first-and-10 read by Dart, whom the coaching staff trusts to make changes at the line of scrimmage. The young signal caller is trusting his eyes, and it’s working when it comes to pre-to-post-snap-adjustments. Good ball and timing by Dart as well.
Theo Johnson TD
It’s easy to look at the fluky nature of Johnson’s touchdown and surmise pure luck. However, we shouldn’t overlook Dart’s drive on the football that hit Wan’Dale Robinson directly in the hands, which would have put the football in (presumably) field goal range. Dart generated a high amount of velocity on the football; so much so that Robinson failed to catch it and Theo Johnson took it 41 yards for a touchdown on third-and-17.
4th-and-19
(first play) This is just an insane fourth-and-19 conversion that allowed the Giants offense to drive down the field and score a go-ahead touchdown, with the help of some favorable officiating. Dart took a MASSIVE hit (that was flagged), but the peripheral vision displayed by Dart, as well as the velocity on the pass to Robinson, is very impressive. The rest of Dan Schneier’s play cutups are All-22 clips of Dart to enjoy.
Final thoughts
Jaxson Dart went into a hostile environment against the top defense in the league and scored more points than any of the previous six teams. He created explosive plays and scored touchdowns at rates that will drag the defensive performance of the Broncos’ unit downward, in just his fourth start. Celebrations about Dart should be erupting around New York City after that performance. But, instead, its the same old dejected feeling because this team is unable to finish with any consistency.
Dart made several high level throws, understood how to best position the offense against pre-snap defensive looks, extended plays with his legs, and led a would-be game winning touchdown drive that gave Denver the football back, down two after a second missed extra-point, with just 37 seconds left, with no timeouts. I’m frustrated for this team that can’t get out of their own way, but their rookie quarterback and his positive development is the silver lining to this Giants’ situation.
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