There is part of me that is bummed Jaxson Dart is not playing on Sunday. He is the Giants’ best quarterback, and as much fun as Winston he is not as good as Dart. He also is not the team’s future.
There is, though, a bigger part of me that is thrilled that the NFL’s concussion protocol is working and that Dart won’t be on the field taking hits until he is 100% ready to do so.
For years, even as concussions have become a bigger and bigger focus and the NFL has taken them more seriously, I have wondered how NFL players consistently get a concussion one week and magically clear the protocol by the following Friday and never miss a game.
This is a brain injury we’re talking about.
Brian Roberts — a baseball player for the Baltimore Orioles — suffered two concussions in seven months and missed more than a year after suffering the second one in 2011. Anthony Rizzo of the New York Yankees suffered a concussion in a May 2023 collision at first base. That went undiagnosed until the Yankees shut him down in September with post-concussion syndrome.
I have never understood how guys playing NFL football, playing perhaps the most violent sport of them all, return from these things in seven days or less.
Houston Texans’ quarterback C.J. Stroud has now missed three games with a concussion, after missing a pair of 2023 games after suffering one. Tua Tagovailoa of the Miami Dolphins suffered three concussion in two years, spent considerable time on IR after the last one, and there are still many who fear for his long-term safety.
I’m fine with Dart missing this week. Maybe next week, too, if there are questions about his long-term well-being.
Mike Kafka’s audition impacted?
Dart being out of the lineup likely impacts the Giants ability to pull off an upset of the Detroit Lions on Sunday at Ford Field.
Put that aside for a minute, though. Does Dart’s absence for a second straight game hurt the Giants’ ability to determine if interim head coach Mike Kafka deserved the full-time job? If he succeeds with Jameis Winston at quarterback, could Dart’s absence actually help Kafka? Does it not make any difference since interim head coaches only earn the full-time job about 25% of the time?
Maybe it hurts because the decision about the next coach has to be largely about what is best for Dart’s development and the Giants’ ability to maximize his talent. Then again, Kafka has been working with Dart since he was drafted and the Giants should know what that relationship is like.
Maybe it helps. If Kafka can get decent offense out of a team without Dart, Malik Nabers, Cam Skattebo and sometimes Darius Slayton, what can he do with a full complement of players?
Maybe it doesn’t matter. Odds are heavily against Kafka earning the full-time job, regardless of who is or is not playing. If the Giants don’t win some games, Kafka won’t have a shot to keep the job.
RB3 incoming?
Giants fans have been clamoring for the team to add a running back to the 53-man roster. The Giants have been carrying just two backs since Cam Skattebo was injured, and also went with just two backs when Tyrone Tracy missed a pair of games with a shoulder injury.
Calls have been made again and again for Dante ‘Turbo’ Miller to be elevated from the practice squad.
Well, it looks like Giants fans are finally going to get a third running back. Just not the one they wanted. Eric Gray, on the Reserve/Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list all season with a knee injury, seems likely to be added to the roster on Saturday.
That will give the Giants protection at running back, but isn’t likely to excite anyone.
Micah McFadden update
Lost in the news about Dart on Friday was the fact that a couple of the beat reporters who were at the practice facility on Friday mentioned seeing linebacker Micah McFadden in the locker room for the first time since he went on IR after a Week 1 foot injury.
Could McFadden play again this year?
Per Dan Duggan, McFadden admitted to a torn Lisfranc and is hopeful of being able to play before the season is over. That, though, does not mean it will happen.
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