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Giants news, 12/30: Mike Kafka on Jaxson Dart, Marcus Freeman, Tae Banks

Good morning, New York Giants fans!

From Big Blue View

More Giant observations

What we learned from Giants’ Week 17 win: Jaxson Dart’s telling response to worst game | New York Post

It happened.

The Giants won a game, for the first time since early October. And, they looked quite good in all three phases. Their offense, directed with poise and patience by rookie Jaxson Dart, had no trouble moving up and down the field and into the end zone. Their defense harassed Geno Smith and intercepted him twice.

Alex Smith: Dart’s mobility is a super power

Recently, however, as the losses have piled up, Dart didn’t seem to be having quite as much fun. On Sunday, amid the Giants’ rout of the lowly Raiders, Dart looked more like the player that fans have come to love.

“I’m going to make mistakes here and there, and I’m going to bounce back from them,” Dart said. “I’m going to have some hits that I took early on that I saw were kind of unnecessary, and then you just make adjustments. At the same time, you’ve got to continue to just play your game. You can’t make somebody into somebody that they’re not. I just felt like I definitely played smart and just got away from any of the unnecessary stuff.”

Giants are Jaxson Dart’s team and that must resonate for the franchise | The Record

Jaxson Dart has wanted to leave no doubt, and that was from the moment he put on the uniform of the New York Giants for the first time in rookie camp back in the spring.

Sure, it’s an inherent responsibility of the quarterback to make sure every detail is covered, and Dart has manifested that since he got here.

Dart has two games with at least 200 yards passing and two rushing touchdowns in 2025 (with his other coming in Week 10 against the Bears), joining Cam Newton as the only rookies in NFL history with multiple such games.

The 25th overall pick in the 2025 draft also joined Newton and Josh Allen as the only players with at least 12 passing touchdowns and eight rushing touchdowns in Year 1. Dart has 13 touchdowns through the air and nine more on the ground.

It ended a nine-game skid and 13 straight losses on the road. It also made them a long shot to land the No. 1 pick in the 2026 draft, but the Giants are still front-runners for the No. 2 selection. A top-2 pick could allow the Giants to get a significant return by trading the selection to a quarterback-needy team because New York believes it has its long-term QB answer. Quarterback Jaxson Dart rebounded Sunday after a few down performances. He went 22-of-30 for 207 yards with a pair of rushing touchdowns. Dart has nine rushing touchdowns this season, second most of any rookie quarterback in NFL history behind Cam Newton (11).

Tae Banks’ reward? Random drug test

“I mean, everybody heard about it,” said wide receiver Wan’Dale Robinson, a pending free agent who topped 1,000 yards receiving for the season with a 113-yard game on 11 catches. “I didn’t pay too much attention to it. Obviously, I’m going out there trying to win every game that I play. There’s no guarantee that I’m here next year. So I wasn’t trying to think too much about what that was.”

Starting right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor has also hit 1,000, as in 1,000 offensive snaps played this season. Eluemunor, who is in the final year of his two-year, $14 million contract that he signed with the Giants in the 2024 offseason, has now appeared in 1,014 snaps this season, per Pro Football Focus. That mark tops his previous career high of 925 snaps, which he had in his first season with the Giants. Last season with the Giants, Eluemunor played 610 snaps at right tackle and 313 at left tackle, with a quick cameo at left guard for one snap. This year, he’s played all but five of his snaps at right tackle.

Is this the most miserable Giants season in a decade? Let’s rank the pain | The Athletic

Dan Duggan writes “The Giants have a 54-109-1 record in my decade covering the team. That’s the second-worst record in the NFL (at least they’re not the Jets!) over that stretch.

I’ve been accused of being negative in my coverage, but even Ted Lasso would develop a hint of cynicism after spending a decade around such futility. With that in mind, rather than performing an autopsy of Sunday’s tank-off, I decided to rank how this season compares to the others I’ve covered.”

This week’s opponent

Does finishing with a non-losing record matter? It does to Brian Schottenheimer, who has frequently referred to this being the first year of the program. The Cowboys are 7-8-1 with their Week 18 finale against the New York Giants looming, and Schottenheimer has given no indication that the Cowboys plan to sit regulars such as Dak Prescott to avoid injury. The quarterback has said he wants to play and will fight to remain in the lineup. If the Cowboys lose to the Giants — whether they play their main guys or not — it will be the first time Dallas has had consecutive seasons with a losing record since three straight 5-11 finishes from 2000 to 2002.

Dak to start in Cowboys’ finale vs. Giants | DallasCowboys.com

“We plan on finishing strong and having Dak play,” head coach Brian Schottenheimer said. “We’ve got a chance to go 5-1 in the division and hopefully finish 8-8-1, so that’s the plan we’re looking at now. The biggest thing for me is putting the gameplan together, having another great week of practice. You know how much respect I have for [the Giants] and an elite front seven, so the plan is to play Dak.”

Coming one of his best games of the season, Jadeveon Clowney not only expressed his desire to be back with the Cowboys, but also wanting to get a deal done sooner so he can have a full offseason and training camp. And it sounds like the Cowboys are on the same page. Cowboys chief operating officer Stephen Jones was asked about wanting Clowney back on 105.3 “The Fan” on Monday.

“Absolutely. He’s played at a very high level. He’s best one of our best pressure players,” Jones said. “We’d love to have Jadeveon back. We’ll be talking with his guys right away. Would love to get him in the mix,. He is a leader. We’d love to have him in the mix from the get-go, which would be outstanding. Hopefully with his willingness to be here and us wanting him to be here, hopefully we can figure something out.”