New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart took a beating against the San Francisco 49ers. He was only sacked twice, though the first one was a big hit. Much has been made of the Giants’ decisions to use Dart on designed quarterback runs in a game that was out of reach.
However, the bulk of the hits Dart took came on four scrambles throughout the game.
This week I want to take a look at those scrambles, and the hits at the end of them, and see why they happened. Were they poor decisions by Dart, or a symptom of something greater within the offense?
Scramble 1
First quarter, 13:55 – Third-and-5
Dart’s first scramble came on the Giants’ opening drive. It was an incredibly efficient drive and easily the best the Giants looked all game, and this was the play that really made everything go. The Giants were in a third and medium, just past the 40-yard line. They weren’t in four-down territory, nor were they anywhere near close to field goal distance.
The Giants are in their 11-personnel package with Wan’Dale Robinson, Darius Slayton, and Ray-Ray McCloud at wide receiver, Theo Johnson at tight end, and Tyrone Tracy at running back. They align in a 3×1 set, with Robinson motioning from wide receiver to the slot and forming a bunch formation.
The 49ers call a quarters coverage with what looks like a MEG call on McCloud at the top of the screen and pure zone coverage against the Giants’ bunch formation. The Giants have a shot play called, with both Robinson and Slayton running vertical routes out of the bunch formation while Johnson runs a stick route to the first down marker and McCloud runs a slant — Tracy releases to the flat as a checkdown.
Unfortunately for the Giants, the 49ers are able to pick up the vertical routes, with the boundary safety able to get over to pick up Robinson while the field safety keeps Slayton in front of him. The underneath coverage also accounts for Johnson and McCloud, taking the pass to the first down marker away.
At the same time, the 3-technique beats Greg Van Roten but trips over Marcus Mbow — which knocks Mbow over as well — muddying Dart’s pocket and convincing him to scramble rather than try to extend.
Dart quickly commits to the run, refusing to slide as the defender goes to make the tackle. His forward momentum allows him to pick up the first down with a 6-yard run, but lands hard in the process.
Scramble 2
Third quarter, 8:57 – First-and-10
Spinning ahead to the middle of the second quarter, the 49ers are up 20-7 and the Giants are trying to claw their way back into the game.
The Giants are once again in their 11-personnel package, starting the play in a 3×1 alignment before McCloud motions to the offensive left to create a 2×2 alignment. The Giants once again seek to attack all three levels of the 49ers’ defense, with Slayton and Robinson running mirrored curl routes, while McCloud runs a deep route. Johnson and Tracy run mirrored flat routes as check-downs for Dart.
The 49ers once again run a zone coverage scheme with pattern matching rules on the outside, allowing them to account for the Giants’ receivers at all levels. This time, however the Giants’ protection holds and Dart is able to extend and buy time in the backfield — but not quite enough time to find Wan’Dale Robinson as he breaks open running toward the bottom of the screen. Dart clearly thinks about trying to get Robinson the ball, but Marcus Mbow loses his handle on the defender he’s blocking and Dart is forced to scramble away from Robinson.
Dart is able to slip through three closing defenders, narrowly avoiding a big hit in the process. He has the angle and speed to pick up the first down without incident, but rather than turn out of bounds, Dart stays inbounds to pick up additional yardage. It wasn’t as big a hit as he could have taken in the backfield had he not slipped through the three defenders, but Dart still takes a shot to his right shoulder, knocking him out of bounds.
His willingness to take on contact to pick up additional yardage is a testament to his competitiveness. It’s also worth noting that the 49ers committed a holding penalty, which could have contributed to Dart holding the ball and ultimately needing to run.
But even so, he does need to be more judicious in when he takes on contact.
Scramble 3
Third quarter, 8:37 – First-and-10
Dart’s third scramble comes on the very next play. The penalty yardage on the holding call was added to the end of Dart’s run on the previous play, setting the Giants up just outside the red zone on the 25-yard line
The Giants might not be in the red zone, but they’re in scoring position for an aggressive player like Dart. They call a six-man protection with Theo Johnson staying home to pass protect while Darius Slatyon and Ray-Ray McCloud run to the endzone. The Giants call a pair of double-moves, with Slayton running an out route before sprinting to the endzone, while McCloud runs a classic Sluggo (slant + go). Robinson, meanwhile, releases to the flat as a check-down, while Tracy runs an angle route.
For their part, the 49ers appear to be in a Cover 6 shell (quarter/quarter/half — essentially a hybrid of Cover 4 and Cover 2), with pattern matching rules over Slayton.
This is a pretty slow-developing play as Dart needs to wait until both deep routes get to the second part of their double-moves.
Dart may have been able to find McCloud in the corner of the end zone, or Robinson near the sideline. However Mbow loses his rep pretty quickly, forcing Dart to pull the ball and scramble. He ultimately decides to run through the middle of the defense, which results in a big hit as he starts to go to the ground.
Scramble 4
Fourth quarter, 1:56 – Third-and-10
Finally we come to the end of the game and the Giants are down 34-17 with almost no hope of a comeback. This is two plays after Dart nearly had a long touchdown pass to Darius Slayton, only for the ball to be ripped out of Slayton’s hands as he went to the ground in the end zone.
The Giants are faced with a 3rd and long with the 49ers playing a Cover 4 defense to try and keep the ball in-bounds and force the Giants to burn as much clock as possible.
The Giants send their three receivers deep, likely hoping for a quick chunk play. The deep routes by Wan’Dale Robinson and Gunner Olszewski get picked up by the 49ers’ coverage, but that also draws much of San Francisco’s defense away from the intermediate area of the field.
McCloud does find open field at the top of the screen, and Theo Johnson is running free on a crossing route. However, Dart’s protection breaks down and he’s forced to scramble before he can get the ball to McCloud. At the same time, it’s unlikely that Dart could get the ball to Johnson with enough time for him to turn downfield and pick up the first down before being tackled — it’s also notable that Johnson leads the Giants in drops this year with three.
So instead of being a receiver, Johnson runs downfield and essentially blocks CB Upton Stout for Dart.
Dart knows he needs to pick up 10 yards to convert the first down, and angles himself back inside rather than taking a chance on getting stopped before the first down marker. Once again, his momentum is enough to convert the first down, but he pays a price in doing so.
Final thoughts
I’ve seen comments from fans decrying the Giants’ “dink and dunk offense”. And it’s certainly true that Jaxson Dart averaged a pretty paltry 5.8 yards per attempt against the 49ers. However, one of the common themes in each of Dart’s scrambles — as well as his first sack — is that they came on vertical pass attempts.
We have a pretty good idea of the Giants’ vision for their offense by this point in the season. They pretty clearly want to stretch the defense horizontally with quick passes to create coverage voids, use vertical passes to either pull defenders out of the tackle box or take advantage of stacked boxes, and then attack light boxes with a power run game.
It isn’t an uncommon philosophy, but it’s an effective one that allows the offense to be explosive or methodical— At least when it works.
At least on these plays, the Giants didn’t do much to scheme separation for their receivers. They didn’t use crossing routes to create traffic, nor did they use route combinations to put defenders in responsibility conflict. That doesn’t mean their offense is devoid of those concepts, but they likely need to make much greater use of them with their depleted roster.
The other part of the problem for the Giants is that they simply don’t have the skill position players to execute the offense as they want to run it. Wan’Dale Robinson is reliable and has shown much greater ability as a downfield receiver than expected based on how he was used earlier in his career. But he’s also just one receiver, and neither Darius Slayton nor Theo Johnson have proven to be reliable catchers of the football. Likewise, Slayton has never been a natural separator, and Jalen Hyatt has been a non-factor.
NFL caliber players are typically divided up into two groups in scouting circles: “Trucks” and “Trailers”. In other words, some players are “trucks” or players who’s play is a reason why you win. “Trailer” players, on the other hand, are players you can win with, but won’t pull you to victory — they need Trucks to enable them.
For quarterbacks, I tend to shift the terminology to “Trucks” and “Sleds”. A “Sled” can certainly haul goods for you, but it needs a team of dogs to pull it. “Trucks”, however, can pull the trailers and the dogs love to ride in them.
Dart certainly looks like the Giants’ Franchise Quarterback, and he’s proven through six games that he’s a “Truck”. Now the Giants just need to get the dogs to ride with him.
They need the players to execute their scheme, and to keep Dart from feeling as though he has to win games himself.
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