Even as Russell Wilson exited Week 2 with the NFL’s top passing yardage total, boos rang out at MetLife Stadium during the Giants’ Sunday-night loss. Some cheers emerged for Jaxson Dart as well. A large sect of Giants fans may be close to seeing the desired QB switch occur.
Brian Daboll shut down reporters’ inquiries into the Giants’ quarterback situation postgame, and on Monday, the fourth-year HC still refused to back Wilson for a Week 4 start. Daboll’s staff is “evaluating everything” when asked about a potential Wilson-for-Dart move.
“Yeah, I’m not saying who’s starting or who’s not starting,” Daboll said, via ESPN.com’s Jordan Raanan. “I’m just saying we’re evaluating everything right now. We’re going through the tape from [Week 3], and we’re evaluating every position right now.”
This catch-all answer certainly falls in the heart of the coach-speak lexicon, but as Raanan points out, Daboll’s response is similar to the one he gave before the Giants benched Daniel Jones last November. The Giants benched Jones following a loss to the Panthers in Germany, but they had a bye week to make that move — one that featured salary implications. New York’s bye this season does not arrive until Week 14, and no real salary issues are at play with Wilson.
When Dart is deemed ready, he almost definitely will be plugged into the starting lineup. Wilson has long been a placeholder, and even as false hopes of the potential Hall of Famer holding off the first-round pick throughout the season were floated, it was difficult to expect the starter — especially as Daboll and GM Joe Schoen reside on hot seats — to stave off a challenge from a player this power structure traded up for in the draft. While this would certainly be considered a quick hook, Daboll and Schoen would seemingly not want to go down without at least seeing what their overdue investment can do.
After all, Daboll and Schoen moved closer to the chopping block after a failed trade-up effort (for Drake Maye) led to Jones being given one more chance. As expected, that backfired as the Giants started 2-8. Ditching all their QBs from last season once Tommy DeVito was waived, the Giants rebooted around two vets (Wilson and Jameis Winston) mentoring Dart. The Giants have not made Winston, who is on a two-year contract (with Wilson on a one-year pact), available in trades.
The Ole Miss alum has been used as a package player over the past two weeks, working as a rushing option — with no pass attempts yet. Dart leapfrogged Winston on Big Blue’s depth chart before the season began, and rumors about an earlier-than-expected debut loomed after a rough Wilson Week 1 outing. The former No. 1 overall pick being given a chance before Dart would generate confusion at this point, though the high-variance passer being plugged in to provide a spark should not be entirely dismissed due to having made 87 career starts.
Daboll specified New York’s passing attack was the top area in need of improvement, Raanan adds. That is an interesting stance to take considering Wilson’s 450-yard performance in Dallas, but long-range interceptions have become a problem for the 14th-year passer. Two such misfires occurred against the Chiefs, inviting the prospect of Wilson being benched ahead of the Giants’ Week 4 game against the Chargers. While the Bolts have proven to feature a formidable defense, a Dart debut in New Orleans in Week 5 has always loomed as possible. Sunday could be Wilson’s last stand as an NFL starter.
Viewed as a player who needed some developmental time behind Wilson, Dart impressed during the preseason. Wilson has also changed teams three times since 2022 and needed to wait for Aaron Rodgers to rule out the Giants before receiving a chance. At this rate, the former Super Bowl winner may join Eli Manning as one of the more interesting Hall of Fame cases in recent NFL history; a starting job would seemingly be hard to come by for the declining vet (37 in November) come 2026. Should the Giants hold off on benching the 202-start player or go with the rookie in Week 4?
That game yesterday got ugly at the end. Why is Wilson not moving outside the pocket? He got buried. Why did the coaches not give the ball to Skattebo more?
Where was Nabers? That series near the Chiefs endzone was terrible.
Horrible playcalling. Chiefs were playing for the deep ball yet the Giants kept running the WRs deep. Wilson was not good but his only option on most passing plays was checkdowns. Maybe it is due to a Wilson limitation but they should have been throwing underneath. Instead it was either bomb it or check down. And where are the TEs?
They should have at least covered the spread. Bettors on KC–and I almost did myself–were unclutching themselves at the end.
Giants were giving it to Skattebo because their starting halfback Tyrone Tracy had a dislocated shoulder, an injury not brought up on the NBC telecast.
Chucky, I thought the same thing. No mention at all of Tracy getting hurt. Weird.
Okay, we’ll clearly this was written by someone who perused the stats and didnt watch the game. Nabers was absolutely smothered as part of the game plan and Skattebo was used to his max. Had they used him anymore he would have been crushed. You cant just give the ball to your best player EVERY play. Thats utter nonsense.
You are full of crap … I did watch the damn game and the Giants stopped giving the ball to Skattebo who had most of his carries in the first half. Yes, the Chiefs did do a great job on Nabers but he still has to do more than 2 catches for 13 yards. He was targetted 7 times and should have had more targets but Wilson was having problems with Karlaftis in the pocket. Move him more outside, which they didnt do
Wilson’s legs are old and shot, he doesn’t have the mobility he once did. He isn’t mobile enough any more to evade pass rushers. He’ll be benched next week for good.
Smart move would be to just put in Winston until Dart is ready. But Daboll will probably panic and send in Dart.
Also how bad does Dallas’s defense look now? Commanders and Chiefs made Wilson look cooked. Meanwhile he was slinging the ball all over the field against Dallas, then Dallas let Caleb Williams completely carve them up.
I agree, its time to see what Winston can do, at least till Thomas gets quality starts before throwing in Dart.
The Cowboys secondary is terrible. I knew Diggs would be targetted. Bring on Golden, Doubs and Wicks, though they overlooked Cleveland.
“Hello, Eli, yeah it’s me Coach Daboll, yeah it’s been awhile. I was wondering what you had planned for next Sunday.”
“Next Sunday is when the Mets finish throwing away their season right?”
@crosseyedlemon: You’re giving the Mets until Sunday? I think they’ll be eliminated by Thursday.
And the last thing left in Pandora’s Box was hope…
Giants next two games are Chargers, Saints. They might as well let Wilson get pounded by the Chargers and have Dart make his first start against the hapless Saints.
Yeah, that’d be the logical thing to do. But I think Daboll is starting to worry if he’ll make it that far.
Giants’ next 4 are Los Angeles Chargers home, New Orleans away, Philadelphia home (in midweek), Denver away. And the media’s beloved “Coach of the Year” can’t beat Philly.
The problem is they have an Eagles Broncos Eagles Oreo right after. So if he gets that inspiring win versus the saints, there’s a good chance he would start his career 1-3 anyway.
I don’t think they can wait 6 games to make the change though. At least starting Dart with Saints gives him one game to acclimated to the NFL against a team that is not a powerhouse.
Daboll needs to be removed. Im very tired of being non competitive. They can’t move the football, the play calling is terrible. Maybe it’s Russ, maybe it’s the line, maybe Daniel Jones is balling out in Indy –
Coaching is the problem. there is talent on this roster, coach has no idea how to use it.
Both Daboll and the GM should’ve been gone last year. Instead, now they get a chance to pick “their guy” (even though they got that chance already by re-signing Daniel Jones to that contract). They now basically get a mulligan when Russell Wilson can’t win them
Games and they go to Dart. Only problem is, if they go to Dart too early, like this week would be, he’s going to get destroyed behind that line. Not a giants fan, but I’m hoping they wait until the Bear game to get Dart in there. Anything before that is irresponsible on the part of Daboll and could lead to his demise at the end of the year, mulligan with “his guy” or not….
Not sure why you think starting Dart against the Bears is a good spot…it’s been 18 years since the Giants last won in Chicago.
It’s irrelevant now, but my reasoning was they didn’t sign Russell Wilson to play 3 games and I thought wait until after the stretch where they play vs Philly, @ Den, @ Philly and vs SF..the bears just happen to be the following week and let me break it to you. This isn’t the 85 bears were talking about here
Yeah, you figure that was the entire reason to sign Wilson (and Winston, for that matter, who appears to be a very expensive addition to the cheerleading squad).
Daboll is focused on winning now, which doesn’t line up with his and Schoen’s roster moves from the offseason. It happens, I suppose, when someone feels the pressure.
This is a daboll scared of losing his job move. I agree I would have waited to insert dart but here we are, hopefully the kid can develop