The New York Giants have experienced mostly frustration over the last several seasons. As the month of October approaches, they have decided to try to build for the future by benching quarterback Russell Wilson and replacing him with rookie Jaxson Dart.
Dart will have his work cut out for him this Sunday, as the Giants will be going up against the 3-0 Los Angeles Chargers, who are once again looking like a defensive juggernaut. How Dart does and every decision he makes will be under a microscope, given the fact that he plays in the biggest media market in the nation and for a team that has been searching for its next franchise signal-caller since Eli Manning played his last game six years ago.
Fox Sports 1 personality Colin Cowherd said that he feels “sympathy” for Dart, partly because his first NFL start will come against one of the league’s best teams and against a head coach who has been able to smother rookie QBs.
“I have sympathy for Jaxson Dart,” he said. “The Giants are at home, and they’re facing the Chargers. Jim Harbaugh, since he’s been the Chargers’ coach, against rookie quarterbacks is 4-0. They average 14 points a game and complete barely 60 percent of their throws. So Jim Harbaugh, like the great coaches, has owned rookie quarterbacks.”
“… One of the reasons they’re starting him is that the owner, Mr. [John] Mara, does not want to have a home crowd again chanting ‘Dart, Dart, Dart,’” he continued. “It’s embarrassing for him…[Dart’s] the junior coder who’s been hired to overhaul the software of the company and he’s just trying to find the break room.”
Read more: Giant Fans Call for Jaxson Dart Following Russell Wilson Struggles
Last year, while at the University of Mississippi, Dart threw for 4,279 yards, 29 touchdowns and six interceptions. While he was considered solid heading into April’s draft, there was nothing about him that was truly elite or jumped off the page.
New York took him with the No. 25 pick in the draft, and it also added not just Wilson but another veteran QB in Jameis Winston, which left some people scratching their heads.
Since arriving in the 2024 offseason, Harbaugh has remade the Chargers, a franchise that used to be struggling for good fortune and an identity, into an outstanding defensive team that plays old-school pound-and-ground football. This season, they’re throwing the football a lot more and taking advantage of the vast talent quarterback Justin Herbert possesses, but they haven’t lost anything defensively.
What they have done defensively is even more impressive considering they don’t have a stacked roster on that side of the football.
Read more: Colin Cowherd Reveals Top Six Super Bowl Contenders in NFL
Assuming Dart holds onto his starting job for at least a little while, he will have an uphill climb. The Giants will visit the New Orleans Saints next Sunday, Oct. 5, but after that, they will have a stretch of difficult games.
That stretch begins on Thursday, Oct. 9, with a contest against the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles, and it will continue afterward with matchups against the Denver Broncos, the Eagles again and the San Francisco 49ers over the following three weeks.
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