LANDOVER, Md. — It’s pretty clear Jaxson Dart’s time is coming.
Fading veteran quarterback Russell Wilson and the Giants’ offense underwhelmed — to put it politely — in Sunday’s 21-6 season-opening loss at the Commanders.
After the game, coach Brian Daboll did not commit to Wilson as his starter for next week’s game in Dallas. Though it seems unlikely that Daboll would yank Wilson for the first-round rookie after just one week, Daboll’s non-answer on Wilson’s status for Week 2 opens the door to plenty of speculation.
Could Dart debut in the top role for the Week 3 Sunday night home game against the Chiefs? (Tall order there.) Or the next week at home against the Chargers? (Ditto.) Or maybe at New Orleans in Week 5? That would be a softer debut.
The Saints stink. They’re the Giants’ only non-daunting matchup in their first eight games. After that, they get the Eagles, Broncos and Eagles again.
What does Dart think about all this?
Well, he agreed to speak with reporters in Sunday’s postgame locker room. But a Giants spokesman shut down the interview before it started.
That is a blatant violation of the NFL’s clear-cut and long-standing media access rules. The Giants also violated those rules on all three days of media access last week by refusing to make Dart or third-stringer Jameis Winston available.
There was plenty to ask Dart about, even though he didn’t play Sunday. Clearly, Daboll could have come out in his postgame press conference and said Wilson would start in Dallas and Dart would remain the backup. But Daboll did not say that.
When asked if he would consider starting Dart in Dallas, Daboll said this: “Look, we’re going to get home. We’re going to look at our game. Collectively, we’ve all got to do better.”
When Daboll was pressed on whether Wilson remains his starter, he said this: “We’re just right here after the game. We’ve got to do better overall. We’ll get focused and ready to go on to Dallas.”
Surely, Daboll understands the speculation that will stem from these quotes.
“I’ve got confidence in Russ,” Daboll said. “So we’re going to go back, and we’ll evaluate the tape. This game isn’t on Russell Wilson. It’s not on Russell Wilson. I’m going to make that clear. We’ve got to do a better job all the way around.”
Still, that’s far from a ringing endorsement of Wilson. And it’s not like Daboll was saying any of this stuff in a vacuum.
Before Sunday’s game, the Giants leaked that they had a package of Week 1 plays prepared for Dart — something they quite obviously did not have to do.
Ultimately, he didn’t get into the game, in the wake of him being elevated ahead of Winston into the No. 2 spot on the depth chart. (The Giants refused to let Dart or Winston speak to reporters about this — or anything — last week.)
Daboll was asked in Landover about that package of plays — and why it didn’t result in Dart playing against the Commanders.
“Like I told you guys before, Russ was our quarterback,” Daboll said. “I think what you do with your backup quarterback and your third quarterback is you make sure you have packages in that, if they go in the game, it’s stuff they feel comfortable with.”
Daboll responded flatly when asked if he considered inserting Dart on Sunday.
“I did not,” he said.
Why not?
“We were right there to the end [in contention],” he said.
Daboll did explain why he moved Dart into the second spot and dropped Winston to third on the depth chart.
“I thought Jaxson earned it,” Daboll said.
Soon, Daboll might be saying that about Dart starting games.
Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting us with a subscription.
Darryl Slater may be reached atdslater@njadvancemedia.com.
If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.