A report before Sunday’s game indicated that the Giants felt no urgency to replace quarterback Russell Wilson with first-round pick Jaxson Dart after a dismal performance in Week 1 and Wilson spent Week 2’s visit to Dallas doing his best to make sure that remains the case.
Wilson threw for 450 yards and three touchdowns, including a 48-yarder to Malik Nabers with 25 seconds left that looked like it might give the Giants the victory. Cowboys kicker Brandon Aubrey’s 64-yard field goal at the buzzer put an end to those thoughts and Wilson’s biggest mistake of the day in overtime helped set up Aubrey’s game-winning field goal. Wilson tried another deep ball and got intercepted by Donovan Wilson, but the unhappy ending wasn’t the main focus of his postgame comments.
Wilson said the game was meaningful to him because it was “time to answer the call” after a week of chatter about when the Giants were going to send him to the bench.
“I embraced the noise,” Wilson said, via a transcript from the team. “I don’t run from it. And we have to keep answering the call. Today, we didn’t do enough to win. That’s all that matters, is us as a team, us finding a way to win that game. We believe in the guys in this room. Defense battling. Offense battling, special teams. They laid it all on the line. You can’t ask for any more effort and love, passion and energy, and work than we just gave.”
As well as Wilson played, the Giants still lost and that leaves them at 0-2 with the Chiefs coming to town next Sunday night. The more the losses pile up, the more the desire some will have to see Dart take the reigns will grow as well but Wilson’s reminder that he’s still capable of playing at a high level is a welcome development in the short term.