Jalen Hurts is just five years older than Jaxson Dart.
But in many ways, Dart looks up to Hurts — and hopes to take a few big lessons from his success (and early struggles) in Philadelphia.
The Giants, of course, would love to see Dart — their first-round rookie quarterback — eventually lead them to a Super Bowl, just like Hurts did with the Eagles last season.
Clearly, the Giants are a long way from that. They’re 1-4 this season (including 1-1 with Dart as their starter) and 4-18 since last year began. They’re 7.5-point underdogs for Thursday night’s home game against the 4-1 Eagles, who have won 19 of the teams’ last 23 matchups.
Still, Dart envisions himself eventually getting to where Hurts is now.
“I love his mentality, his everyday accountability of himself — and at the same time, raising the bar for his teammates," Dart said. “It’s going to be really cool to be on the same field with him and compete against him.”
Giants coach Brian Daboll — who is careening toward unemployment, coming off last week’s pathetic loss at the Saints — spent one season, 2017, as Alabama’s offensive coordinator. So he got to work extensively with Hurts then. Dart and Daboll talked a lot about that before the draft.
During those conversations, Daboll asked Dart which NFL quarterbacks he likes to watch. And Hurts’ name came up.
Hurts has dealt with plenty of adversity and criticism in Philadelphia. He went 9-10 to open his NFL starting career, from 2020-21. Since then, he is 41-11 in the regular season, with two Super Bowl trips and one ring.
While Dart hasn’t faced criticism just yet with the Giants — it’s still early, and fans are directing their anger at Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen — he is dealing with adversity, coming off his first loss, during which he threw two interceptions and lost a fumble.
So Dart didn’t hesitate Wednesday when asked what makes Hurts such a big winner.
“Him being able to go through adversity during games, during a season and just being able to rally the guys,” he said. “That was something that really stood out to me.”
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