When the New York Giants meet the Dallas Cowboys in their Sept. 13 season-opener, quarterback **Jaxson Dart** will not have faced live competition in 29 days. Dart played briefly in the preseason opener against the Minnesota Vikings, but has not played since.
Head coach John Harbaugh considered having Dart play Friday against the New York Jets, but decided that playing the second-year quarterback was “not worth the risk.”
As he had in the days prior to the game, Harbaugh acknowledged the concern about the layoff for Dart.
“I think there is a concern, and the concern is that they won’t have played in a game for a long time,” Harbaugh said. “So, will there be a rust factor, those kinds of things. We’re just going to have to make sure we do everything we can in practice to make sure our guys are sharp and ready to go. But we just decided to go that route and probably take the more conservative route.
“We just decided not to take the chance.”
Harbaugh pointed out that if Dart had played, other frontline players would also have had to play.
“If Jaxson plays, a lot of other guys are going to play too, and then is it worth the risk?,” Harbaugh said. “We got out of the game with no serious injuries, so that’s good, and it probably would have gone that way too, and we’d be happy and they would have gotten some reps. But we chose not to go that way, so I understand. Any criticism of it, I do understand.”
* Running back **Tyrone Tracy** passed a concussion test, but Harbaugh said he does have a stinger.
* Cornerback **Korie Black** suffered a groin injury.
* Harbaugh said cornerback **Art Green** suffered an undisclosed “minor injury.”
Harbaugh stopped short of saying that **Odell Beckham Jr.** would make the Giants’ 53-man roster, but admitted he has “done enough” to be on an NFL team.
“I don’t want to like say exactly who’s making it right now and not, what the considerations are. And things can happen,” Harbaugh said. “But I think I would answer the question yes. I mean, I think he has done enough to make an NFL roster for sure. He’s played well, and he’s gotten better as his camp’s gone along. He deserves credit for that. He’s done a really good job with it.”
Quarterbacks coach **Brian Callahan** called offensive plays vs. the Jets. No, he is not taking over that job from offensive coordinator **Matt Nagy**. Harbaugh said this was “standard” preseason preparation.
“You never know if something happens. If Nags can’t make it to the game, gets caught in North Jersey traffic or something like that, we might need Cally to do it,” Harbaugh said. “But that was just something different. Last week we had (defensive pass coordinator/secondary coach) Donald D’Alesio call the defenses a little bit, so I think it’s a pretty standard thing to do in preseason.”