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Jaxson Dart's playbook changes, fearless running powered upset in first Giants start: 'Nothing about him ... is typical'

As New York Giants tight end Theo Johnson returned to the line of scrimmage, he embraced Jaxson Dart and patted his rookie quarterback on the helmet.

Two minutes and 29 seconds remained in Dart’s first career NFL start.

Thanks to the underneath route on which Dart and Johnson had just connected, that start was overwhelmingly headed in the direction of an improbable win.

The pass wasn’t a spectacular downfield throw, nor did it require layers of defensive diagnosis. Like most of Dart’s completions on the day, the Giants’ final throw was straightforward enough to capitalize off a game plan designed to accentuate tempo and the quick game.

But Johnson’s decision to stop his route in the middle of the field, rather than follow the full path that head coach Brian Daboll had intended since installing this play a decade-plus ago, wasn’t a mistake.

It was instead a calculated decision from Dart that reflected the quarterback’s comfort adding his own flair to the New York Giants.

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“I told [Johnson], just from film prep and stuff, ‘If you see that middle open, just sit down for me,’” Dart said after leading the Giants to a 21-18 win over a previously undefeated Los Angeles Chargers team. “It was kind of a cool moment to see that happen in a big situation like that.”

The last point — Dart rising to the occasion when the moment was brightest — did not surprise Giants coaches and teammates on a day when Dart did enough of what New York needed from him, even if no one was trying to call it perfect.

Dart leaned on his mobility and legs with a frequency that teammates worried wasn’t sustainable. In doing so, he sparked and maintained enough Giants offense to deliver the franchise its first win in four tries this season.

The Giants’ defense led the way, tormenting a Chargers unit down three starting offensive linemen to the tune of two interceptions, each returned to the 3-yard line.

Dart built off that start with a turnover-free game as he accounted for a passing and rushing touchdown despite losing star receiver Malik Nabers in the second quarter to what is feared to be a torn ACL.

The performance wasn’t typical, Dart becoming the first rookie quarterback since Phil Simms in 1979 to beat an undefeated opponent in Week 4 or later in his first NFL start.

It wasn’t typical, either, the Giants knew, that their quarterback felt comfortable enough before he’d started a game to advise his tight end to change a play — a decision Dart shared with his head coach in the pregame locker room.

But atypical moves could come to define the Dart era in start No. 2 and beyond. That wouldn’t surprise Giants teammates and coaches.

“I think there’s nothing about him that is typical to a rookie,” Johnson said after catching three passes for 17 yards and a touchdown from Dart. “His poise, the way he can rally the troops. Everyone just rallied behind him.”

Even Dart’s play style is atypical, fellow rookie Cam Skattebo said.

“He’s got that dog that he can battle through a lot,” Skattebo told Yahoo Sports. “So I’m proud of him and we’re going to continue to ride.”

Giants D elevated game to support Dart in first start

After Dart had visited his offensive linemen’s lockers and chatted with Russell Wilson, whom he replaced, and carried around what appeared to be a game ball tucked underneath his arm for far longer than is, well, typical, Jameis Winston approached Dart’s corner locker.

Winston helped Dart out of the protective padding that tried to shield the rookie from the not insignificant number of hits Dart absorbed.

Winston encouraged Dart to celebrate the mobility and scrappiness-powered victory for 24 hours while acknowledging that a defense-forward performance left plenty of room for the offense to grow.

“We got to continue to get better and he knows that,” Winston told Yahoo Sports after his conversation with Dart. “He wants to be the best. That’s what he said.

“I said, ‘You will be. But we got to continue to get better.’”

On Sunday, the Giants’ record got better for the first time this year.

The squad that dropped its first three contests in various ways with Wilson under center eked out a win that was muted to some degree by the knowledge of both sides’ self-described sloppy plays and Nabers’ injury.

Still, a wave of hope flowed cautiously through the Giants’ postgame locker room, the energy palpable from the defense’s 12 quarterback hits and two interceptions as well as the one-two punch run game that Dart and Skattebo leveraged to keep the Chargers’ defense off balance.

Consider the Giants’ first drive, when Dart and Skattebo ran eight times vs. one completed pass and one defensive pass interference advance.

Dart slipped upfield for nine yards on his first keeper before rushing for 15 and a touchdown to cap the drive. The score marked the Giants’ first opening-drive touchdown at home since November 2022, per team records. And the lead the Giants took with 4:17 to play in the first quarter would never evaporate.

That was thanks in large part to the Giants’ defensive pressure and a tone set by three-time Pro Bowl lineman Dexter Lawrence.

Lawrence tipped Justin Herbert’s pass intended for Tre Harris with 43 seconds to play in the first quarter, securing the tip for an interception which he then ran down the left sideline 37 yards before falling 3 yards short of the end zone.

The Giants’ offense failed to capitalize on the gifted red-zone visit and settled for a field goal. But they’d get another chance to change that fortune in the third quarter. With 3:47 to play, Dru Phillips dove for pick two and returned it to the 3-yard line as Lawrence had.

This time, Dart found Johnson on a shovel pass for the three-yard touchdown.

Skattebo, who finished with 91 yards from scrimmage on 27 touches, rushed for the two-point conversion.

Before long, Daboll was pulling Dart’s forehead to his own, embracing his hand-picked first-round quarterback in celebration.

“He’s the guy that believed in me from Day 1,” Dart said. “When you have a coach who you know has your back, I’m going to go out there and do everything I can for him to win.”

Dart’s debut game plan may be the start, rather than the end vision, for his tenure

Everything Dart could do to win, on Sunday, featured a limited passing game array. Dart completed 13 of 20 pass attempts for 111 yards, while rushing 10 times for 54 yards.

He took five sacks as limited clarity opened for him downfield.

Part of that reflected Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter’s unit that didn’t give Patrick Mahomes, Geno Smith or Bo Nix much easier days when Los Angeles beat each of its division opponents in the season’s first three weeks.

Part of that reflected the second-quarter knee injury that required Nabers be carted off in the second quarter with what was feared to be a torn ACL.

And part of that was likely Daboll and Co.’s game plan for Dart’s starting debut.

Don’t turn the ball over. Don’t try too much before you get used to the speed of the NFL game. Lean on the concepts that drove your success in college. And when things break down out of structure, don’t be afraid to take off.

“We had to get him a designed run early so he could just set the tone,” Winston told Yahoo Sports. “I just love how decisive he was to run and get north, north and south. He had [five] conversions for first downs with his feet, so that's very impressive. And I told him: ‘You got to trust your feet.’

“When the play isn’t there, his athletic ability showed up.”

As the final minutes of a close game ticked down, Dart’s preparation showed up with his third-down completion to Johnson on the adjustment that the rookie quarterback had called in before the game and then executed during.

Against an 0-4 New Orleans Saints team next week, there will be opportunities for more. Opportunities for more film-study game hacks and opportunities for more evidence of composure when the drive or game are on the line. Opportunities may also arise to shift Dart’s style of play as his comfort grows, reducing the risk of injury like what seemed to be a minor injury to his hamstring that he was stretching and grabbing at between one series and the next even as he continued to play.

Teammates admitted that while Dart’s physicality hyped them up, it also scared them. They would like him to remember that sliding is a viable and sometimes necessary option.

But for now, the Giants will celebrate going 1-0 this week, as is their weekly goal. They’ll try to replicate it again next week — aiming to go 1-0 on the week and 2-0 for Dart’s career.

“This is just a big confidence builder for us as a team to have a win like this,” Dart said. “It wasn’t easy, it wasn’t clean, and we had to fight. Just like the other weeks.