4 Takeaways from New York Giants’ Costly 21-18 Win

4 Takeaways from New York Giants’ Costly 21-18 Win
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The New York Giants got their first win of the season as they defeated the Los Angeles Chargers 21-18. But it was a costly win as star receiver Malik Nabers is feared to have suffered a torn ACL in his right knee.

Nabers will have an MRI on Monday, where it’s expected to confirm that his ACL is torn and that he’ll be done for the season.

New York experienced the highest of highs on Sunday by winning in Jaxson Dart’s first career start. But they also experienced the lowest of lows as they’ll have to play the remainder of the season without their best player. Here are four takeaways from the game.

Jaxson Dart started red hot

If there were concerns that facing one of the league’s best defenses would overwhelm the rookie quarterback, he put those concerns to bed on the team’s first offensive drive of the game. The 22-year-old quarterback led the team on a nine-play 89-yard drive that culminated with him scoring on a 15-yard run.

On the drive, he completed both of his pass attempts for 20 yards and ran the ball three times for 28 yards and the touchdown. It was important for the team to get off to a fast start, and they never trailed throughout the course of the game.

This immediately proved that head coach Brian Daboll made the right decision to insert him as the team’s new starter.

The defense made life miserable for Justin Herbert

With the loss of the superstar receiver, the defense knew they needed to take their game to the next level, and they did by harassing Justin Herbert all afternoon. Although they were only credited with two sacks, Herbert was under constant pressure and had his worst game of the season.

The Chargers’ signal caller completed 23 out of 41 passes for 203 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. New York’s defense held him to his lowest yardage output, lowest completion percentage, and most interceptions in 2025.

Outside of giving up a 36-yard touchdown to Quentin Johnston at the end of the first half and a 54-yard touchdown to Omarion Hampton in the third quarter, Big Blue shut down Los Angeles’ potent offense.

The franchise now has a brief moment of relief

Winning has a tendency to cure everything with a team, and with the win on Sunday, the Giants can breathe a sigh of relief.

Coming into this game, there were questions on whether Brian Daboll would remain head coach for the entirety of the season and if the team was rushing to name Dart the starter.

After the game, Daboll talked about how much the win meant to the team.

“I’m happy to get a win, that’s the goal. But I’m more happy for the assistant coaches, the players. We put a lot of effort into this. Haven’t got the results we want. We were close in one game, not close in other games. But credit goes to the...