Big Blue View
The stakes were high at MetLife Stadium on Sunday. Brian Daboll could have waited until next week to make Jaxson Dart the New York Giants’ starter at quarterback to face the 0-3 New Orleans Saints, who have given up 90 points, on the road. Instead, he decided to have Dart face the 3-0 Los Angeles Chargers, who had only given up 50 points, at home, where the boo birds were out in force last week. In principle this might temporarily silence the critics, who would be likely to cut Dart some slack. On the other hand, another desultory offensive performance might cast further doubt on the reputations of Daboll and offensive coordinator as offensive gurus.
That wasn’t the only gamble. The Giants decided only to have two running backs active with injured Tyrone Tracy Jr. out, rather than elevating Turbo Miller from the practice squad. They also brought Jude McAtamney, with one game of NFL experience, up from the practice squad to handle kicking duties rather than veteran Younghoe Koo.
So what did we learn from the Giants’ gutsy, shocking, saddening 21-18 victory over the Chargers?
In fairness to the Chargers, they were already missing starting right tackle Rashawn Slater and guard Mekhi Becton. When star left tackle Joe Alt went down early in the game, though, the Chargers’ offensive line began to resemble the Giants’ line from early in the 2023 season. Dexter Lawrence pressured Justin Herbert, then blocked his pass attempt, intercepted it, and returned it all the way to the Chargers’ 3-yard line. Lawrence otherwise had another quiet day, but the same cannot be said about the edge defenders. The Giants pressured Herbert a ridiculous 27 times. They only sacked him twice, but they hit him 11 times. Herbert is a big boy and he can take it, I’m sure, but the expectation of pressure has to get to any quarterback (well, maybe not Eli Manning in the Giants’ 2011 NFC Championship victory over Jim Harbaugh’s 49ers). Herbert, one of the NFL’s elite QBs, still had 203 passing yards, but he only had one TD and was intercepted twice, and his 56.1% completion rate indicates that he was getting rid of the ball under non-ideal conditions.
Abdul Carter, four games into his NFL career, still doesn’t have a sack…but he did pressure Herbert an amazing nine times with five QB hits. After playing some off-ball when the Giants had a linebacker shortage, Carter spent 41 of his 46 snaps today on the edge. Brian Burns joined the party with six pressures, including a sack and three hits. His sack of Herbert for a 16-yard loss on third-and-9 with 3:46 left was arguably the game-winning play for the Giants. Kayvon Thibodeaux also contributed five pressures, including a sack and two QB hits.
Dart’s NFL debut was not the stuff of legend. It didn’t recall memories of Daniel Jones’ stirring comeback...
