Big Blue View
New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll confirmed Monday afternoon that veteran QB Russell Wilson will be the starter in Week 2 against the Dallas Cowboys.
Daboll needed to — once again — affirm to the media that Wilson is still the Giants starter after calls for rookie Jaxson Dart intensified Sunday evening.
The Giants’ 21-6 loss to the Commanders in Week 1 poured gasoline on a quarterback controversy that had been brewing since the preseason. Wilson played well enough in the preseason, however Dart was incredibly exciting and had (easily) the best performance of any rookie quarterback in this year’s draft class. In fact, his performance was one of the best in recent memory, prompting commentators around the NFL media landscape to predict that Dart would be starting sooner rather than later.
Now the nature of the calls have shifted, and those calling for Dart have expressed the belief (or perhaps hope) that his mobility could compensate for the Giants’ poor offensive line.
Instead, Daboll will likely wants to continue to let Dart incubate and work on some of the technical and foundational issues in his game. For instance, he still needs to work on using traditional footwork in his drops as well as timing his footwork up with receivers’ routes to stay within the structure of route concepts.
At the same time, Daboll confirmed that he doesn’t foresee any changes to the Giants’ offensive line against the Cowboys. While that may not preclude Andrew Thomas returning to the starting lineup, it does seemingly secure everyone else’s starting job for another week. The Giants’ blocking was a significant problem against the Commanders, with Wilson under pressure on 49 percent of his dropbacks and the team unable to run the ball.
We’ll see if the current starting line-up survives another week. And while there won’t be anyone benched after the Giants’ latest Week 1 disaster, that likely won’t temper the calls for a change.
