Big Blue View
“We want Dart.”
The chant started with :49 left in the first half of Sunday’s 22-9 loss by the New York Giants to the Kansas City Chiefs.
That’s when Russell Wilson threw his second interception of the game, a pass lofted toward Malik Nabers near the right corner of the end zone with the Giants facing second-and-7 from the Kansas City 23-yard line in a 6-6 tie game.
It was the kind of ball Nabers will usually win, if given a decent chance. Unfortunately, this ball was woefully underthrown, Nabers never had a chance to get near it, and Jaylen Watson of Kansas City picked it off.
The “we want Dart” chants continued sporadically throughout the second half.
In the fourth quarter, with the Giants trailing 16-6 and in the red zone at the Chiefs’ 12-yard line, Dart entered the game and handed off to Cam Skattebo twice.
When Wilson came back into the game on third down, unhappy fans at MetLife Stadium booed lustily. Their mood didn’t improve when Wilson was dragged down for a loss on a zone read keeper Dart, 15 years younger, is better-equipped to run.
Dart and edge defender Brian Burns claimed — ridiculously — in the aftermath that they didn’t hear the “we want Dart” chants.
Wilson certainly heard them.
“There are highs and lows and always tough moments. You got to have thick skin, you know what I mean? You got to be able to know who you are, the player that you are, know what you’re capable of,” Wilson said when asked about them.
“Obviously I’ve been able to show that throughout my career and obviously last week and everything else, too, what we’re capable of as an offense. I think they made a couple more plays than us today. I think it was a 9-6 game for most of the game. Pretty tight.
“We needed one or two big plays. Unfortunately didn’t come our way.”
Daboll certainly heard the calls for Dart, though he didn’t heed them.
“Look, Jaxson is progressing well. We’ll continue to work with him. I got a lot of confidence in him, his development that he’s had,” Daboll said. “That’s what we’ll continue to do. Look, I would be booing, too, to be honest with you, in terms of not being good enough, not scoring, not finishing. I understand that. That’s the nature of it. We got to do better.”
Can they do better with Wilson at quarterback?
Weeks 1 and 3 when the Giants scored just 15 points with Wilson completing barely 50% of his passes (35 of 69, 50.7%) and often looking uncomfortable seem to show that the vintage 450-yard Week 2 performance by the 14-year veteran was an aberration.
How much longer can the Giants wait to start Dart? Is there any point in waiting any longer?
The plan has clearly not been for the rookie to be the starter early in the season. That is why Wilson is on the roster in the...
