Blogging The Boys
One New York QB shares his advice and wisdom with another.
The defending MVP won’t be playing, but Saturday will be surreal for Jaxson Dart in the home of Josh Allen.
Brian Daboll, who has worked on the ground floor of both first-round quarterbacks, did not announce if the Giants’ starters will play in the preseason opener in Buffalo.
Daboll, however, confirmed one thing.
“He’s playing,” Daboll said of Dart. “There you go. Tweet that out.”
Everyone did.
Thus, the 25th overall draft pick is set to begin his NFL journey. Whether that happens in the first or second half remains to be seen.
“This is just the start of a dream of mine,” Dart said. “So, I’m excited to take that next step, be out there, compete at the highest level. My family’s going to be there, so I’m super excited to have them a part of this journey with me and I think that’s really it. I’m just stoked for the opportunity.”
Days after the draft, which saw the Giants trade up to select Dart and pair him with Abdul Carter in the first round, the incoming rookie connected with the Bills quarterback. Two months earlier, Allen won his first league MVP award. It was the individual high point of a career that started with Daboll as his offensive coordinator in 2018.
“He’s been somebody who I’ve really looked up to and since coming here, just watching a ton of his tape and how he was able to operate Coach Dabs’ system,” Dart said. “It’s going to be kind of a surreal feeling to be on the same field as him.”
And that system has been known to be difficult to learn, even for veterans.
Knowing the offense is only a portion of a quarterback’s job description. Allen, who is 76-34 as a starter and has led the Bills to six postseason appearances, emphasized everything else.
“He talked a lot about leadership,” Dart said. “That was kind of like his main thing and then trying to be the best teammate for the guys around you because as a quarterback, you have to raise the standards of everybody. Obviously, schematics, I think that what shows up on Coach Dabs’ record is being able to coach many different quarterbacks who have different skill sets and kind of molding offenses around what they’re good at, so kind of just hone in on the key details of Coach Dabs’ offense and really trust it. I think, at times, maybe quarterbacks will predetermine things and not really trust the system, but the special thing about Coach Dabs is he gives us a ton of freedom, so there’s answers to everything that you can really think of.”
