Jaxson Dart and the Giants didn’t just earn a win with Thursday night’s 34-17 upset win over the Philadelphia Eagles.
They earned respect.
Brian Daboll’s Giants (2-4) cleaned up their hysterics from last Sunday’s loss in New Orleans and dictated terms to the reigning Super Bowl champions almost from wire to wire in a stunning prime time display from their rookie quarterback and their defense.
Dart completed 17 of 25 passes for 195 yards and a touchdown, plus 58 rushing yards and another score. Rookie running back Cam Skattebo rushed for 98 yards and three touchdowns. Brian Burns had two sacks. And the Giants’ defense shut out Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley and the Eagles’ out-of-sync offense in the second half.
Corner Cor’Dale Flott’s interception of Hurts and 68-yard return into Eagles territory with 11:25 remaining in the fourth quarter and the Giants leading, 27-17, stuck a fork in the wounded Birds (4-2).
That set up Skattebo’s third touchdown for a 17-point lead before safety Dane Belton forced an A.J. Dillon fumble recovered by Dru Phillips to ice the game.
The Giants snapped an eight-game losing streak in the NFC East and beat the Eagles for the first time since Week 18 of the 2023 NFL season, when Tyrod Taylor and Barkley led them to a 27-10 win over Philly on Jan. 7, 2024.
Dart, who improved to 2-1 as a starter, had to be cleared from the concussion protocol for the second time in his three games. He went down on hits from the Eagles’ Patrick Johnson and Azeez Ojulari with 2:17 remaining in the third quarter and missed two plays, with Russell Wilson throwing an incompletion that led to a Giants punt.
But Dart returned to cheers from the crowd after Daboll urged the doctors to complete their process with his QB and finished what he started.
It was an impressive performance regardless of the Eagles playing without injured star defensive tackle Jalen Carter (heel) and top corner Quinyon Mitchell (hamstring), who left the game early in the first half. After all, the Giants are playing without top receiver Malik Nabers (torn ACL) the rest of the season and also had to go without No. 2 wideout Darius Slayton (hamstring) against the Eagles.
Dart most notably converted 11 of 15 third downs (73.3%) against the Eagles’ defense. Giants center John Michael Schmitz left the game in the second half with a concussion, but backup Austin Schlottmann filled in.
Hurts had an opportunity early in the third quarter to hit a wide open DeVonta Smith for a deep touchdown to snatch the momentum back from the Giants’ excited home crowd, but he overthrew Smith incomplete. And the Giants defense didn’t give him another chance to exploit them after that.
Daboll’s team now gets to heal up on a 10-day break before traveling to Denver in Week 7 to take on the Broncos.
The Giants led, 20-17, at halftime. Dart directed touchdown drives on three of New York’s four possessions in the half, converting 5-of-6 third downs with his arm and legs.
The rookie’s most important moment of the half was a 15-play, 67-yard scoring drive capped by a 4-yard Skattebo touchdown run with 1:19 remaining.
The Eagles had erased an early Giants 10-point lead to go ahead, 17-13, on four straight Hurts Tush Push runs across the goal line with 6:56 to play.
But Dart converted two big third down completions to veteran receiver Lil’ Jordan Humphrey, in his Giants debut off the practice squad, and to Jalin Hyatt — whose 3rd and 4 reception marked his first catch of the season.
The Eagles used all their timeouts to preserve time. Skattebo scored for the 20-17 lead, and the clock ran out on Hurts and Philly’s offense before they could get into field goal range for the tie.
Leading at half was important for the Giants, because they’d squandered a double-digit early lead for a second straight week.
Dart directed consecutive touchdown drives on the Giants’ opening two possessions for the second game in a row. But the Giants had squandered last Sunday’s 14-3 lead with 13:01 remaining in the second quarter in an eventual 26-14 loss.
And on Thursday night, they built a 13-3 lead with 5:37 remaining in the first quarter on a Dart 20-yard touchdown scramble and a 35-yard Dart touchdown pass to Wan’Dale Robinson.
But then Hurts hit Eagles tight end Dallas Goedert for a 3-yard touchdown pass, and the Eagles quarterback scored his rushing TD to put the visitors up with 6:56 remaining.
The difference on Thursday night was that Dart and the Giants responded when adversity struck. Instead of five straight turnovers in their New Orleans meltdown, Dart and the Giants mounted a comeback, took control on both sides of the ball and never looked back.
