The Giants‘ 27-20 loss to the Green Bay Packers at MetLife Stadium, in the team’s first game since Brian Daboll’s firing, wasn’t even Sunday’s main event.
Someone put concussed franchise quarterback Jaxson Dart on blast with a leak to ESPN, saying that “people both inside and outside the Giants organization spoke with Dart and urged the rookie quarterback to be more thoughtful and careful with when and how he runs.”
The report said “Dart has been told repeatedly, especially this past week, that missing games hurts his team more than not gaining extra yards and that he can’t help his team if he’s not in the game.” And ESPN specifically pointed out that “Giants quarterbacks coach Shea Tierney,” Daboll’s buddy who remains on the staff, “has shown Dart videos of multiple quarterbacks and pointed out the difference between being aggressive and acting in self-preservation.”
Then FOX aired a report saying that GM Joe Schoen, who did not do an interview this week after Daboll’s firing, had spoken to national insider Jay Glazer to make clear the team isn’t going to hire a college head coach to fill the vacancy.
The national gameday reports were a reminder of how much insider spin is going to come out down the home stretch of the Giants season with Schoen trying to retain his job and coaches potentially holding grudges.
The Dart report, though, in particular was highly unusual. It put the entire onus on Dart for staying healthy and changing his playing style on behalf of … whom? Tierney?
Hopefully, when Dart was told to be safer while he runs, he asked the team why Daboll, Mike Kafka and Tierney have left him in games during garbage time and called designed runs to have him take extra hits for no reason other than to pad the team’s stats.
That sends mixed messages, no?
Tierney’s placement in this story also is very strange.
Tierney is the one had a full conversation with a concussed Dart in between drives on the sideline in Chicago last Sunday — after Dart was lying motionless on the field — and didn’t notice before Dart went back in the game.
In fact, Tierney said he didn’t even speak to Dart about why the quarterback didn’t reach out for the ball after he fumbled it.
There is no question Dart needs to be smarter about his running style at times. But pretending his aggressiveness is the only variable here is absurd.
And making this public in this manner — and pointing out that a quarterback coach isn’t to blame — is very interesting. Perhaps the leaks for this story are covering their backsides in case they bring Dart back in Detroit next week and he gets sent to the blue tent a fifth time this year?
Tierney, by the way, was Daniel Jones’ position coach when the QB was benched and released and presumed a failure — before he left to resurrect his career with the Colts.
The Giants fell to 2-9 on the season with their fifth straight loss, and they’re now looking two brutal road games at the Detroit Lions and the New England Patriots before their late bye week.
So buckle up. This will keep getting weirder — and worse.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
