Jaxson Dart could choose to be flattered by all the pleas for him to be smarter when he scrambles with the football.
The Giants’ offensive line and supporting cast used to be the team’s annual headache.
But no one is talking about the fact that Dart was running on 3rd and long last Monday night because a false start by tight end Theo Johnson on 2nd and 8 had backed them up.
No one is talking about the fact that Dart was only running toward the right sideline because Patriots pass rusher Anferee Jennings had planted right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor on his backside.
Otherwise, Dart would have been able to make a throw from the pocket, like he was trying to do.
Instead, the national spotlight is shining on Dart’s decision to scramble and stay in bounds long enough to get blasted into outer space by Patriots linebacker Christian Elliss.
The concern for Dart is born out of the promise of his future. He’s good enough, in other words, that there isn’t a concern about whether he can make plays; it’s just a concern that he’ll stay healthy on the field long enough to keep making them.
Dart’s running also is a hot topic of conversation because someone in the Giants’ building leaked their concern about Dart’s reckless running once Brian Daboll was fired.
It is not difficult to figure out where this conversation started.
Back in April, when Daboll was gushing over Joe Schoen’s draft day trade up to select Dart, the GM threw in a qualifier about Dart’s style of play:
“On the field, he’s fiery,” Schoen said that night. “You see him, like, we’re going to probably have to teach him how to slide. You watch him, he’s trying to run people over — in the Senior Bowl, too. It’s like, dude, you’re in an all-star game, you probably shouldn’t be trying to run that linebacker over. And he did that in the game.”
No doubt, Dart should have stepped out of bounds before Elliss decked him along the sideline.
And it is obviously concerning that Dart has undergone four concussion evaluations between the preseason and regular season of his rookie year already.
Still, it’s easy to see why Dart is irritated by the increasingly loud conversation about his playing style.
“I think the narrative is just a little funny to me, to be honest,” Dart said this week.
For starters, the Giants knew full well the type of dual threat, mobile, aggressive quarterback that Dart was at Ole Miss before they traded up into the first round for him. It is understandable that he is confused by the sudden pleas for him to be a different player than what they coveted.
Second, of all this team’s problems from Schoen to Daboll to the defense on down, it is a bit alarming that Dart’s playing style suddenly is becoming the lightning rod, viral talking point on the national shows.
Think about it: If you were Dart, and you heard someone on ESPN or NFL Network framing the Giants’ 2-11 record and disappointing results with a discussion about Dart’s running style — and nothing else — how would you react?
Dart is too young and naive to understand that those people are focused on him because someone wants them to talk about Dart, rather than the other ugly realities. But that has to give an NFL rookie some whiplash to the realities of the league.
Not to mention that Daboll and Mike Kafka, the offensive play caller, had been unleashing Dart on designed runs all season. It was literally a key part of their game plans, offensive success and deployment of Dart.
It is disingenuous now to tell Dart, whose hardnosed running was being hailed as indispensable two months ago, that he’s got to rein it in and he’s costing the team.
Maybe, just maybe, he stayed inbounds and tried to get that first down in New England out of defiance as much as anything else to buck the noise.
Dart is not going to win the argument of public opinion, though. There is no point in fighting it.
He keeps pointing out that his concussion in Chicago was caused by the ground as he reached for the ball and slammed his head, for example, as if that is some indicator that he won’t hit his head or get a concussion unless that exact scenario happens again.
He should drop it and just play.
All that matters is winning. When teams lose, agendas run wild, people scurry to try to save their jobs, and players like Dart get caught in the middle.
ANOTHER WEEK, ANOTHER FIRING
Heads keep rolling in East Rutherford.
The Giants fired assistant defensive line coach Bryan Cox during their bye week, a source told the Daily News on Friday night.
He is the third coach fired in the past month, following head coach Brian Daboll (Nov. 10) and defensive coordinator Shane Bowen (Nov. 24) out the door.
The timing of Cox’s firing is odd, especially with defensive line coach Andre Patterson remaining at his post to run the worst run defense in the NFL.
The Giants rank dead last among the league’s 32 defenses in rush yards per game allowed (154.2) and yards per carry allowed (5.8).
And the 6.2 yards per carry they were allowing on designed runs entering last Monday’s blowout loss at New England was the worst mark in the history of NFL Next Gen Stats, which started tracking in 2016.
Coincidence or not, Cox was fired the same week that pupil Jordon Riley, a 2023 Joe Schoen seventh-round pick, was poached off the Giants’ practice squad by the Green Bay Packers.
Riley had not played a regular season snap this fall.
KAYVON ON HIS WAY BACK
Giants edge rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux is tracking to return in Week 15 from a shoulder sprain that has sidelined him the past three games, The News learned this week — although Thibodeaux’s value unquestionably has grown while he’s been sidelined.
Rookie Abdul Carter has floundered in Thibodeaux’s absence rather than grabbing the opportunity, and Brian Burns has no sacks in the past two games in the absence of Thibodeaux’s power and drive on the opposite edge.
Thibodeaux, 24, Schoen’s No. 5 overall pick in 2022, has not finished at the quarterback (2.5 sacks) enough this season. But he was arguably the most committed player on the entire team this past offseason, and his hard work showed up with improved disruption of the pocket and better edge setting.
He may be a more irreplaceable piece than previously realized. He is tracking toward a fifth-year option salary of $14.7 million for 2026, but if he performs down the stretch, the Giants could lock him up on an extension this coming offseason.
FIDONE EAGER FOR YEAR 2
Rookie tight end Thomas Fidone II is done for the season because he had surgery for a sprain in between his first and second metatarsal on his left foot. Fidone, 23, had a screw put in for an injury that sounds like a much less serious Lisfranc-type injury than what linebacker Micah McFadden sustained this season.
Fidone’s injury was something he initially was able to play through but that kept getting worse. He had the option of rehabbing it without surgery, but he got multiple medical opinions, and he preferred to just take care of the lingering issue now so he could reduce the chances of it jeopardizing his availability for next season.
Fidone got limited offensive snaps this season and did not have a catch, but he saw increased special teams snaps in the weeks before he shut it down. And he’s optimistic, based on practice performance and internal feedback, that he’ll have even more opportunities next season.
His catch radius and speed and athleticism are undeniable.
JAMEIS VS. RUSS
Jameis Winston didn’t get a chance to compete with Russell Wilson for the Giants’ starting quarterback job in the summer, but Sunday they’ll go head to head.
Winston, the Giants’ current No. 2 QB behind Jaxson Dart, will be a guest on FOX’s Week 14 NFL coverage. Wilson, now the Giants’ No. 3 inactive QB, will join CBS’ broadcast team.
Both veterans came to New York with at least one eye on their promising post career prospects. Sunday will provide a tease of what may come after football for both.
THEY SAID IT
“This is football. I’m gonna get hit. We’re not playing soccer out here.” — Dart, the Giants’ quarterback, just days before the World Cup draw for a tournament that will host its final match at MetLife Stadium next summer.
