Jameis Winston isn’t the hero the Giants wanted, but he is the hero they need.
Interim head coach Mike Kafka must make Winston the Giants’ starting quarterback for Sunday’s home game against the Green Bay Packers.
There is no reason to start rookie Jaxson Dart (concussion). Dart needs to rest.
His long-term health is more important than rushing back from a mishandled head injury to lead a 2-8 team that just fired its head coach.
There is no reason to start Russell Wilson, either.
Wilson was a major reason for the Giants’ 0-3 start to the season. He turtles in the pocket. He threw the ball away on fourth down in the red zone against the Chiefs in Week 3 rather than risk an interception.
He just played a significant role in the Giants’ latest catastrophic collapse in Chicago once Dart left the game at the start of the fourth quarter.
No one who pays for the expensive seats at MetLife Stadium is driving to East Rutherford on Sunday expecting Wilson to entertain them and win.
Winston, however, would be a breath of fresh air. He is a wild card in all of the most exciting ways.
He is explosive. He pushes the ball down the field.
He is charismatic. This team has no ability to finish games. Winston will not allow an emotional letdown on the sideline.
Starting Winston does invite the risk that he will turn the ball over at a high clip. But Joe Schoen and the Giants can’t use that excuse anymore to keep Winston on the inactive list as the emergency third quarterback.
Wilson turns the ball over, too.
He threw three interceptions and fumbled twice in his three starts this season, including a game-losing pick to the Cowboys’ defense in overtime of the Giants’ Week 2 choke job in Arlington, Tex.
Not to mention that Brian Daboll’s handling of Wilson this season showed no confidence in Wilson’s ability, from benching him quickly in Week 4 to charging into the blue medical tent to retrieve Dart while Wilson was in the game in Week 6.
The locker room felt that, and it bleeds into the team’s lack of energy and fight, which already isn’t high enough.
The Packers (5-3-1) also are in a scoring drought the last two weeks.
They scored an average of 27.5 points per game through their first seven games. But they are averaging only 10 points per game the last two weeks in losses to the Panthers and Eagles.
They lost top receiving target and tight end Tucker Kraft to a torn ACL in the third quarter of their loss to Carolina, and they’re scuffling right now to score points and redefine their identity.
Winston can score.
He is only 36-51-1 in his career as a starter, but he is 9-9 (.500) as a spot the past four seasons when called upon by the Saints and Browns.
The Giants would kill for a .500 record. That’s like going undefeated around here these days compared to the current standard.
Winston threw seven touchdown passes to three interceptions and one lost fumble in his first four starts for Cleveland last season. The Browns only went 1-3 in those four games, but that included a 334-yard, three-touchdown eruption to beat the rival Ravens, 29-24, in Week 8.
Winston is capable of harnessing four quarters worth of magic.
Schoen only signed Winston in March, it turns out, as an insurance policy to Wilson in case the Giants didn’t land their preferred rookie QB in the draft.
So he became the forgotten man on the roster once the team drafted Dart and did not even give Winston a chance to compete for playing time during the offseason.
But Dart was the one thing — with Malik Nabers and Cam Skattebo out for the season — that Giants fans had to look forward to as this season descended into irrelevance.
Now the rookie is concussed and sidelined. The head coach is fired. The team has lost four straight. There is little hope.
That’s Winston’s music. It’s time for the Giants to shine a No. 19 up into the New York City sky.
Start Jameis on Sunday against the Packers. It’s the only play.
