{"id":132937,"date":"2025-08-09T23:33:01","date_gmt":"2025-08-09T23:33:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/132937\/"},"modified":"2025-08-09T23:33:01","modified_gmt":"2025-08-09T23:33:01","slug":"jaxson-dart-throws-absolute-dime-for-first-giants-touchdown-pass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/132937\/","title":{"rendered":"Jaxson Dart throws absolute dime for first Giants touchdown pass"},"content":{"rendered":"

ORCHARD PARK \u2014 Take your pick of the most impressive thing that Giants rookie Jaxson Dart did<\/a> in his NFL debut.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Was it the perfect leading placement that he showed on a 29-yard touchdown pass?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Was it the fearless way that he stood in the pocket against pressure coming in his face and delivered that same scoring strike to Lil\u2019Jordan Humphrey?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m comfortable sitting in there when the pressure gets in,\u201d Dart said of his signature throw Saturday in the Giants\u2019 34-25 preseason-opening victory<\/a> against the Bills. \u201cI knew the opportunity we were going to have \u2014 one-on-one \u2014 and L.J. went over the top. A lot of times, those are some of the biggest plays in games: In split seconds when you are about to get hit.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

If not that play, was it the athletic way he used his legs for a 19-yard scramble?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jaxson Dart of the New York Giants throws a pass during the first quarter of an NFL Preseason 2025 at Highmark Stadium on August 9, 2025 in Orchard Park, New York. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Or the smooth way he operated the offense on three scoring drives, the last two of which might have been for seven points instead of three if not for a couple of third-down drops?\u00a0<\/p>\n

All of it was encouraging for the future of the Giants, who turned to Dart over Jameis Winston as the first quarterback off the bench behind Russell Wilson<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAbout what I thought he would do: Efficient, effective, aggressive, confident in the pocket,\u201d head coach Brian Daboll said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got a long way to go, but I enjoy working with him.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

With the NFL world still buzzing about Shedeur Sanders\u2019 debut<\/a> for the Browns on Friday night, Dart \u2014 the quarterback that the Giants pivoted to late in the draft process as Sanders stunningly slid all the way to the fifth round<\/a> \u2014 went 12-of-19 for 154 yards and a touchdown to finish with a 106.0 rating.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was darting it up,\u201d running back Dante Miller told The Post. \u201cI\u2019m not surprised. He\u2019s a dawg, and dawgs do what dawgs do.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dart\u2019s first series against the starting defense resulted in one first down and a punt, but he found his rhythm against the Bills backups.\u00a0<\/p>\n

New York Giants wide receiver Lil\u2019Jordan Humphrey (81) catches a pass for a touchdown against Buffalo Bills cornerback Dane Jackson (23) during the first half at Highmark Stadium. Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

The No. 25 pick in the draft went 3-for-4 on his 80-yard touchdown drive, including catch-and-runs by Miller (18 yards) and Montrell Washington (28 yards). Miller and Washington are each threats to steal 53-man roster spots.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After his fade down the right sideline was tipped at the line of scrimmage and nearly intercepted \u2014 a big swing in his day \u2014 Dart went right back to a similar throw down the opposite sideline.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dart hung in the pocket and released the ball just before T.J. Sanders drilled him in the mouth. He popped to his feet and excitedly slapped helmets to let the celebration begin.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Brian Daboll (r) and Jaxson Dart (l) celebrate. AP<\/p>\n

\u201cWe saw that on tape at Ole Miss,\u201d Daboll said. \u201cHe did that for a long time there. He\u2019s tough. He\u2019s got good moxie.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dart, 22, wasn\u2019t done dealing or dashing. He had a 19-yard scramble \u2014 and (gulp!) didn\u2019t slide \u2014 to set up a field goal as part of a three-carry, 24-yard day with his legs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Dabes likes it, to be honest,\u201d Dart said of his fearlessness as a runner. \u201cIt was more my teammates like, \u2018We don\u2019t need to see you take any of those extra shots.\u2019 \u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

New York Giants quarterback Jaxon Dart (6) throws the ball during the first half at Highmark Stadium. Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

There were few signs of Dart holding the ball for too long, as he has at times during training camp. Instead, before he was replaced by Winston out of halftime, Dart was decisive and was able to shuffle his feet to extend plays and open throwing windows like he did on an 18-yard catch by Washington during the two-minute drill.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And yet Dart assessed his own performance \u201cmid\u201d \u2014 as in so-so \u2014 when talking to Daboll.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI just felt like the only reason we stopped ourselves from scoring touchdowns was some of those third downs,\u201d Dart said. \u201cPersonally, I\u2019m really hard on myself, so I want to capitalize on those moments. Those possessions in crunch-time situations determine the outcomes of games. I feel like I can do a lot more.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

What now?\u00a0<\/p>\n

New York Giants quarterback Jaxon Dart (6) hands the ball off to running back Dante Miller (25) during the first half against the Buffalo Bills at Highmark Stadium. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n

Well, one crowd will temper the excitement and point out that the departed Daniel Jones was good in his preseason debut \u2014 5-of-5 for 67 yards and a touchdown \u2014 and even better in his first regular-season start when he led a fourth-quarter comeback victory against the Buccaneers with a four-touchdown (two passing, two rushing) performance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Others will be clamoring for the Giants to open up a quarterback competition and give Dart a more legitimate chance to be the starter over Russell Wilson, who was named the starter after signing in free agency and before a single spring workout. There is no evidence that the Giants would even consider that possibility, especially given the high internal reviews of Wilson\u2019s training camp and his 12-play scoring drive to start Saturday\u2019s game.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s someone that I enjoy coaching,\u201d Daboll said of Dart. \u201cHe\u2019s pretty hard on himself.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORCHARD PARK \u2014 Take your pick of the most impressive thing that Giants rookie Jaxson Dart did in…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":132938,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,8995,12949,405,403,4716,5226,5225,1232,5228,5227,62,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-132937","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-buffalo-bills","10":"tag-jaxson-dart","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-city","13":"tag-new-york-giants","14":"tag-newyork","15":"tag-newyorkcity","16":"tag-nfl","17":"tag-ny","18":"tag-nyc","19":"tag-sports","20":"tag-united-states","21":"tag-united-states-of-america","22":"tag-unitedstates","23":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","24":"tag-us","25":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115001426119254635","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132937"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132937\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}