Jaxson Dart Ends NY Giants Preseason on Sharp, If Not Scary, Note

Alas for Dart, Thursday's outing may be best remembered for one of his rare mishaps: having gotten loose for a ground gain of 23 on a four-yard fourth down, his failure to slide led to a hard hit and lost fumble in New England territory, both courtesy of Jack Gibbens. 

Fortunately for Dart and the Giants, a defensive holding call negated the recovery and allowed the eventual scoring drive to continue.

"[I] just shouldn't have fumbled. Never been taken out of a game for getting the air knocked out of me, so that was [a] first," Dart said. "I quite honestly felt like I could split [defenders] when I saw the open field. Honestly, in this situation, I didn't feel like I was in too much of a threat to get a big hit on me.

"But I think that, quite honestly, it's just situation-based. If you're going to take a big hit, then you slide. I didn't feel like I was in a situation where I was going to take a really big hit, so I felt like I could extend the play and make something out of it."

Dart literally couldn't see the six: the feted freshman was forced into the pop-up medical tent after Gibbens took him down from behind, yielding the drive to Jameis Winston. The veteran left his own final impression with a 27-yard tally to Jalin Hyatt to create a 14-0 lead before the first period let out.

Dart revealed after the game that he simply had the wind knocked out of him and quickly emerged from concussion protocol, though he did not return to Thursday's contest. 

That added a lingering frustration to the end of his late summer session, albeit one he got over fairly quickly due to the rapport he has established with the veterans, one where Dart feels the margin of error is not narrowed and one where they're "each other's biggest fans" when they're not competing on the practice field.

"I didn't understand why I got (taken) off the field. I was just wanting to get back out there and finish the drive," Dart said. (Note: he was removed to be evaluated for a concussion.)

"Shoutout to Jameis for throwing a touchdown and finishing that last drive ... [I] thought it was good for Jalin to get that as well, so I was just happy to put points up in that situation."

"I felt like I could make a better play on [the run] and thought I could split them," Dart continued. "[I] feel like if I just break a tackle, then I'm gone. But yeah, there are situations where things are super congested, and you're going to take a big shot; obviously, you want to get down. I thought it was an open field, and I could have made a play."

While Giants head coach Brian Daboll stated the obvious—that he'd like to see Dart take fewer risks in the preseason—he admitted that he's not going to "coach" the aggressiveness out of his new young talent.

"There is a time and a place. You’d like to take as few hits as you can, but I like Jaxson’s competitiveness, his toughness," Daboll said. 

"You've got to make the right decision. Those are split-second decisions, so I trust him. I trust the guys that I've been around, our guys. I just trust them to do the right thing. I'll never take his competitiveness away."

The rookie mistake was perhaps the headliner in a handful of preseason blemishes for Dart, who is set to enter de facto hibernation with the idle Russell Wilson penned in as the starter. 

He completed over 68 percent of his passes and was personally responsible for four scores, nearly a quarter of the Giants' 107-point outburst earned over his unofficial metropolitan debuts. Entering Friday play, no other team in the NFL has sniffed the century mark this preseason.

Dart was always meant to be a bit of a project pick with Wilson in town, but he, at the very least, created conversation centered around hitting fast forward on his seemingly inevitable rise to the top of the Giants' depth chart. 

While enjoying his fleeting return to the starting lineup, Dart's new focus is on doing what's best for the team until the call comes again.

"I'm just shifting my perspective to be the best teammate that I can be," Dart declared. "Russ has completely earned that role, and he's played amazing, played elite. My goal is to be the best teammate and help this team win. Whatever my role is for that to happen, I'm going to do that to the best of my ability."

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