NY Giants Week 4 Offensive Player Review: The Dart Era Gets Off on the Right Foot

• Jaxson Dart

The Giants’ first-round rookie quarterback started and won his first NFL game despite losing his top receiver in the first half, going 13-of-20 for 111 yards through the air, and taking five sacks (three of which were on him). 

So how did Dart play such a good game and contribute to the win? In our opinion, his top asset was his ability to make sound decisions. 

Time and again, Dart made smart decisions in the pocket, often choosing to break the pocket at just the right moment to scramble for big plays, making the Chargers pay for playing man-to-man. 

Dart, in fact, ran the ball 10 times for 54 yards, breaking the Chargers’ backs not only on those scrambles, but on his 15-yard quarterback draw for the touchdown to cap off the offense’s opening possession. 

That positive 10-play opener, finished off with that touchdown, was the shot in the arm that this entire team needed. Dart’s opening drive not only gave his team an early 7-0 lead but also instilled confidence in the team. When a team believes in its quarterback, good things usually follow. 

Another part of Dart’s big day was the ground game. The Giants ran the ball 42 times to the Chargers’ 13. The resulting time of possession advantage – 35:28 to 24:32 – kept the ball out of Justin Herbert’s hands. 

The offense’s most important runs were usually Dart scrambles. Bottom line, Dart’s mobility was a big part of the win. 

Another big plus on Dart’s side of the ledger was his ball security. He didn’t put a single throw into harm’s way. 

With the lead in the second half, Dart was especially careful with the ball, which led to several sacks where he chose to swallow the ball rather than throw it into danger. It showed a maturity that we didn’t completely expect in the rookie’s first start. 

Herbert threw two picks. Dart, none. Turnovers play a significant role in determining wins and losses in this league. Credit to Dart for bettering Herbert in this regard. 

With that being said, count Dart as being extremely fortunate not to have lost a fumbled snap inside his own 5-yard line in the second half. Dart took two snaps behind center on this possession and looked uncomfortable on both of them. 

Remember, he mostly played shotgun in college. This part of his game needs work. 

In the second half, with Malik Nabers out (knee), Dart still made things happen with his arm. He made a handful of sharp, tight throws to keep moving the chains. His shovel pass to tight end Theo Johnson for a third-quarter touchdown came off a neat ball fake. 

Dart’s ball-handling is an underrated part of his arsenal. He still has to learn how to slide, though, when on the run. His 39-yard scramble (called back on an offensive penalty) forced him out of the game for two snaps (concussion protocol), when he was slow to get up. 

The league is all over these hits on quarterbacks, which is why Dart needs to limit these chances for the league to take him out of the game. He’s too good to be on the sidelines. 

Overall, Dart sure looked like the real deal out there, but time will tell. For one week, it was great fun watching this talented rookie run this offense with confidence, intelligence, leadership, and grit. 

He made plays from the pocket and with his feet. He threw the ball with authority and with accuracy. 

The positives far outweighed the negatives. When you have a tough and competitive quarterback, you always have a chance. With Dart, this team now has a “fighter’s” chance every weekend. This team now has a reason to be watched.

• Russell Wilson

Getting two snaps when Dart was removed for concussion protocol, on his first snap, Wilson turtled in the pocket despite there being plenty of room to break the pocket, and he proceeded to absorb a sack. 

He completed a short throw for eight yards and escaped back to the safety of the sidelines shortly thereafter.

Running Backs 

• Cam Skattebo

Skattebo touched the ball 27 times (25 runs, two catches), and like his quarterback, his ball security was pristine. 

Skattebo only averaged 3.2 on the ground, 5.5 through the air. Other than a 16-yard burst in the first quarter, the rookie didn’t push the 7-yard mark throughout the day. 

It was tough sledding throughout. He was bottled up for most of it, but he moved the pile when given half the chance, and still broke several tackles. ‘

The best part of Skattebo’s afternoon may have been his blocking. He was a physical beast with every pass block. He was also Dart’s lead blocker on the quarterback’s 15-yard touchdown run. 

Skattebo was nailing Chargers linebackers 6-8 yards downfield when given half the chance. He also converted the team’s 2-point conversion attempt that gave the Giants a 21-10 third-quarter lead, taking it right up the gut into the heart of the Chargers’ front and emerging in the end zone unscathed. 

We’d love to see Skattebo’s physicality matched with an equally physical O-line, but that’s just not going to happen with this current bunch. The Chargers are a top-10 defense, so getting things done against this group wasn’t easy. 

Skattebo would probably love to have back a third-quarter red-zone touch that he bounced outside with a lone defensive back at his mercy, but he allowed the much smaller defender to cut him off at his feet. We expected a big-time finish for the touchdown on this play. 

• Devin Singletary

Getting his rotation snaps behind the rookie, Singletary ran seven times for 28 yards (4.0 avg.), most of it coming on a second-half possession when he really came up big. 

Singletary had runs of 6, 6, 8, and 3 yards on a drive that took up a big chunk of the fourth quarter, though the drive eventually failed in the red zone. 

For the first time this year, Singletary ran with excitement and authority, thanks in part to the increase in touches. 

Receivers 

• Malik Nabers

The team’s top receiver caught two early throws for 20 yards and drew a pass interference flag for 14 yards. On an incomplete deep throw in the second quarter, he came down awkwardly and was carted off the field, his injury a torn ACL. 

The loss of Nabers puts Dart in a tough spot moving forward. Let’s just hope that Nabers’ recovery goes smoothly, and let’s hope that they also take care of his chronic toe injury. 

• Wan’Dale Robinson

This diminutive slot receiver caught three balls for 14 yards and failed to come down with a throw in the end zone against contact. Robinson had both hands on this ball, which needed to be caught. 

He was also overpowered when attempting to block, setting up his running back for too much traffic and edge hits. 

The more we see of Robinson, the more limited he becomes, despite the lightning-quick feet and the obvious toughness to his game. 

Robinson might be able to take a licking and keep on ticking, but if he’s asked to catch anything about his shoulders or in traffic, he’s likely not going to come down with it, and that’s no way to run a professional offense. 

• Darius Slayton 

With Nabers out, Slayton got more attention and caught three of his four targets for 44 yards, with a long of 18. Slayton also drew a big second-half interference call. 

His three catches included a solid sideline comeback route on a scramble (his specialty), and two middle sitdowns that he body-caught and took into the teeth of the defense. 

On these two catches, Slayton showed some of the toughness that he’s going to have to show if he’s going to be one of this team’s go-to receivers, moving forward. 

By the way, Slayton’s blocking this week, usually a strength, came up wanting on several occasions.

• Beaux Collins

Getting a handful of snaps, Collins did not see the ball, but he blocked well. That is sure to change now with Nabers out.

• Jalin Hyatt

Also getting a handful of snaps in Nabers’ absence, Hyatt could not shake free and did not help out his quarterback when asked to beat single coverage.

Tight Ends

• Theo Johnson

Johnson’s physical in-line blocking continues to be a positive, and is a big reason why he rarely leaves the field. 

He also had some opportunities to block from the backfield and was a little less effective in space, but overall, it was a big plus. 

Johnson’s blocking keeps him on the field, which helps with his development of the passing game. We don’t think he’ll ever be a go-to option, but as a complementary weapon, he has value. 

This week, he caught an economical 4-yard edge ball, a 3-yard shovel pass for a touchdown, and probably his biggest catch of the day, a 10-yard middle catch on 3rd-and-5 with less than three minutes left in the game that maintained possession and forced the Chargers to burn up all their timeouts. 

This play essentially allowed the offense to run out the clock (the Chargers got the ball back with just 0:18 left to play). Good job by Johnson and his quarterback.

• Chris Manhertz 

Getting a dozen snaps, Manhertz had a solid blocking game.

• Daniel Bellinger

Also getting a dozen or so snaps, Bellinger latched onto his lone target and got the 13 third-down yards needed for a big first down to continue a big second-quarter ball-control drive that resulted in points. 

Give Bellinger credit for knowing where the first down marker was and being physical enough to nudge the ball past the marker. 

Bellinger’s blocking was solid on the edges.

Offensive Line

• Andrew Thomas

Playing his first full game of the year, Thomas pitched a pristine pass-blocking afternoon on his edge and had his ups and downs in the running game. 

Most importantly, he moved well and looked healthy. Having that blind side protected so well makes a significant difference in how this group executes its offense.

• Jermaine Eleumunor 

Also pitching as close to a shutout as you can get in this league, going up against one of the league’s best defenses, Eleumunor was party to two failed stunt pickups, though we wouldn’t put the onus on either one on the veteran tackle. 

Overall, he was very good in 1-on-1 protection, but less stellar in his run-blocking. Still, overall, he was a positive performer.

• Jon Runyan

Once again, Runyan struggled with power inside. There weren’t any egregious mistakes in his game, especially with his pass-blocking, in which he and Thomas on the left side closed down the blindside pass rush all day long, but the run-blocking losses came too often, especially in the red zone. 

As often as the coaches try to line it up and run it with three tight ends, the middle of the line continues to get pushed around much too easily.

• Greg Van Roten

This vet had a rough afternoon. On the first play after Dexter Lawrence’s INT gave the offense the ball at the 4-yard line, Van Roten committed a false start that essentially blew up any chance for this offense to capitalize on the momentum of the turnover, and they had to settle for a field goal. 

Later in the half, Van Roten flubbed a red zone stunt pickup that led to pressure, forcing a throwaway in the red zone that settled for another field goal. 

Van Roten messed up a handful of other stunts. Oddly, the coaches had Van Roten pulling to the other side in pass pro on a couple of occasions. One led to a sack, while another resulted in pressure. It wouldn’t be a surprise if this vet’s overall grade was the worst of this bunch.

• John Michael Schmitz

After last week’s positive performance, we were disappointed that Schmitz couldn’t deal with the Chargers’ physical front a bit better. 

His double-teams were so soft that he kept setting up his partner for failure while he ran off unobstructed to the second level. That’s just not good enough when you’re going up against a physical front. 

Although he played a subpar game in the pocket, Schmitz was very sharp with his help-blocking in pass protection. 

Also, the holding penalty that he incurred, which wiped out Jaxson Dart’s 39-yard scramble, was a terrible call. The officials, who otherwise called a very good game, need to be called out on this one.