Dart impresses again, but QB plans unchanged

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Jaxson Dart's second preseason performance for the New York Giants might have been even better than the first, which was pretty good in its own right.

Dart went 14-of-16 passing for 137 yards with a passing touchdown and another score rushing on Saturday night in his first game at MetLife Stadium against the rival New York Jets. The first-round pick completed his final 13 passes and led the Giants on a pair of touchdown drives to begin the second half of a 31-12 win.

"He executed well," coach Brian Daboll said of his young quarterback's performance.

Dart, the 25th pick in this year's draft, keeps passing the tests thrown at him by his own coach. Daboll threw him into Saturday night's game for one random play in the middle of a second-quarter drive in place of starter Russell Wilson.

Dart threw a screen pass for 30 yards to tight end Theo Johnson before returning to the sideline.

"I was like, all right, I didn't know that I was going to go in for one play and then come back out," Dart said. "So I think that that's just [that] he's making up scenarios where you never know when your number's going to be called, and you got to be ready for that. He's done it in practices. So I think that that kind of taught me that I need to continue to warm up on the sideline. You just never know when things like that are going to happen."

Daboll said he told nobody, not even his coaches, that he was going to do that Saturday. It's all part of the quarterback development plan that he's created for Dart, who has incrementally improved throughout the summer.

It has led to Dart having the look of a franchise quarterback in his first two preseason games. He's a combined 26-of-35 for 291 yards with two touchdowns passing and one rushing against the Buffalo Bills and Jets. His performance has Giants fans hopeful that he might be the one to ultimately get them back on track.

Despite the success, Dart remains the team's No. 2 quarterback behind Wilson, even though the rookie handled a drive with the first-team offensive line late in the first half. That was the first time this summer that Dart spent a significant amount of time working with the starting unit.

"Russ is our starter, and we're going to keep developing Jaxson," Daboll said.

The Giants have been adamant that Wilson is the team's starter. They stated it when he was signed back in March and again at the beginning of training camp. Wilson has exclusively taken first-team reps this spring and summer. He's in line to start the opener against the Washington Commanders.

The Super Bowl-winning quarterback has also enjoyed some success in the preseason. His first drive Saturday concluded with a touchdown. The Giants got into position when Wilson threw a patented "moon ball" down the middle of the field to rookie Beaux Collins for an 80-yard gain. Collins was tackled at the 1-yard line and running back Tyrone Tracy Jr. got into the end zone for a score two plays later to give the Giants a 7-0 lead.

Wilson finished 4-of-7 passing for 108 yards. He led one scoring drive on four possessions, and his evening ended with an interception in the end zone intended for Collins that Daboll chalked up to a route that the quarterback and receiver haven't worked on.

"It was good," Daboll said of Wilson's performance. "Executed well."

It still wasn't at the level of Dart, who produced touchdowns on two of his three full drives. But Dart and Daboll noted that it wasn't perfect and that there is still of room to improve.

After the game, Dart was ruing a third down on his first drive when he was tackled by a shoestring. He thought the play could have been a long touchdown run if he hadn't been tripped by defensive lineman Kingsley Jonathan as he tried to escape the pocket with plenty of room to run.

Daboll knows that although Dart has made things look easy so far in two preseason games, there will be ups and downs. The rookie quarterback is not there yet despite some immediate success in the preseason.

"Yeah, he's still got a lot to learn," Daboll said. "But he's growing every day. Like I said, that's why we drafted him. We spent a lot of time with him, have a lot of confidence in the young man. He's done a good job for us since he's been here in every area you could do -- off the field, on the field, leadership, moxie, intelligence, but it's early. We've played a couple preseason games against probably some vanilla looks, but he's making strides every day, and that's all you can ask of any other young player."