A lot has changed since the last time Giants rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart was on the field. When Dart left with a concussion at the start of the fourth quarter of a game against the Bears in Week 10, the Giants were leading 17-10 and Brian Daboll was still the team’s head coach.
Neither would remain true much longer. Backup quarterback Russell Wilson and the defense combined to blow the lead, as the Giants lost 24-20. That led to Daboll’s dismissal the next day.
Dart missed the first game of his career last week as he worked his way through the NFL’s concussion protocol. He’s now about to miss his second.
While the expectation all week was that Dart would be cleared from the concussion protocol for Sunday’s game against the Detroit Lions, the Giants ultimately decided to rule him out, as he did not show enough progress getting through the protocol.
It will be interesting to monitor any changes once Dart does return to the lineup. His injury on a designed run in Chicago was inevitable. He took far too many hits in his first seven starts.
Dart has been mostly defiant in response to suggestions that he practice more self-preservation when running the ball.
“I’m going to play the game the way I want to play the game,” Dart said days before getting injured.
Meanwhile, Daboll encouraged the rookie’s brazen running style. The unknown variable is interim head coach Mike Kafka’s role. He was calling the plays as the offensive coordinator, so it was at his direction when Dart was running keepers at the goal line at the end of blowout losses.
But Daboll also had input on the game plan and play calls, so it’s impossible to know how much he was influencing the aggressive use of Dart as a runner. That answer should become clearer now that Daboll is gone and Kafka has taken over, although Dart’s concussion must lead to a more conservative approach regardless. A second concussion in a short period would become a more serious concern.
Dart showed maturation by sliding at the end of two of his runs against Chicago. And that game displayed what a weapon his legs are, as he scored a pair of rushing touchdowns. But his sixth carry ended in disaster as he fumbled and suffered a concussion at the end of a 7-yard run deep into Chicago territory.
Finding the proper mix between being aggressive and limiting exposure to injury figures to be a balancing act throughout Dart’s career. But the scales have been tilted too much toward injury risk. Perhaps the week on the sideline has helped Dart understand his value to the franchise and his role in avoiding hits that will take him off the field.
It’s inevitable that Dart will run the ball when he returns. Instincts will take over, and he’ll scramble when under pressure in the pocket. That’s good — his ability to extend plays with his legs has been his greatest asset.
But the coaches have a role in protecting the franchise’s prized quarterback. Kafka needs to be more judicious on designed runs, especially as Dart returns from a concussion. There have been a lot of changes since Dart was last on the field. The biggest change when he returns has to be a greater emphasis on the 22-year-old’s safety.
Carter at a crossroads
Giants rookie linebacker Abdul Carter pushed back on The Athletic’s report that he was sleeping when he missed a walk-through last week that led to his benching for the opening drive of Sunday’s loss to the Packers. The New York Post, citing no sources, reported that Carter was in a red light therapy bed during the walk-through. Whether Carter’s eyes were open or not while in the recovery bed, there’s no disputing that 69 other players attended the walk-through. Carter was punished because he was the exception.
So, now the question is: How will Carter respond? The punishment has been served, and Kafka has thrown his support behind Carter publicly.
The Giants are counting on Carter as a crucial piece of their core, so they’re hoping he has learned his lesson and will be better for it. Sixth-year left tackle Andrew Thomas was benched for a quarter during his rookie season for being late to a team meeting. Thomas has been a consummate professional since what he called a “rookie mistake” and has blossomed into an All-Pro player.
Carter figures to be granted another opportunity to be an every-down player — from the opening snap this week — with starter Kayvon Thibodeaux still sidelined by the shoulder injury that kept him out of the Packers game.
Carter is still seeking the breakthrough that seemed inevitable when he was unstoppable during training camp and the preseason. But he only has a half sack 11 games into his NFL career.
It’s foolish to call Carter a bust based on the box score. Anyone who has watched the games can see his impact, even if it hasn’t translated to as many sacks as expected.
But Carter hasn’t been as disruptive recently. He averaged four pressures in the first eight games of the season, but he has only has three pressures total in the past three games. And while Carter wasn’t drafted with the No. 3 pick for his run defense, he’s been exploited too often on the edge.
He has too much talent to not eventually have a breakout game. But this isn’t the most welcoming opponent. Penei Sewell is arguably the best right tackle in the NFL and left tackle Taylor Decker is a steady veteran.
Inspirational foes?
As the Giants hit the reset button again following Daboll’s firing, they can look to the Lions as a blueprint for success.
The Lions had mostly been a bottom-feeding organization for decades when they cleaned house in 2021 and hired Brad Holmes as general manager and Dan Campbell as head coach. The Lions didn’t take any shortcuts in their rebuild, trading franchise quarterback Matthew Stafford to the Rams in the regime’s first major move.
That trade netted quarterback Jared Goff, who has been better than anyone could have imagined in Detroit, plus a third-round pick in 2021 and first-round picks in 2022 and 2023. Success wasn’t instant, as the Lions went 3-13-1 in the new regime’s first season.
The Lions started 1-6 in 2022 before things started clicking. They finished that season 9-8, memorably knocking the Packers out of playoff contention with a win in Week 18.
Detroit has taken off from there, going 12-5 and reaching the NFC Championship Game in 2023 and going 15-2 and making the divisional round in 2024. The Lions lost their offensive and defensive coordinators to head coaching jobs in the offseason and have stumbled to a 6-4 start, but they’re still viewed as a legitimate Super Bowl contender.
Campbell’s ability to establish a culture has been unparalleled. His line about biting off kneecaps in his introductory news conference was mocked at the time, but no one is laughing after he has turned a downtrodden franchise into a tough, aggressive outfit.
Meanwhile, Holmes has done a masterful job building the roster. He crushed his first draft — All-Pro Sewell in the first round, defensive tackle Alim McNeill in the third round, All-Pro wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown in the fourth round, linebacker Derrick Barnes in the fourth round — to lay a foundation. He’s continued to load up with more draft home runs, including defensive end Aidan Hutchinson, wide receiver Jameson Williams, safety Kerby Joseph, running back Jahmyr Gibbs, tight end Sam LaPorta and safety Brian Branch.
The fusion of culture and talent has transformed the Lions in five years under Campbell and Holmes. The Giants are still seeking their transformational leaders.
Bad process
Perhaps more distressing than the Giants’ inability to land a quality head coach in their four tries since 2016 is that they haven’t even interviewed the top options. One overlooked candidate in their 2016, 2018 and 2020 searches will be on the opposite sideline on Sunday.
Campbell has a 45-32-1 record in four-plus seasons as the Lions’ head coach, with two playoff appearances. The Lions hired Campbell in 2021. He wasn’t interviewed by the Giants in 2016, 2018 or 2020.
Campbell’s resume was light — five seasons as a tight ends coach — when he was tabbed as the Dolphins’ interim head coach after Joe Philbin was fired in Week 5 of the 2015 season. Campbell led the Dolphins to a 5-7 record, but the full-time job went to Adam Gase after the season.
Campbell spent the next five seasons as the Saints’ assistant head coach and tight ends coach, apprenticing under Sean Payton. Campbell got on the head-coaching interview circuit while in New Orleans, interviewing for the Colts’ opening in 2018 and vacancies with the Packers, Cardinals and Browns in 2019.
Campbell was far from a sure thing to be a successful head coach, but his ties to the Giants could have put him on the organization’s radar. Campbell was a third-round pick by the Giants in 1999 and spent four seasons in New York.
As the Giants seek their version of Campbell, they should consider his defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard. The 37-year-old is viewed as a rising star in the profession, advancing to the DC role in his fourth year in coaching.
Sheppard retired from an eight-year NFL career in 2018, including two years with the Giants. Sheppard was the starting middle linebacker on the 11-5 Giants team in 2016.
Is Sheppard ready to be an NFL head coach? There’s only one way to find out. Rather than focusing exclusively on candidates on the top of every media list, the Giants should interview Sheppard to be sure they’re not overlooking a potential coaching star who was in their building as a player.
Cold streaks
The Giants’ loss last week clinched a losing record for the 11th time in the past 13 seasons. A loss on Sunday would give the Giants double digit losses for the eighth time in the past nine seasons.
The Giants have lost five consecutive games and 11 consecutive on the road. They’ll be eliminated from the playoffs with a loss on Sunday if the Cowboys beat the Eagles or the Vikings beat the Packers or Seahawks beat/tie the Titans.
The Giants have only made the playoffs twice in the 13 seasons since winning Super Bowl 46. If they get eliminated from postseason contention this week, it will be their earliest playoff exit since 1976, when they started 0-8 during a 14-game season, according to NFL tiebreaker expert Joe Ferreira.
Prediction
Lions 31, Giants 20. As bad as this season has been for the Giants, they haven’t been totally obliterated in any game. This feels like a spot where that could change. But I’m holding off on predicting a complete bloodbath because the Lions’ offense looked so out of sync in last week’s 16-9 loss to the Eagles. Then again, a matchup against the vulnerable Giants could be the recipe for a Detroit explosion.
