Giants' Playmaking Rookie Has Impressed Eagles' Vic Fangio

PHILADELPHIA - Vic Fangio isn’t the type who hands out compliments like candy on Halloween.

If you don’t earn it, you may even get the trick, not the treat from Fangio, in the form of unflinching honesty.

Less than three weeks ago, New York Giants rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart earned Fangio’s respect with his playmaking performance during a 34-17 Giants upset at MetLife Stadium.

Earlier this week, the well-regarded Eagles’ defensive coordinator was candid about the lessons he learned from facing Dart for the first time as Philadelphia tries to hold serve at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday.

“One lesson is learned, and the teams that need quarterbacks that bypass them, they're going to regret that,” Fangio deadpanned.

Despite being without his top receiver, the injured Malik Nabers, Dart finished 17-of-25 for 195 yards and a touchdown while also adding 58 more yards, including a 20-yard TD, on the ground.

The Ole Miss product, via Southern California. finished with a 104.6 passer rating against a DC that typically tortures inexperienced quarterbacks.

Very Athletic

Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio at practice. | John McMullen/Eagles On SI

“Obviously [he’s] very athletic, an elite scrambler. I think their coaches have done a great job with him, Fangio said. “They've developed the offense around him, [he] throws the ball very well, intermediate and deep, and he's a good player.”

Dart’s encore performance to that was on the road against the Denver Broncos and a little uneven from an accuracy standpoint, although the playmaking carried over.

In a disappointing 33-32 loss to the Denver Broncos, Dart was 15-for-33, but he produced four TDs, three through the air and one on the ground.

The Ginats, however, had a 19-point lead in the fourth quarter and failed to finish things, losing their ninth consecutive game on the road.

Everything points to the Eagles this week, a veteran team that has won 12 of 13 at Lincoln Financial Field and hasn’t lost to the Giants in South Philadelphia in over a decade.

“It’s going to be intense for sure,” Dart said earlier this week.

Like all good quarterbacks, Dart has a bit of a swagger about him.

“I can’t wait to go out there and compete and kind of just feel the hostility in the air and the rivalry between the two organizations,” he said. “It’s going to be really cool. And I kind of compare it to an SEC rivalry. Really excited for the atmosphere.”

At Ole Miss, Dart’s main job description was to win The Egg Bowl over in-state rival Mississippi State, something he did on two of three occasions, with one of those wins coming on the road in a raucous environment filled with the relentless sound of cowbells, an MSU tradition, ringing.

Measured against the SEC-level craziness, even the most difficult NFL environments seem tame, so don’t be surprised if the stage of an Eagles-Giants rivalry game isn’t too big for Dart, who will be trying to win his first professional road game in his fourth start.

“I think anybody finds it enjoyable when you’re able to win games on the road,” Dart said. “That’s something that we haven’t done yet. We’re still chasing that. I’m just excited for the environment.”

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