How NY Giants Set Jaxson Dart Up for Success in First NFL Start

Jaxson Dart got the first start of his NFL career in the New York Giants’ 21-18 win against the Los Angeles Chargers. Statistically, he completed 13 of his 20 passes (65%) for 111 yards and one touchdown while also picking up 54 rushing yards and another touchdown on 10 carries.

How he got to that stat line wasn’t exactly pretty, but the Giants’ coaching staff provided him with a game plan to be effective and efficient.

Establishing the run was a large part of that plan; the Giants ran the ball on 60.9% of their scrimmage plays against the Chargers. Their previous single-game high run percentage was 44.3% against the Kansas City Chiefs the week prior.

The run game wasn’t exactly efficient, averaging just 3.8 yards per rush, but it had a 45.2% success rate, which was still the highest success rate the Giants have had on the ground this year.

Dart’s legs were something that the Chargers were clearly unprepared for, and the Giants made sure to use that to their advantage. Five of Dart’s rushes picked up a first down, and he picked up the opening touchdown for the Giants with his legs as well.

New York Giants RB Cam Skattebo picked up tough yardage against the Los Angeles Chargers. | Brad Penner-Imagn Images

Cam Skattebo’s physical performance wasn’t explosive or dynamic, but he picked up 79 total yards on the ground, with 65 of those coming after contact.

In the passing game, it was a more difficult battle to gameplan and find consistent success, but Dart’s play and decision-making were excellent there.

The Chargers threw a variety of different looks at Dart, whether it was showing pressure on the defensive front, then rushing only four, showing no pressure, then blitzing, or deploying two-high coverage, then shifting post-snap or vice versa. Dart did a great job of being patient and handling the different looks without forcing anything.

One play in particular saw the Chargers rush only two edge defenders at Dart while dropping nine players into coverage, a common tactic for defensive coordinators to confuse young quarterbacks. Dart’s patience was a significant positive in his game during this first start.

New York Giants QB Jaxson Dart looked poised in the pocket in his first career start. | Brad Penner-Imagn Images

The Giants put forth their best performance in pass protection against the banged-up Chargers' defensive front as well. Young quarterbacks especially tend to struggle under pressure, so it was paramount to keep Dart as clean as possible.

While he did get hit plenty of times, most of those were schemed looks instead of protection failures.

Tight end Daniel Bellinger played a season-high 24 snaps on Sunday, and that was no accident. He spent 20 of those snaps blocking, whether it was run blocking or in pass protection.

Skattebo had a highlight reel block in pass protection during his first game, but he has struggled since then.

While he’s struggled in pass pro, he was still asked to help on a season-high five pass-blocking reps.

The Giants' offense experienced a rare combination: their highest play-action percentage of the season (29.6%, previously the highest was 25%), while also achieving their quickest time to throw at 2.42 seconds (the previous low was 2.69).

This was a whole team effort to keep Dart clean and comfortable in his first career start against a dominant Chargers defense.

I thought this offensive game plan was one of the best we’ve seen from this coaching staff. Getting Dart off to a comfortable start was crucial to giving this team a chance, and the staff made that happen with their overall game plan.

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