Giants Live Blog: John Harbaugh on Facing Adversity Without Jaxson Dart

Harbaugh has been here before — and he says the Giants' response to adversity, not the loss of their starting quarterback, will define this season.

New York Giants head coach John Harbaugh and his Giants face their first big challenge as they try to navigate the rest of the year without quarterback Jaxson Dart. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Getting them to buy in was easy—training camp, a piece of cake.

But now comes the hard part for New York Giants head coach John Harbaugh.

Big Blue begins life without starting quarterback Jaxson Dart, about as significant a loss as there is. It’s their first true test of adversity, and how they ultimately end up handling it is going to tell us a lot about what this team is truly made of.

For Harbaugh, this isn’t something new. In 2015, when he was with the Baltimore Ravens, quarterback Joe Flacco tore his left ACL and MCL, and the Ravens finished 5-11 that year.

This time around, though, Harbaugh’s team has lost its starting quarterback fairly early in the season, which many believe has dealt a blow to the Giants’ aspirations to get back to the postseason.

Harbaugh, however, doesn’t see it that way.

“Historically, it's not a problem at all because the guys want to win. They want to go play,” he said.

“So, guys play. They'll play. They play for each other. They play for themselves. They play for their families. They play because they believe they can win the game.”

In other words, they’re going to deal with adversity the only way they know how: to fight through it.

“You deal with all the different challenges that you face and all the different adversity that you face, for sure,” he said.

“Even the prosperity, you learned that last week, you faced some of the prosperity, and prosperity sometimes can be more dangerous than adversity. All these challenges are to put your best effort out there and play your best football so you can win a football game. And we're going to do that.”

The good news, according to Harbaugh, is that the players have responded in terms of their preparation.

“I've seen it really be good,” he said. “As soon as we got through the meeting and we got out to practice, they were great. (Thursday) was probably our best practice of the season, and we had another very good practice (Friday), so that's really what's important.

“The preparation is what matters, and our football team will be out there playing the game, and I'm looking forward to seeing how they play. I mean, I'm very excited about the opportunity, and also about the challenge.”

Can the Giants bounce back from the adversity that hit them this week?

Be sure to follow all the game action below with our live blog featuring stats, observations, and other updates throughout.

And don’t forget to check back after the game for our complete postgame coverage.

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