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Jaxson Dart Explains Why He Called His Preseason Debut With Giants 'Mid'

Jaxson Dart wasn't too high on his performance in his preseason debut for the Giants.

Eva Geitheim

Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart was underwhelmed by his own play in his preseason debut.
Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart was underwhelmed by his own play in his preseason debut. / Kevin R. Wexler-NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
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Jaxson Dart played with poise as he made his preseason debut for the Giants on Saturday in their 34-25 win over the Bills. Dart led the Giants' offense for four drives during the first half and impressed while managing the rush from the Bills' defense, including when he hung in under pressure to throw a 29-yard touchdown pass to Lil'Jordan Humphrey.

Giants coach Brian Daboll said to reporters that Dart did what he expected, noting that the rookie signal-caller was "efficient and confident in the pocket" in his debut. Daboll added that Dart wasn't so complimentary of his performance, calling his own efforts "mid."

"I just felt like the only reason that we stopped ourselves from scoring touchdowns were just some of those third downs and not converting," Dart explained after the game. "Personally, I'm really hard on myself, so in those moments, I want to capitalize on that. Those possessions in those crunch-time situations really determine games. I feel like I can do a lot more, but I was happy with how the guys played around me."

Though Dart did display plenty of positives in his first NFL action, he was off-target on a few throws, and the Giants did have to settle for field goals on two of their three scoring drives with him at the helm. Dart overall was accurate, completing 12 of 19 (63.2%) passes for 154 yards and a touchdown, but it's unsurprising that he would want a few of those throws and plays back.

Dart will get the opportunity to build off his initial preseason performance when the Giants face the Jets next week in their second preseason game of the season.

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Eva Geitheim
EVA GEITHEIM

Eva Geitheim is a contributor to the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. Prior to joining SI in December 2024, she wrote for Newsweek, Gymnastics Now and Dodgers Nation. A Bay Area native, she has a bachelor's in communications from UCLA. When not writing, she can be found baking or re-watching Gilmore Girls.

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