Giants' Jaxson Dart now knows exactly how Eli Manning felt against the Ravens
Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart against the Minnesota Vikings at MetLife Stadium on Sunday. Credit: Ed Murray
Twenty-one years ago this month, a Giants rookie quarterback played the worst game of his season. Facing the vaunted Ravens defense on Dec. 12, 2004, Eli Manning was completely overmatched in every sense of the word, both physically and mentally. It got so bad that Tom Coughlin had to take him out of the game late to spare him from injury or further indignity.
He wound up with a passer rating of 0.0 that day, completing only four passes in 18 attempts for 27 yards, throwing two interceptions and taking two sacks.
On the train ride home from Baltimore that evening, Manning made his way to the seats where his coaches were sitting and vowed to them that such a performance would never occur again.
He was right. Two Super Bowl victories later, he was right.
Jaxson Dart had his Eli Manning moment on Sunday. It was not the one he always thought he would replicate from the time he started following in Manning’s footsteps, breaking his records at Ole Miss and winding up drafted by the Giants.
For the first time in his career, Dart looked very much like an overwhelmed rookie, confused by the complexities of one of the NFL’s most hard-to-decipher defenses run by coordinator Brian Flores. Dart completed only seven passes for 33 yards — both of which easily were career lows since he became the starter earlier this season — threw one interception, took five sacks (plus another two that were negated by roughing-the-passer penalties) and had a rating of 27.4. The Giants managed only 13 net passing yards.
There was even a tinge of purple in the opposing uniforms, just like in 2004.
Like Manning, Dart came out of this with a promise. Asked what he hopes to take from the experience, he said: “Not let it happen again like this.”
If he holds true to that, this 16-13 loss -- the ninth straight for the team and the seventh straight for him as a starter -- will become for him what that Ravens game was for Manning, a charming anecdote that can be reflected upon to show just how much he grew and improved. Right now, that’s the hope for Dart.
“I think as he learns, and as he sees more of these [exotic defenses],’’ interim coach Mike Kafka said, “[he’ll have] the ability to get the ball out just a touch faster, use some of those sights and keep his mind clear on it, not put himself in a bad spot, because I thought he had some opportunities downfield.
“Sometimes, whether it's a pop or someone gets into that window, you've got to hold it an extra tick longer. So that's part of the growth process with it.”
Dart may not grasp that yet, but there are plenty around him who do. There is little doubt that at some point this week, he’ll get a call from ol’ number 10 to offer up some advice and maybe lend a friendly ear. After Sunday's game, the two veteran quarterbacks on the roster, Jameis Winston and Russell Wilson, took turns spending a few minutes each with Dart performing a postmortem.
“The big thing is perspective,” Dart said when asked what he gets from those discussions. “They’ve been through a lot. They have had crazy good games, they had games where they struggled themselves. A lot of this is new for me and you definitely lean on those guys and have those conversations.”
Dart knew what he was in for against the Vikings. Earlier in the week, he spoke about the “chaos” that they like to create with their blitzes and coverages. He said he didn’t see much that he hadn’t seen on film in his preparation for the game, but seeing it in person obviously is very different.
Still, despite the statistical stinker that goes on his resume, this wasn’t all on Dart. The coaches kid-gloved him a bit by relying so heavily on the running game; they ran 17 plays before Dart was credited with an official pass attempt, and he did not complete one (for 2 yards) until 1:45 remained in the first half.
When Dart did throw the ball, he received very little help; his interception came on a pass to Theo Johnson that went through the tight end's hands, Wan’Dale Robinson had an open play deep down the middle of the field broken up, and Darius Slayton dropped a late slant that would have been a big gainer for them on their final possession.
Dart also was playing behind an offensive line that by the end of the game was missing three starters.
None of that was used as an excuse by Dart, nor should it be. There were plenty of times he could have been better himself.
“Opportunity-wise, I think you just have to be great,” Dart said.
He was far from it on Sunday. Far from what we have come to expect from him early in his career.
Maybe at some point in the 2046 season, another 21 years from now, there will be another highly touted rookie quarterback playing for the Giants and he (or she) will have a clunker of an outing. Maybe it will necessitate folks stepping back and asking questions about whether the player is who we expected.
Maybe at that point people still will remember Eli Manning — “Yes, kids, that guy on TV used to play football too!” — and reflect back on his disastrous performance against the Ravens. And if the Giants are lucky, they’ll recall Sunday’s showing by Dart, too.
That will mean he held up his promise and went on to achieve much bigger and better things and games like this never happened again.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
