The New York Giants squandered a 10-point fourth-quarter lead in Chicago — a collapse that marked another regime-defining loss and ultimately sealed Brian Daboll’s fate as head coach. The season is over from a playoff perspective, and the Giants sit at 2-8. Still, the future looks bright with rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart, who was sensational against the Bears before leaving the game with a concussion early in the fourth quarter.
Dart finished 19 of 29 for 242 yards with two rushing touchdowns and
66 yards on the ground. Outside of one drive, the Giants’ running backs generated very little on the ground. Dart, though, averaged 6.4 yards per carry. He scored on this fake toss QB counter:
Jon Runyan Jr. (76) on the kickout and Theo Johnson (84) leading the way with excellent play-side blocking from Andrew Thomas (78) and Greg Van Roten (74). Dart and the offense then gave the Giants a ten-point lead after the first drive of the third quarter, which was concluded with this 24-yard BASH touchdown run:
BASH means back away (from the pullers). The Giants pull the backside tackle and guard to the front side as the running back — from the opposite side of the puller’s original alignment — goes into the mesh-point where the quarterback reads a defender and makes a read/decision. Dart kept the football and followed the pullers. Watch how Dart maximized the blocking and displayed excellent attention to detail, which allowed Wan’Dale Robinson (17) to eliminate Jaquon Brisker (9) successfully.
It was an exceptional run by Dart, who was outstanding on the ground throughout the game. However, his success came at a cost, as he presumably suffered a concussion on a 7-yard BASH run — the same play on which he fumbled the football. The Giants picked up 51 yards with the four designed runs — three of which were BASH. According to NFL Insights, Dart is the only quarterback since 1970 to record at least one passing and one rushing touchdown in five of his first six NFL starts.
As good as Dart was with his legs, he was even more impressive through the air. He averaged 8.3 yards per attempt with a 9.8-yard average depth of target (aDOT). Dart created outside the pocket, extended plays, and delivered high-level throws both off-platform and within structure — all while putting the team on his back on the road. It was an outstanding performance, as he attacked defenses beyond his first read with an exceptional ability to extend plays and find answers; here are several throws that showcase this.
The arm of Dart
Dart found Darius Slayton for 31 yards on this back-shoulder throw, just before connecting with him again for 38 yards. While Slayton’s effort deserves plenty of praise — it was an excellent adjustment and catch — Dart’s ball placement in tight coverage stands out. Slayton won vertically outside against a deep-third defender to the boundary. He was vertical enough not to get squeezed off the red line. Dart placed the football in the one spot that allowed the veteran receiver to adjust and give himself a chance at securing a low-percentage pass. Dart did just that with touch toward the outside shoulder of Slayton, and it helped spark the Giants’ first touchdown drive.
Backside dig!
Third-and-6, and Dennis Allen shows a mugged-up look. From a 3×1 set — an alignment the Giants used only 31% of the time — New York ran a hitch/corner/drag combination to the front side, with Darius Slayton running the backside dig. Dart did an excellent job working through the front-side progression before quickly finding the solution over the middle on the backside dig. That’s no easy read for any quarterback, let alone a rookie on the road facing interior pressure.
Watch Dart’s eyes: he reads the split-safety shell pre- to post-snap, recognizing the field-flat defender sinking under Theo Johnson’s corner route. The drag route occupies the middle-hook defenders, while the apex hook to the field sits on Wan’Dale Robinson’s hitch. Dart had to layer this throw with the perfect level of touch to clear Noah Sewell (44) — and he does precisely that, allowing Slayton to secure the pass for a first down. High-level processing before and after the snap, paired with arm talent through touch.
Backside dig 2.0
It wasn’t just once, but twice, that Jaxson Dart worked his way to the backside dig within a route concept. On this play, he processed the three-level read off boot action beautifully — recognizing the coverage, quickly resetting, and fluidly squaring his shoulders to fire a strike to Wan’Dale Robinson for 13 yards off play-action from under center. It was a high-level fastball from the rookie quarterback, showcasing multiple flashes of elite play within one rep.
Under center rip!
On the very next play-off first-and-10, the Giants run an under-center I-WEAK play-action pass. Mike Kafka did well throwing play action on first down after several failed rushing attempts early in the game. Dart, who was not under center at Ole Miss, looked crisp in his drop-back with determined footwork. Robinson did an elite job making the Bears’ defender pay for not maintaining proper leverage. It was a great route by Robinson, but the depth of the route put the defender underneath in a precarious situation for Dart, who had to rip the football into Robinson’s chest with high velocity.
Not only does Dart fire that football into Robinson, but the ball placement was perfectly away from the original covering defender. These two plays sparked one of the Giants’ best offensive drives; unfortunately, they came away with zero points on the drive.
Two-minute drill
Jaxson Dart created back-to-back explosive plays (20+ yards) twice in this game. The two plays below were in the two-minute drill at the end of the first half. It was an eight-play, 53-yard drive that ended with a Younghoe Koo 32-yard field goal. Dart went through his progressions and reads before bailing away from the front-side and toward the path of Theo Johnson, who did an excellent job angling his route upfield and away from the underneath defender. But just look at that throw, and the subsquent one for gains of 21 and 25-yards with time ticking off the clock:
The Giants catch the Bears in a Cover-2 defense with Theo Johnson, who must have been tired after his previous 21-yard catch, stretching the seam. Dart puts it high and over the top of Tremaine Edumunds (49), who bailed off the line of scrimmage in a mugged look. The touch and placement were excellent by Dart, who processed the safety rotation, saw the vertical leverage and space outside by Johnson, and just allowed his big tight end to make the play — 25 more yards for the New York Giants.
Final thoughts
Dart delivered one of his best performances yet against the Chicago Bears’ defense, stringing together several high-level plays that showcased his poise and playmaking ability. Despite a sensational start to his career, Dart has just two wins to show for it — a record that hardly reflects how well he’s played. He wasn’t perfect on Sunday, but this was another standout effort amid the chaos of a sinking 2025 New York Giants team under Brian Daboll. Hopefully, Dart can recover quickly and return to action soon.
