New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart was “puzzled” about why he ended up undergoing a concussion check after taking a big hit to the midsection in Saturday’s preseason game againt the Minnesota Vikings. Head coach John Harbaugh was puzzled about how Dart got hit in the first place.
“There’s no way he should have been hit there,” Harbaugh said. “I mean, it just shouldn’t have happened. That was a basic protection. Should have been protected and we expect in that situation to be protected in the future.
“It’s not like he’s going to be never hit, never tackled, never sacked. But it shouldn’t have been in that one, and it shouldn’t have been that easy to get to him.”
Dart was blasted by blitzing Minnesota Vikings safety Jay Ward when running back Tyrone Tracy missed his blitz pickup.
Here are some other takeaways from Harbaugh’s Sunday day-after-game media availability.
Blame the wind
Why didn’t Harbaugh give Dominic Zvada a chance to try a potential game-tying 62-yard field goal with 2:29 left in Saturday’s game?
Zvada made a 62-yard field goal during practice on Wednesday with the wind at his back.
“We thought it was too far into the wind there a little bit,” Harbaugh said. “I’m talking to [special teams coordinator] Chris Horton about the field goal and all that. We both felt like that was just a little long to be realistic on. But we wanted to kick it. I mean, I promise you, we wanted to get him out there to try one. So, it just seemed a little too far. But maybe we would have knocked it through.”
Harbaugh also felt that the Giants might get a better opportunity if the defense could force a three-and-out.
“We’ve got a really good chance to get the ball back there,” Harbaugh said. “There’s over two minutes left. We’ve got three timeouts, I think we had. If we basically make a tackle, we’re getting the ball back there to go kick the same field goal. I don’t think it was the wrong thing to do at all. But you miss it, now they’re in range. They get 10 yards, and they kick the field goal to put it out of reach, you know? So, it wasn’t the wrong thing to do.”
‘He didn’t play like a rookie’
Third-round pick Malachi Fields caught a 15-yard touchdown pass from Dart on Saturday. Harbaugh was impressed by more than that.
“I thought he played all around really well,” Harbaugh said. “He did some things on special teams, which was cool to see. He practices that every day really well. He blocked exceptionally well in the run game as a wide receiver in some of those insert blocks and going to get to safeties and things like that, tremendously. Thought he ran his routes really well. Even when he didn’t get the ball, the routes were run correctly. Right depths, right amount of steps, right splits.
“All those things that make so much (of a) difference that, really honestly, we need to clean up across the board to present better pictures for our quarterback. He did all those things really well. He didn’t play like a rookie out there. It was really fun to see.”
‘Much to do about not much’
Some fans, and even some media members, have been up in arms about Odell Beckham Jr. getting open Saturday on a deep route where the ball wasn’t thrown to him. Harbaugh had no issue with quarterback Jameis Winston on the play.
“I think that’s much to do about not much,” Harbaugh said. “It was a seam route. They were in zero. They basically flat-footed and just let it go. He ran a nice seam route. The ball went to a hot read quick and was completed, so that was fine.”
Harbaugh explained further about the situation Winston was in.
“If he’d been looking over there, he would have thrown it, I’m sure, hot to Odell but he wasn’t,” Harbaugh said. “He’s got two rushers coming right in his face. He didn’t have a chance to scan the field and see all the receivers. He was looking to his left. If we’re talking about the same play, the right seam.
“Jameis would have to have five eyes all the way around his head to be able to see all those routes.”
Sometimes, as Harbaugh indicated, when a receiver isn’t the primary target on a play the quarterback never gets the opportunity to look that way.
“If you’re a receiver, you really can’t get upset about that because you understand that he wasn’t looking at me. If he’d have been looking at me with a blitz, he’d have thrown it to me,” Harbaugh said. “It’s great that he ran a good seam route and he was open. I wish he would have thrown it. Another time we had (wide receiver) Braxton (Berrios) came open in a similar way against a quarters-type coverage that the eyes were another place. There will be times definitely where the quarterback will be [looking] there and we’ll hit those when they pop open.”
On to Miami
The Giants travel to face the Miami Dolphins on Saturday in their second preseason game. They will hold a join practice with the Dolphins in Miami on Thursday.
How will Harbaugh handle practices this week?
“We’ll be on our alternate schedule, and the practice down there against the Dolphins will be a padded practice,” Harbaugh said. “That’s on Thursday. So, we’ll go shells [Monday], pads [Tuesday], shells [Wednesday], pads [Thursday], and then we’ll play the game on Saturday.”
