Jaxson Dart and Cam Skattebo Revive New York Giants With Statement Victory

The vibes have been bad around the New York Giants for a long time.

They’ve made the NFL playoffs just twice in the last 13 years since winning their fourth Super Bowl in February of 2012. Their .303 winning percentage since the start of the 2017 season is second-worst in the NFL, only beating out the Jets.

It hasn’t taken long for Jaxson Dart and Cam Skattebo to change that.

The Giants’ rookie tandem showed their remarkable potential and came away with their second statement win of the season in Thursday’s 34-17 runaway victory over the Philadelphia Eagles.

“They bring a ton of juice,” defensive end Brian Burns said postgame of the rookie duo. “Every time Skat or Dart makes a play, it gets the sideline jumping.”

After being stuck in Daniel Jones purgatory, New York head coach Brian Daboll bet his coaching tenure on Dart, trading up to the 25th pick in April’s NFL Draft to select the Ole Miss quarterback.

He had to wait through three Russell Wilson starts to begin his career, but once Dart got his opportunity, he spent no time wasting it.

After leading the 0-3 Giants to a win over the 3-0 Los Angeles Chargers in his first start, he pulled off another upset of the previously 4-1 Eagles Thursday.

There was a three-turnover start in a loss at New Orleans between those wins, the type of rookie performance that will happen, but that didn’t seem to remotely affect Dart’s confidence this week.

With a 20-yard touchdown to begin Thursday’s game, Dart joined Patrick Mahomes as just the second QB since 1991 to lead his team to opening-drive touchdowns in each of his first three career starts.

Dart completed 17 of 25 passes for 195 yards with a passing and the rushing touchdown against Philadelphia, doing so without top receiver Malik Nabers who is done for the year with a torn ACL. With 58 rushing yards Thursday, Dart has 167 in his first three starts to go alongside 508 passing yards.

But this win really served as Skattebo’s NFL coming-out party.

A fourth-round pick out of Arizona State, he’s a bowling-ball running back built in a football lab who ran with a purpose to the tune of 98 yards and three touchdowns against the Eagles.

He became the first Giants running back with three rushing TDs in a game since 2011 and finished off his last one with a celebratory back handspring in the end zone.

As the pair joined the postgame show for an interview, a horde of raving Giants fans chanted each of their names when they were talking.

“This city, this place is starving for wins,” Dart said in the postgame interview. “... This was a special one for sure.”

The impact these two had on the defensive ball can’t be ignored either. The Giants defense pitched a second-half shutout and allowed just six first downs after halftime, giving the offense the ball back time and time again to let the duo go back to work.

In a tough division and inheriting an 0-3 hole with no Nabers, it doesn’t seem likely the Giants reach the playoffs this season.

Even still, the Giants may be coming out of their long slumber going forward if the start of Dart and Skattebo's careers are any indication.