The Giants and Jets both got what they needed in Week 1: something real to hang onto.
Neither win changes the schedule ahead, and both teams are about to find out how quickly an encouraging opener can turn into a problem. The Giants head to Los Angeles for Monday night against the Rams, who will be looking to answer after the way they looked in Melbourne, as if they were playing Australian Rules football instead of NFL football. The Jets stay in Jersey to face the Packers, and after the way Green Bay collapsed against the Vikings, they figure to arrive plenty irritated.
But that’s next week. What happened Sunday was the part that mattered first. For both teams, it felt like a small step that carried the weight of something much bigger.
The Jets deserve credit for what they did against the Titans, road game or not. Geno Smith, at 35, turned in a performance that brought to mind another 35-year-old Jet quarterback from a different era: Vinny Testaverde under Bill Parcells. It was a solid, grown-up win, the kind a team needs when it’s trying to stop talking about change and start showing it.
The Giants, though, delivered the more striking statement under the Sunday Night Football lights against a Cowboys team that came in with real ambitions of its own. New York won 28-20, and the game felt bigger than just one division result because of everything that came before it.
The defense played fast. The offense looked organized.
And Jaxson Dart looked like the quarterback who made it all possible.
Archie Manning saw it from Oxford, Miss., where he watched Dart do his work after the Ole Miss quarterback played 45 college football games for Mississippi. Archie, of course, knows that football path better than most. His son Eli starred at Ole Miss before becoming a championship Giants quarterback, and Charlie Conerly also came through the school before becoming a Giants legend in the 50s.
When asked Monday what stood out about Dart’s night, Archie didn’t hesitate.
“I think people forget that Jaxson played a lot of football at Ole Miss, and a lot of good football,” Archie said. “I always thought he was going to be a really good pro prospect. But what I just saw was a really great night for him, and for the New York Giants, and the reason why all Giants fans are so happy this morning.”
He kept going.
“I know the work that Matt Nagy (the Giants offensive coordinator) has done,” he continued. “Same with Greg Roman (senior offensive assistant and run-game coordinator).
But what I saw from them last night, the plan that Jaxson executed for them, was really something. Didn’t matter whether Jaxson was throwing it and running it - The Cowboys never seemed to have an answer.”
Archie was already in a good mood after watching his grandson Arch help Texas come back against Ohio State on Saturday night, and he had one more thought about the Giants’ new coach.
“I’m gonna say this again,” Archie said. “The greatest thing that ever could have happened to the Giants is the Ravens firing John Harbaugh.”
When asked whether that was even bigger than Ernie Accorsi trading up so the Giants could draft Eli, Archie laughed.
“Well,” he said, “let me put it to you this way: It’s right up there.”
Then came his final line on the coach:
“John Harbaugh is tougher than new rope.”
That toughness showed up all night. Harbaugh’s Giants played with urgency and control, and their young talent kept making life miserable for Dak Prescott. Isaiah Likely was part of it, and so were the fast, young defenders who chased Prescott around New Jersey and helped deliver the Opening Night win.
Harbaugh called it the biggest victory of his career.
After being asked where the 28-20 result ranked among the 204 wins he had in Baltimore, he answered: “It’s No. 1,” he said. “Because it’s the one right now.”
None of this means the Giants are suddenly a playoff team, though they might be. But for one night, they looked like a real football team again.
They looked tougher than new rope. They looked smarter, quicker, better coached and better prepared.
And Dart looked like he belonged, standing in against pressure, making the right decisions, and avoiding trouble even when the Cowboys knocked him around out of bounds.
He finished 23 for 29 for 230 passing yards and three touchdowns, and added 54 rushing yards. The Giants won because he was that good, and because the whole team looked that good.
It was a small step. It sure felt like more.
In Other News...
Cam Skattebo Return Sparked A Giants Controversy Fans Wont Ignore
Cam Skattebos return gave the Giants a physical jolt in the backfield after he came back from a right ankle dislocation and fractured fibula, and he wasted little time showing why he matters to their offense. Against the Cowboys, he handled 17 carries, picked up 73 rushing yards and found the end zone, while also flashing the kind of grit that has made him easy to notice since arriving in New York.
The game also left plenty for Giants fans to stew over, because Skattebo took a punch to the kidney from a Cowboys player without drawing a penalty. He still battled through the kind of messy, contact-heavy game that fits his style, even after committing a fumble and then recovering it himself, a sequence that summed up both the risk and reward he brings every time he touches the ball. [Read more 🡒]
Brian Daboll's Titans Debut Gave Giants Fans A Familiar Feeling
Brian Dabolls first game on the Tennessee sideline came with plenty of familiar faces around him, and for Giants fans watching, it had the kind of feel they knew all too well. In Week 1 against the Jets, the Titans were held to 10 points as the offense never found much rhythm, finishing with just 127 passing yards and 68 on the ground.
There was a little more of New York in the building than usual, too, with former Giants players Wan'Dale Robinson, Daniel Bellinger, Cordale Flott and Austin Schlottmann all making their Titans debuts. It was a reminder that the ex-Giants pipeline is still moving, even if the result in Dabolls first outing left Tennessee searching for answers after a sluggish start. [Read more 🡒]
Giants Fans Are All Saying The Same Thing About NBCs Booth
During Sunday Night Footballs Giants-Cowboys broadcast, an odd little moment from NBCs booth quickly became the conversation almost as much as the game itself. Cris Collinsworth suddenly blurted out an ehhh!!! in the middle of a sentence, and the clip took off online as viewers replayed it and tried to make sense of what they had just heard.
The reaction mostly turned into speculation about the on-air dynamic between Collinsworth and Mike Tirico, even though there has been no official explanation from either broadcaster. Off the air, the two are understood to have generally had a positive working relationship, which only added to the intrigue for fans who were left wondering whether the moment was just a weird broadcast hiccup or something more. [Read more 🡒]