Before the New York Giants took the practice field at training camp on Thursday, July 31, head coach Brian Daboll revealed a cool note about rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart.
“Interesting: Brian Daboll said that the touchdown Jaxson Dart threw to Lil’Jordan Humphrey in red zone [period on July 29] was a play that he called — meaning Dart,” SNY’s Connor Hughes relayed on X.
“Before the series, Daboll turned off all headsets to practice situational football,” Hughes explained. “What would happen if that happened in-game? Worked well.”
ESPN’s Jordan Raanan shared a video clip of this pass-and-catch when it occurred, calling it “Jaxson Dart’s best throw of camp.” Who knew it all stemmed from what Daboll referred to as a “unique” situational drill.
As Hughes went on to point out, Dart also made a mistake during the same drill and got hit with a “delay of game” penalty on the following series, but Daboll didn’t seem to mind this rookie error.
“I actually liked his thought process,” the Giants HC admitted, regarding the delay of game. “[Dart] was trying to install the play on the four-yard line there… something that he wanted to try.”
A smirking Daboll added that the latter attempt “didn’t work out so good.”
“That’s good for quarterbacks to be able to do that, and signal-callers,” Daboll noted. “You never know what’s going to happen in a game. A call gets put in late, something happens, the headsets are down. To be able to practice a situation like that — that could come up, maybe it does, maybe it doesn’t — but at least we’ve practiced it, we’ve talked about it, we’ve coached it, we’ve communicated through some things, [and] it’s also good to get a feel for what these guys call when they get an opportunity.”
Giants QB Jaxson Dart Shows Off Football IQ as Brian Daboll Displays Some Creativity
First off, it’s nice to see Daboll and the Giants’ coaching staff getting a little creative with these training camp practices.
Mastering situational football is generally crucial to winning and losing tight NFL games, and Big Blue has not always come up in the clutch in these moments over the past couple of seasons. So, hats off to Daboll for the idea.
As for Dart, this drill shows off his football IQ and intelligence. Half of being a successful quarterback is mental, and countless top draft picks have flunked out of the league because they weren’t able to wrap their heads around the portion of the game that’s played from the shoulders up.
Dart appears to have the knowledge to excel in this area of the game, once the physical traits and the field vision catch up.
Jaxson Dart Hits on 2 Highlight-Reel Throws at Giants Training Camp
Dart came out firing on July 31, and he connected on two beautiful highlight-reel throws downfield to the same receiver. “Giants Nation Show” podcaster Bobby Skinner shared videos of each on X.
The first was a tight window completion to a diving Montrell Washington. Dart’s ball literally leads Washington around a trailing defender, where only he can get it.
Later, Dart hit Washington again on more of a “sailing” ball near the sideline. Washington then made a leaping grab in between two defenders.
After practice, Skinner credited Dart with getting the ball out “on time,” something he’s been critical of the rookie for throughout training camp. It feels like the late-first-round pick has gotten better and better in every practice.
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