NY Giants Game Balls and Gassers: Big Blue Crumbles in Third Straight Defeat
There can be no denying the harsh realities of losing, especially at home.
Rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart directed the New York Giants to a touchdown on their opening drive, just as he had done in three of his first five NFL starts.
However, that's where the San Francisco 49ers turned the tables and marched their way to a 34-24 victory at MetLife Stadium, dealing Dart his first home loss in three tries as a starter.
The Giants squandered two chances to alter the game flow in the final two minutes of the first half. But a dropped third-down conversion followed by a missed field goal is all the NIners needed to go into the intermission with a 17-7 lead and the confidence that the game was well in hand.
To his credit, Dart continued battling and directed the Giants on touchdown drives of 65 and 69 yards on their only two fourth-quarter possessions.
"It's not fun to lose," he said. "I have all the confidence in the world each and every week that we are going to win. ... I think we just need to play better football all around as a team, both sides of the ball, special teams.
"When you look at the whole spectrum, we just missed out on certain plays in all three phases. In this league, you can't do that. You have to be able to win at least two of them to win the game, and I think that they made more plays than we did in those three phases."
Dart remains a beacon of light during what's become a darkened season. He entered the NFL history books twice in this contest: Dart became the first-ever rookie to record both a passing and rushing touchdown in four consecutive games and joined Cam Newton (Carolina, 2011) as the only rookies to run for a TD in four straight contests.
The Giants dropped to 2-7 overall (2-4 with Dart as their starter) and will take an 0-5 road record into Chicago on Sunday.
Who deserves important plaudits and who needs to clean up their play after this performance against the 49ers?
Check out the latest edition of the Big Blue Breakdown podcast for this week's “Gameballs and Gassers” in the video above.
Giants Veteran Floated as Potential Trade Target for Vikings
NFL teams are in the final stage of what they want to do at the trade deadline, and that includes the Minnesota Vikings. At 4-4, Kevin O’Connell and his team are at the bottom of the NFC North, but remain in the conference’s playoff picture.
After beating the Detroit Lions in Week 9, the Vikings have a puncher’s chance not just to secure an NFC Wildcard spot, but possibly win the division if the situation goes their way. Moreover, Minnesota might not need to make a splashy move, but one that improves its depth.
With the season-ending injury to Carson Wentz, the Vikings don’t have a reliable veteran quarterback behind J.J. McCarthy. If the young player struggles or an injury should arise, there’s not much behind him.
As a result, CBS Sports NFL analyst Ran Carthon believes that New York Giants quarterback Russell Wilson would be an ideal last-minute target for Minnesota to have as insurance behind McCarthy.
“I like Russ here,”
“But adding a guy like Russell Wilson, if you think about Russell Wilson when he was at his best, he had a strong defense and weapons all around him. I think going to a team like Minnesota, not as a starter, but as a quality backup for them, they’re sitting at 4-4 right now.”
Would Russell Wilson Want to Go to Minnesota?
If Wilson were to head to the Vikings, he’d be in a similar situation as he’s currently in with the Giants, serving as a backup for a young quarterback. Nonetheless, Carthon sees this as an ideal fit for Wilson because, as of now, McCarthy hasn’t been able to stay healthy.
“[The Vikings are] not out of it in the division, and they’re not out of it in the wild card,” Carthon added. “I think if something were to happen with J.J. McCarthy because he hadn’t been able to stay healthy, having a veteran like Russell Wilson there could right the ship and keep them in contention come January…
“[And] to have the ability to throw to Justin Jefferson and [Jordan] Addison and [T.J. Hockenson] and be able to play with Aaron Jones and Jordan Mason. Those are all guys that are playing really good football at this point. And that would give him much better weapons than, I’ll say, what the Giants currently have.”
The Vikings Did Add a Veteran QB
While Wilson would be an interesting name to bring to the Vikings, Minnesota did make a move to bolster its depth at quarterback. On October 29,
Wolford played in seven NFL games and started four from 2020 to 2022, including a 2020 start with the Los Angeles Rams when O’Connell served as his offensive coordinator. It will be interesting to see if the Vikings feel that having rookie Max Brosmer and Wolford is enough depth behind McCarthy.
