Jaxson Dart has shown flashes of excellence throughout his rookie season. At the same time, he’s shown just how reckless a player he can be. He takes big hits weekly, usually because he’s reluctant to slide or get down when a play is over. As a result, he’s already suffered a concussion and has been evaluated four times for possible concussions this year.
Advertisement
Every football fan wants to see Dart on the field. The New York Giants aren’t always the most exciting team to watch, but he makes them bearable, and at times, even fun. That’s why many reporters and pundits have urged him to tone down his aggressiveness.
However, Dart is committed to his style of play. “This is football. I’m going to get hit if I’m in the pocket or outside the pocket,” he told the media after MNF.
The QB went on to say more, essentially outlining that he can take the hits and has always played this way. But analyst Emmanuel Acho couldn’t get past the first few sentences. Acho said he thought the argument was dumb.
“Somebody tell Jaxson Dart the most valuable lesson I’ve learned: Youth is wasted on the young,” Acho began via Speakeasy.
“Because when you’re young, you do dumb stuff like this. ‘It’s football.’ Jaxson Dart, what color jersey do you wear at practice?… Understand your value. Dart, you can’t afford to get hurt. You get hurt, the whole ship sinks,” he added.
Now, to be fair, the Giants’ ship has mostly already sunk. They’re 2-11, have lost seven straight games, and fired Brian Daboll just a few weeks ago. So, there’s not much to lose at this point in the season.
Still, nobody wants to see Dart get injured. That’s why Acho wanted to drill into the young QB’s head that he doesn’t need to prove he’s a tough guy.
“Don’t prove you’re a tough guy, because with all due respect, you’re not as tough as your linemen, or your backers, or running backs, or your tight ends. And you don’t have to be. You’re more valuable than all of them!” Acho exclaimed. “I don’t need this faux toughness. I don’t need this pseudo toughness.”
At the end of the day, though, it’ll unfortunately take a few more injuries for Dart to realize his mistakes. Maybe this style of play is fine in a lost season with no stakes on the line. But if the Giants are ever competing for a playoff spot in future seasons, the team will undoubtedly force him to tone down his aggressive nature.
It shouldn’t be that hard to teach Dart when to put his body on the line and when not to. On Monday, he got drilled on the sidelines trying to gain a few extra yards. But it was second down going on third, and he didn’t need to fight for them. Moments like that are when coaches need to teach Dart to step out of bounds and try for the first down on the next play.
