The New York Giants were handed their first loss of the Jaxson Dart era on Sunday afternoon.
The rookie took over and led the Giants to a surprising win in his first start of his career in Week 4. But, in Week 5, things to a turn for the worse, as the Saints delivered Dart his first loss.
Jaxson Dart took blame for the Giants’ loss
In the contest, the Giants turned the ball over five times. Dart turned it over three times himself, fumbling once and throwing two interceptions.
The rookie took the podium after the game and took accountability for the Giants’ turnovers.
“I told as many guys as I can in the locker room that this one is on me, and I am going to get better. I expect myself to play better in the games and to win them,” Dart said to the media after the game.
When asked why he put the loss on himself when there were other people who contributed, he doubled down.
“I’m the leader of the offense, so I think that any time those things happen, it falls back on the leaders. I take that responsibility and I’m going to continue to have conversations with the guys, and we’re going to clean that stuff up.”
Dart is being hard on himself after his first loss, which is an encouraging sign from a leadership perspective. But he is hardly the first player to blame for the Giants’ loss, or even for a couple of his turnovers.
On one of his interceptions, undrafted rookie Beaux Collins seemed to stop running his route on the play or had some sort of miscommunication with Dart that prevented him from anticipating the target.
His other interception was a deep downfield shot on fourth down with no one open.
The fumble, though, was a cause of his own making. Dart will need to look at that moment and the rest of this game as a learning lesson.
There is a lot of blame to go around
At the end of the day, Dart was the least to blame for the Giants’ problems on Sunday. Sure, he turned the ball over three times, but one of those interceptions was basically an arm punt, and the other was the fault of the wide receiver.
Dart wasn’t perfect, and the fumble was his fault. But there are a lot of issues that plague the Giants right now, and their rookie quarterback having some growing pains is the least of them.
The Giants also committed a litany of penalties that hurt the quarterback’s chances to compete.
Nevertheless, Dart’s ability to take accountability is commendable and a good demonstration of his leadership.