The New York Giants wrapped up their perfect preseason with a 3-0 record, demolishing the New England Patriots 42-10 in the final game. With eyes set on the regular season, let's look back on what may have surprised you most in August.
Related: 5 biggest winners (and 3 losers) from Giants' unprecedented preseason
There is a ton to unwrap here. The expectation for Big Blue at the beginning of training camp was that they were going to be a bad but slightly competitive team. They were going to hang in games that they shouldn't, but not be good enough to squeak out those hard wins.
But this preseason showed that they are much more than that. There is a charisma with this squad, an aura of them being better than what everyone labeled them to be. For the next couple of months, the G-Men are going to be underdogs, which is exactly where they want to be.
3 biggest Giants preseason surprises
1. Dart is the future
Right off the bat, there is no denying that Jaxson Dart is the future leader of Big Blue. This kid came into camp with an expectation that he would be a few years away from being the starting quarterback or seeing any kind of regular-season playing time.
After these past three preseason games, that has all changed. It is an argument to be made that the Giants have three starting quarterbacks on their roster right now, as Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston both played exquisitely over the last three meaningless games.
In all three games, Dart showed off by throwing 32/47, 372 yards, and three touchdown tosses. He did have one fumble, and no interceptions, unlike the rest of the QB room.
Dart has a very good chance of starting this season, depending on where head coach Brian Daboll wants to place him on the depth chart. Wilson will be the starter until he cannot keep this team in a positive light, but the battle for backup is a 50/50 right now.
2. Daboll is making the right decisions
This organization is turning the corner to being back in the limelight once again. With all that happening quickly, it seems like head coach Brian Daboll is starting to make all the right calls right now.
This should come off as surprising, as many believed that former quarterback Daniel Jones was being led astray because of the play calls happening from his head coach. But, it has become evident that it was not the HC's doing for Jones' lackluster play.
Even with three solid quarterbacks at his disposal, Dabs is using each of them to their strengths and trying to disguise their weaknesses. This is what Giants fans have been wishing for since he came over from developing Josh Allen and helping the Buffalo Bills become relevant once again.
3. Defense is elite
This defense is as advertised. They are mean, fast, and have the confidence that they can be a top-five defense in the National Football League. As the regular season starts to get going, opposing offenses will pray they don't face the wrath of this unit.
As well as the offense has been this preseason, the same argument can be made for the defense, which has seemingly filled itself out in the last game against New England. That was about as much of a finished product as you were gonna see on opening night, September 7 against Washington.
Abdul Carter has shined through in his first few games, and fans should be excited about seeing a full game from him. In fact, the entire front-seven has been the highlight so far, but don't sleep on the secondary.