Disaster struck East Rutherford when New York Giants starting quarterback Jaxson Dart was ruled out for the remainder of the season after suffering a knee injury seven snaps into Week 2.
In an instant, all the hope and optimism surrounding the G-Men in John Harbaugh’s first year as head coach took a massive hit. Fortunately, Harbaugh and Co. built this offense to be a ground-and-pound unit anyway, so the basic game plan doesn’t necessarily have to change with Jameis Winston under center.
The problem is defenses now have significantly less reason to respect the passing game, and if New York is going to run it down teams’ throats without Dart, the interior offensive line is going to have to be a whole lot better than it’s been through three games.
Giants’ interior offensive line could become a major problem without Jaxson Dart
The Giants’ backfield isn’t necessarily designed to flourish outside the tackles. Sure, Cam Skattebo, Najee Harris, Tyrone Tracy Jr., and Devin Singletary can bounce the ball outside, but Harbaugh’s a north-south kind of guy, and his top two backs are hit-the-hole, up-the-middle runners.
If they’re not getting the support they need from the interior guys on the line, life without Dart will only get harder. And the early returns aren’t exactly inspiring:
Player | Overall PFF grade | PFF run-defense grade |
|---|---|---|
John Michael Schmitz | 53.7 (24/32) | |
Jon Runyan Jr. | 45.2 (65/73) | |
Francis "Sisi" Mauigoa | 53.4 (54/73) |
There’s obviously no need for panic... yet. Big Blue enters Week 4 averaging 118.3 rushing yards per game, the 11th most in the league. However, the cracks started showing against Tennessee, when Skattebo needed 20 carries to claw and scrape his way to a measly 60 yards.
The frustrating part is that Schmitz’s and Runyan’s struggles aren’t exactly breaking news. This has been a theme we’ve known about long before this season, which only makes the Giants’ decision to run it back with both even harder to understand. And now it's coming back to bite them.
And Winston hasn’t exactly given opposing defenses a reason not to stack the you-know-what out of the box. Famous Jameis has completed just 51% of his throws for 229 yards, no touchdowns, and one interception across essentially two games since Dart went down.
As the offense becomes more one-dimensional and predictable, those already ugly grades could become an even bigger problem.
New York did throw a very interesting wrinkle into the equation on Monday by trading a 2027 fifth-round pick for former top-10 pick J.J. McCarthy. His mobility and athleticism should at least give Big Blue another option if Winston’s arm struggles continue, although Harbaugh has already named the 32-year-old his Week 4 starter against Arizona.
Whether it’s Winston or eventually McCarthy, this offense is still going to (literally) run through Skattebo and the ground game.
And if Schmitz, Runyan, and Mauigoa can’t start creating more running lanes from the inside, losing Dart might expose a problem that was already there the whole time.
Add us as a preferred source on Google