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00:06multiple outlets have reported that jackson dart is expected to have knee surgery that will lead
00:12to a full recovery but it is going to end his 2026 season earlier before the news was confirmed
00:18i spoke with our giants beat writer for the post paul schwartz and here's paul what this
00:24means for the giants and of course dart's future
00:30everyone's going crazy with this news the speculation that's out there but john harbaugh
00:36said this to you guys the media on a zoom call after the adam shefter tweet that dart was more
00:43than likely going to miss the rest of the season i want fans to hear harbs and then let's get
00:48your
00:49reaction i'm not sure exactly what news uh or how anything's been stated but right now it's
00:57the evaluations are are ongoing we haven't uh got any final decisions yet we've learned a lot more
01:05i wouldn't uh really want to share too much until until decisions get made that takes more than one
01:13person takes everybody involved so when we know you know what direction we're going to have to go or go
01:19or whatever it might be uh we'll announce that but we don't have that yet so i don't want to
01:23get
01:23out over our skis on that can't really respond to every report that people make we gotta kind of work
01:30on our own timeline here all right paul so what's your reaction to what harb said and i guess let's
01:38get
01:38your thoughts on any potential timelines you may be hearing regarding darts injury as a whole
01:46well brandon i think people have to realize when an injury of this magnitude to this player at this
01:51time of the season happens it's not go to the giants go to their doctor see what he says and
01:59do it you
01:59know jackson dart has a whole representation he has an agent um they want to get second opinions they
02:04may want to get third opinions when when the prognosis and diagnosis is not what you want to hear
02:11sometimes you want to hear someone else either say that that's true or maybe there are other options
02:16i think what we know right now is that it's not an acl it is an mcl plus is the
02:23mcl shattered is it
02:25gone is there other damage is there a patella involved i don't know that but we know it's not
02:30an acl and it's more than an mcl an mcl would be like around three to five weeks so and
02:36that was the
02:36initial feeling you know these doctors can you know they can put you know brandon they can put
02:40their hand on your knee and say okay the acl is gone or the acl is intact then you do
02:46an x-ray and
02:47you say oh we got some sprain some strain of the mcl we think that's what it is but there's
02:52always a
02:53caveat always always always we need to see the scans the next day obviously the scans the next day
02:59tuesday or bad and so there's looking for second opinions third opinions i think what's happening
03:05right now is that in all likelihood jackson dart will have to have surgery and miss the rest of the
03:11season but there are since it's not a straight acl or you know rupture or something like that
03:18patellar rupture they're trying to look and investigate if we rest this if we do some rehab
03:23is there any way that he can sit out for a month or two and not have surgery and get
03:29back before the
03:30season ends that might be an option they decide to take but then brandon what are we looking at if
03:36it's no good then you miss all or most of next season so i think if something is done right
03:42now
03:42the chances would be good that he would be ready to play start of 2027 which is a must if
03:48you decide
03:48to wait a month or six weeks or however many weeks or months to hope that he can be back
03:55by the end of
03:56this year also what are you coming back to what season are you coming back to then you risk having
04:01to start then with a procedure and it screws up 2027 so there's a lot of moving parts but i
04:07think the
04:08final destination and decision will be you know what let's get this darn thing done now let's put it to
04:15rest now it's bad and we move ahead in 2027 you're up and running after hearing that i think i
04:22can speak
04:22for the entire fan base when it's like whichever option they choose whether it's rest rehab or
04:29surgery they all suck they all suck because he's going to miss uh significant time and paul the thing
04:37that gets me the most is like we were down there in training camp like we saw how john harbaugh
04:42was kind
04:43of building this machine and practice by practice day by day and it was all built around this kid
04:50this kid's second year how much could they get out of him and how much can they improve his game
04:56where they could take his game and then where he could take the franchise so him having to miss
05:01a significant amount of time regardless of whichever timeline that they true that they choose
05:08me being in the group chats and dms and stuff with giants fans they all it just it's it it
05:15sucks
05:15for them and that's just how the fan base uh feels but they did sign jamis winston to an extension
05:22before
05:23the season we all agreed that he kind of wasn't as sharp as he needed to be on monday night
05:28so is there
05:29anything you're hearing about what the giants could potentially do if jackson dart is indeed out for
05:36a significant time of the season or the remainder of the season well we know what they will do is
05:44hand
05:44the ball to jamis winston i mean he is the backup quarterback he's been here um he's he's look i
05:51understand former heisman trophy winner former number one pick in the draft you know we can put
05:56that all aside you know that's not who jamis winston is right now he never lived up to those lofty
06:01expectations you know he's got a poor record as a starting quarterback in the nfl i think he's got
06:06what 114 interceptions in the nfl hasn't started on a regular basis in several years um that's the
06:13bad news the good news is the giants feel they have one of the best backups in the league and
06:18john
06:18harbaugh has said as much so um look there's a pity party involved here uh there's there's a mourning
06:25and and you know i want to get this straight but it's not that someone passed away or someone's very
06:29sick but there is a fandom mourning period that goes on in the building and goes on among fans you
06:36mentioned that when something like this happens you mourn the loss of jackson dart and probably the
06:42loss of the season you hoped and thought might be possible but if if this team is as good as
06:51we
06:51thought it was with jackson dart then losing him doesn't mean that they're a pile of garbage right now
06:56right the defense has nothing to do with jackson dart although certainly if you score a lot of
07:01points it helps the defense so it's jamis winston's ball right now starting this week against the
07:07titans jake hayner will be brought up from the practice squad he's was with them for most of
07:12training camp he looked okay in the preseason he's a former fourth round pick of the saints he's 27 years
07:18old is he the answer i highly highly doubt it so i'm sure the giants antenna is up for other
07:23options
07:24to play behind or to sign to the practice squad till he gets in in rhythm you know they'll have
07:31to
07:31bring in somebody else to the practice squad now is that a young guy look the options aren't great
07:35you're going to trade for joe flacco he's on the bangles bench you know he's 100 years old he had
07:40great success with um with with the ravens and with john harbaugh i don't see that happening you to
07:47trade with the vikings for carson wentz i don't see that happening i don't know if they want to trade
07:52for
07:52anybody um you know jake browning is on the open market uh jimmy garoppolo has i guess not retired
07:59you know will levis is on the jets practice squad you know these are not good options um but they
08:04are
08:04options they will have to bring in another quarterback and so they will bring in one of
08:08them but right now but and you need another quarterback because as we saw with jackson dart you
08:13know jamis winston potentially can be the quarterback for the next 15 games here but oh by the way he's
08:19not
08:19superman he can get hurt the odds of him starting this week and playing the next 15 games are not
08:26high
08:26because that's what happens with quarterbacks and he's not the most mobile guy as we know so you need
08:31a better third option probably than jake hayner in time and i'm sure that's what they'll do jamis
08:37winston 36 and 53 as a starting quarterback uh over the years right now he's oh and two as a
08:44uh as a
08:44starter for the giants uh going into his second year second second 30 second year with it with the
08:50team uh so let's let's go back to dart because i wasn't even thinking about this particular question
08:55or topic paul until i saw something online let's say he is out for the season how does that shape
09:03how you the rest of the media the fan base the franchise how do how does that shape how they
09:10see
09:11or you guys see dart's future with the franchise look everyone wants eli manning right who starts
09:19210 games 222 including the playoffs was benched he never got hurt you want that you you know you
09:26plug him in you forget about him for the next 15 years or so not forget about him but you
09:31forget
09:31about meeting a starting quarterback that's the exception not the rule go back and look at phil sims
09:37early career he was a first round draft pick injuries losing injuries missed time giants stuck
09:43with him and they were rewarded uh so i think jackson dart is firmly in their plans in 2027 if
09:51he misses
09:51the rest of this 2026 season um is he injury prone now well he missed two games in concussion protocol
10:00as a rookie correct and a lot of that was due to recklessness and over aggressiveness um too much
10:07running too much macho too much trying to prove how tough he was he was 22 years old and a
10:13rookie
10:13that's what rookies do they you know i remember josh allen diving head first into the end zone and
10:19getting hurt you know that's what rookies do they're rambunctious and they want to do too much
10:23the jackson dart i saw in the preseason in training camp and certainly in the opener against the cowboys
10:28had learned his lesson it was much more mature at the ripe old age of 23 and i think jackson
10:35dart was
10:35going to be headed for a season where he was making incredibly smart decisions and not being reckless
10:42with his body and oh by the way if it's third and six in the fourth quarter and you need
10:47a first down
10:48he's going to do everything possible to get that first down but in the first quarter he's going to
10:53you know be smarter about things like that but that's in the past right now as far as jackson dart
11:01on the field i think he's firmly in their plans for 2027 but you do have to wonder and i
11:07wrote this
11:08in the new york post is he going to be a guy who ever plays 17 games in a season
11:12for the giants was this
11:14his fault now you can say he dropped too far back in the pocket he was in shotgun and he
11:19dropped maybe
11:2010 12 steps back and the two you know defensive ends you know met him basically and high load him
11:27and but that was an in pocket injury you cannot do much about that he got his feet off the
11:33turf
11:33so it wasn't like you know his foot was was planted and he got all bent out of shape or
11:38anything
11:38like that this was an injury this was an impact injury it happens it's unfortunate uh so i don't
11:45think the giants are going to go and do everything possible to get uh you know get a first round
11:49pick
11:49or trade up and get a quarterback next year you never know but um this certainly doesn't help his
11:55long-term development but i think you know harbaugh saw enough of jackson darton well he will want
12:01him to be his quarterback in 2027 when we talk about the harbaugh effect and what he's been able to
12:08do
12:08so far as a giants head coach the way he handled the whole abdul carter jackson dart trump situation
12:14dexter lawrence demanding a trade right before the start of uh spring workouts and then just the way
12:21he's brought structure and hope to the franchise he was brought in and paid a lot of money for these
12:26type of devastations that this franchise and fan base has gone through throughout the past season so
12:32if dart is out for the season and he doesn't have his qb1 do you feel like that changes the
12:39way the
12:39media and fans will look at and judge john harbaugh's first season as a giants head coach no because
12:51we may think the expectations are different now but now look a coach is handed an assignment right and
12:59the assignment is not these are your 53 players and you're going to have them all season and let's
13:04see what you can do with them that's not the assignment the assignment is to take the roster
13:08make it as strong as possible and then coach that roster and when guys go down it is your assignment
13:15as
13:16the head coach to find suitable replacements and options and then coach those players as best you can
13:22and so while the win total from maybe a high pie in the sky of 10 is now six or
13:30seven in the minds of
13:31a lot of fans the expectations for john harbaugh should not change get the absolute best out of
13:37your roster and um you know in good times and in bad right it's like any relationship right you sign
13:43or
13:43you make an oath in good times and it's bad um this is now bad this is now you know
13:48temporarily right
13:49now it's bad and maybe long term it's bad as far as the quarterback situation and i don't think you
13:55know i don't put this on a head coach and say look you got to find a way to win
13:58no matter who you have
13:59because um coaches are geniuses when they have great head great quarterbacks and they become less
14:06genius when they have not great quarterbacks look at the situation you know all around the league a lot
14:11of places bill belichick is a genius for a million different reasons and the first one is he had tom
14:17brady
14:17and when he didn't have tom brady he was not so much of a genius that's just the way it
14:21is you
14:22know and so but john harbaugh is is is a is a successful proven head coach he's dealt with this
14:31before maybe not to this extreme losing his bonafide starting quarterback two games into the season
14:37but you know we heard him the other day you know you get punched in the gut you're going to
14:42get up
14:42look i expect him to say these things i don't expect him to say
14:47we'll do the best we can look jamis is okay we'll do the best we can we'll hope to squeeze
14:53out a few
14:53wins here this is what i wrote in the new york post and i tweeted it if the giants roster
14:58is not good
14:59enough with jamis winston to go out and beat the titans at home on sunday then maybe the whole darn
15:05operation is not as good as we thought it was right find a way to beat the titans in an
15:09ugly game
15:10win 20 to 17 win 17 13 win 30 to 29 whatever it is the titans aren't very good and
15:18i know you know
15:19we'll talk about it all these guys coming back and dayball and some of the players they have we get
15:23it
15:24but they're not very good and the giants are favored and the giants are home and jamis winston is not
15:30a
15:30bum um now one thing i will ask you before we close out here okay as as a player in
15:36the nfl right a wide
15:37receiver right not a starting player how often did you get reps with the starting quarterback answer
15:43me that uh let's see that that dolphins year i got a lot paul because we didn't dress that many
15:51wide receivers and we knew like you would have the next man up type mentality if someone went down like
15:57a devon best or tegan jr that's what happened during the wild card playoff game against john
16:03harbaugh's ravens uh during the 20 2007 season but it happened 2008 uh those playoffs we only
16:10dressed four receivers that game and i believe greg camarillo got hurt and went down i think it was
16:16camarillo so now you're down to three receivers so i played that entire game i had four catches that
16:22game but i had already i felt comfortable going into that game because we were already rotating wide
16:27receivers let me rephrase the question how much work you think jamis winston got since the regular
16:34season preparation with the starters i think very little right it's just you know very little right
16:41not as much not like going back and looking at it i don't remember seeing a lot of well malachi
16:46fields
16:47was kind of running with the twos and threes before he became a one so you got some same thing
16:52with odell
16:52beckham jr he was going with with jamis so there's at least two of them in there that have gone
16:58with
16:58jamis but just in terms of all right these are the ones this is how we're doing snap count this
17:03now
17:03now jamis is the guy now no then they haven't gotten that many but because of who the giants wide
17:11receivers are and the way that they had different receivers going with different quarterbacks you know
17:18throughout training camp there has been some work but it's different you know they just haven't had
17:23that much game speed with them right i mean i look i think a lot of the alarm i mean
17:28look there's
17:28incredible alarm if you're going to lose jackson dark for the season there's no question about it
17:32but a lot of the immediate alarm is oh my god jamis looks so bad against the rams on monday
17:36yeah you
17:37know if he played better you say okay we got a chance we weren't good enough to beat the rams
17:41we got a
17:41chance jamis didn't look really ready and in sync and he just didn't look comfortable you know i don't you
17:47know he did you know and he's a veteran who knows you know on the first or second snap you
17:52need to
17:52come in possibly so he knows that that is his role he did not really look like he was ready
17:57for that
17:57role on monday night so that is an issue which i get but uh the game plan for jackson dart
18:02and the
18:03game plan for jamis winston are going to look very different so on a dime they had to change matt
18:08nagy
18:08had to change the play calling you had to throw out a lot of stuff read options you had to
18:13throw that
18:13stuff out and and get rid of the stuff that jackson dart uses uh has with his legs and um
18:19you know
18:19try to you know quickly flood the game plan with stuff that jamis winston does well he will get every
18:25snap with the starters this week starting today wednesday um that is very different than when he did
18:31the last few weeks so i expect jamis to be better on sunday um could be a nor'easter and
18:38a downpour and
18:39maybe passing might be a moot point but i'm just saying that i don't excuse jamis winston for playing
18:45poorly against the rams on monday night because his job is to come in and function at a higher level
18:50than that but i understand why it was a tough spot and i believe he will be better and we
18:56will see a
18:56better version of jamis winston with a game plan tailored directly to him with with a full week with
19:03the offensive line and a full week of the reads and the checks and a full week with the receivers
19:08um you know and and um oh by the way this is not we're talking about today but can the
19:14giants
19:14defense go out and stop someone and stop the running game and make it easier for their quarterback
19:19that's their mission right now they have to look themselves in the eyes and say okay our dynamic
19:25young quarterback's not here anymore we got to eke out and squeeze out some wins with a better
19:30defensive effort so be it there's too many games left to go in the tank so it's on everybody to
19:35play
19:35better and then jamis to do his thing to best of his ability and you know the next two or
19:40three
19:40weeks here they should be able to win a few games against the softer part of their schedule great job
19:46teasing our thursday preview blue rush preview show because you know we're going to have to call out
19:53the defense on hey this is your team again wanted to know what the defense is going to look like
19:58this
19:58year you don't have the quarterback that you thought you were going to have so now defense is going to
20:03have to make a lot more stops than what were was initially intended we'll talk about that and more
20:08on thursday in our blue rush preview show heading out to practice now hopefully we get some sort of
20:14official word for you guys but thank you for watching another episode an emergency episode of blue rush
20:22by the new york post sports
20:23by the new york post sports
20:25you