Week 15 was the worst week yet for Giants Quarterback Jaxson Dart. What has been possibly the greatest rookie quarterback season has been tainted by one really bad performance, where Dart threw 4 interceptions. We sat down with Dart and wanted to get his side of the story for what happened in this game. We will go through each clip and see what really happened.
From the perspective of Jaxson Dart: In the first interception, I believe I see a cover 3 look presnap so I know exactly who I am looking for. In this play, if I see a cover 3 look, the streak will be open immediately, with Nabers getting open if it is a cover 2 look. In man, the Johnson will get open, so either way someone should be open. I hike the ball and see Slayton wide open on the streak, my issue is I don’t immediately throw the ball which lets the defensive back creep up and get into position to step in front of the throw. That is on me for not throwing it immediately out of my step back, I hesitated and paid for it.
In the second interception, I set up the play that the drags will get open in zone and the corner route will get open with man. I have Nabers on the left side, so I trust that he will beat any corner on the field. Post snap I see that I have Nabers open, the issue is that the corner played outside overage and I overthrew the ball right to the corner. I have to take some heat off of the ball and throw to Nabers where he is instead. This one was on me and it came at the worst possible point in the game. The special teams just gave up a blocked field goal for a touchdown and now I overthrew Nabers on a play that would have been a big gain.
In the third interception, I saw 1-1 pressed coverage and trusted that my guy Slayton could beat his defender for a touchdown. I guessed the coverage correctly, the issue is that mid route Slayton was bumped which should have been a penalty, but anyway, bumped off his route and ran towards the sideline. He was still beating his defender easily, however, I didn’t have the throw power to complete the throw. I high balled the throw and gave it my all, but the throw was underthrown and quickly intercepted at the 1 yard line. This was such a disappointing play as that touchdown would have given us momentum going into the half where we were getting the ball.
On the final interception, this was similar to the first interception where I should have seen the route sooner and just mistimed the throw. I saw the defense look like a cover 2 shell so I added a post route for the slot receiver. My issue is that I waited too long and threw the ball when I assumed the defender was going to drop back. I should have thrown the ball off the bat given the space my receiver had. When I didn’t throw it then, I should have waited for the cut longer and threw it after he made his cut. I threw it right as he made his cut, the defender stepped in front and that was all she wrote.
In all, two of the interceptions were on my accuracy and throw power, with the other two on my decision making. I have done really well this year, but having a game like this especially versus a divisional opponent, just negates all the hard work I have done being the Giants quarterback. I have three more games left to prove that I can be the NFC rookie of the year and I will be giving it my best. My goal is to get to 6000 passing yards, 50 touchdowns, 15 interceptions. I know my team and my coach have confidence in me.
