Another post-Eli Manning nightmare for Giants and their fans as Jaxson Dart feared done for season

After winning two Super Bowl championships with Eli Manning at quarterback, it appears the New York Giants franchise and their fans are cursed to be the NFL's Sisyphus, pushing the boulder, which represents their hopes, up and down the NFL's hill for eternity. 

New York went five postseason-less years after Manning's last playoff game in 2016, a crushing 38-13 defeat in the NFC wild card round at the Green Bay Packers, before coming close to climbing the hill in 2022. That's when quarterback Daniel Jones and running back Saquon Barkley helped lead the Giants to a 31-24 wild-card round road upset of the NFC North champion Minnesota Vikings. The crash back down came once again the following week with a 38-7 divisional round defeat at the Eagles that revealed exactly how far away that iteration of the Giants truly was from contending.

Fast forward to 2026, and the Giants had hope once again. Things appeared to be different with New York's offensive core of second-year quarterback Jaxson Dart, Pro Bowl wide receiver Malik Nabers, bowling ball running back Cam Skattebo and tight end Isaiah Likely under new Super Bowl-winning head coach John Harbaugh. They punched the Dallas Cowboys, a longtime New York bully under quarterback Dak Prescott, in the mouth in a physical, 28-20 "Sunday Night Football" victory in which they limited Prescott's high-flying offense to just two drives in the second half. The Giants won the time of possession battle 36:40 to 23:20 after converting on 9 of their 11 third downs, with one of Dallas' "stops" being the kneel down on the game's final play. That stood as New York's most efficient, single-game third-down production since 1978. 

After a 28-6 Week 2 defeat on "Monday Night Football" against the Los Angeles Rams, the boulder has come crashing down once again. Dart exited the game with a knee injury that was initially believed to be a sprained MCL. Now, ESPN reported the 23-year-old could miss "an extended period of time, possibly the season" after testing came back worse than anticipated. Harbaugh said, via ESPN, on Tuesday, that "evaluations are ongoing" and that the team has "learned a lot more."

It's a shame given the promise Dart flashed: he is the only quarterback in NFL history with 18-plus passing touchdowns (18) and 9-plus (9) rushing touchdowns in his first 14 career starts, per CBS Sports Research. In the Week 1 victory over Dallas, Dart became just the third quarterback in Giants history with 3-plus passing touchdowns (3) and 50-plus rushing yards (54) in a game, joining Phil Simms (1988) and Fran Tarkenton (1967 and 1968).

Unfortunately for New York, it appeared the injury bug was going to bite Dart sooner or later, as it has every Giants primary starting quarterback post-Manning. He has been evaluated in the blue medical tent in 44% of his NFL starts, including the preseason, per CBS Sports Research. Dart's previous six blue tent visits were for concussion evaluation before his knee injury sidelined him on Monday night. Manning once made 210 consecutive regular-season starts, but both quarterbacks New York has drafted in the first round in an attempt to replace him as their franchise quarterback, Jones and Dart, haven't been able to stay healthy. In the one year Jones was fully healthy in 2022, New York reached the divisional round. Dart missed two games with a concussion a year ago, and there's a chance he doesn't play again this season. 

Life without Dart

Now, the Giants (1-1) will turn to 2015 NFL Draft first overall pick Jameis Winston at the age of 32-years-old. New York re-signed him to a $13.5 million extension with $12.24 million guaranteed on Sept. 7 to be their Dart insurance. Winston averages the sixth-most passing yards per game (270.0) as a starting quarterback in NFL history, minimum 25 career starts, per CBS Sports Research. However, he's been on a downswing of late, which is why he is a backup now. He came off the bench in relief of Dart on Monday and struggled, completing just 11 of his 27 passes (40.7%) for 111 yards and an interception while getting sacked twice. Winston has more turnovers (22) than total touchdowns (21) as a starter since 2022, and Week 2 represented his sixth consecutive game with an interception dating back to 2024, with 11 total interceptions in this 6-game stretch. 

Since New York drafted Dart 25th overall in the 2025 NFL Draft, they haven't won a game he didn't start, going 0-5 in Winston's and now-CBS Sports NFL analyst Russell Wilson's combined starts. 

Unless Dart is able to miraculously return later on this season, the Giants and their fanbase will spend another year carrying the boulder from the bottom of the hill in 2026.