The New York Giants are coming off their first victory of the season.
They visit a New Orleans Saints team still in search of its first victory Sunday afternoon.
The Giants (1-3) were successful in rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart’s debut when they defeated the visiting and previously undefeated Los Angeles Chargers 21-18 last Sunday.
Dart, whom New York selected with the 25th pick in the first round of the 2025 draft, was unspectacular in his debut as Russell Wilson’s replacement, but he played well enough by completing 13 of 20 passes for 111 yards and a touchdown and rushing 10 times for 54 yards and a 15-yard touchdown to cap his team’s first drive.
The quarterback’s performance energized a team that was hearing rumblings about the job status of fourth-year head coach Brian Daboll.
“It was just one game,” Dart said. “Our expectation and thought process is to win every game. You can’t make it anything bigger than what it is and you’ve got to prepare the right way.”
Dart was sacked five times by the Chargers and said he could have been “a little bit cleaner in the pocket and a little quicker in my progressions.”
Daboll and Dart will have to continue without the help of star wide receiver Malik Nabers, who suffered a season-ending knee injury against the Chargers.
“You can’t replace a player like that,” Dart said. “But we’ve got a lot of good guys on our team who are going to be willing to step up and they have to step up.”
Dart said he met “multiple times” with the Saints, who had the ninth pick in the first round, leading up to the draft and thought New Orleans was “a place that could have panned out.”
But the Saints passed on him to draft tackle Kelvin Banks Jr., then grabbed quarterback Tyler Shough with the No. 40 overall pick in the second round.
The Saints (0-4) also are looking for a boost from a young quarterback in second-year player Spencer Rattler, who won a close preseason competition with Shough to be the starter.
Rattler has played well enough for New Orleans to be in a one-score game in the fourth quarter of three of the team’s four losses.
“Spencer’s done a nice job and he’s grown a ton through his journey,” Saints head coach Kellen Moore said. “With a young quarterback nothing’s going to be perfect, but he’s put us in a position to win (three) games. We just haven’t gotten it done.”
Dart’s yards-per-pass average in his debut (5.6) was among the lowest in the NFL, but it was higher than Rattler’s (5.2) this season. Rattler is completing 67.1 percent of his passes for 191.3 yards per game with five touchdowns and one interception.
Rattler rushed six times for 49 yards in a 31-19 loss at Buffalo last week, both of which were the most he has produced in 11 career games, including 10 starts. New Orleans has yet to win any of his starts.
“Spencer and I are 0-4,” said Moore, who’s in his first season. “We’re all chasing wins. We know what’s most important. He’s headed in the right direction. It’s just a matter of time before he gets that opportunity (to win), which he deserves.”
New Orleans won the most recent meeting, 14-11, in New York on Dec. 8, 2024 and have captured seven of the last ten meetings in the series.
Moore said two Saints starters that missed practice Wednesday — defensive end Chase Young (calf) and guard Cesar Ruiz (ankle) — won’t play Sunday. Two other starters — tight end Juwan Johnson (ankle) and guard Trevor Penning (ankle) — also missed practice.
Two Giants starters — defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence (illness) and safety Tyler Nubin (groin) — missed practice for health reasons.
