The absurd fate of Brian Daboll, who watched from afar as his former player Josh Allen elevated himself to a new echelon in Buffalo while his own prize pupil in New York kept sliding backward. It gets weirder…that the moment the Giants finally cut ties with Daniel Jones (the QB Daboll was hired to fix), Jones looked as sharp as ever down in Indy. In just 2 games with the Colts, the seventh-year pro has tallied 588 passing yards, 2 TDs, and a blistering 71.4% completion percentage. His 9.4 yds per attempt leads the whole damn league. And yet, here we are.

Brian Daboll is still seething from Daniel Jones’ final season in New York, a messy affair that saw him complete 63.3% of his passes for 2,070 yards, 8 TDs, and 7 INTs. Is it a jinx, or is it just the way things go sometimes? And just this week, an NFL rumor tweet floated an idea that seemed both ludicrous and entirely fitting for this franchise’s recent history: “Brian Daboll could be FIRED as early as after Week 3 and Jaxson Dart could be placed on as starter.”

As Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer explains, the situation would have to truly unravel to a spectacular degree. “I don’t think so,” Breer said. “It’s just hard for me to see owner John Mara pulling the trigger on something like that,” Breer said. “Unless things have descended into a pretty serious level of chaos.” Mara would likely want to see what Daboll and his staff could do with the rookie QB, Jaxson Dart, on the field. The truth is, that’s what this is all about: the kid.

Dart’s presence has been a quiet ticking clock…His quest to be what the Giants drafted him to be has just begun, in a preseason game: 12 of 19, 159 YDs, and 1 TD vs. the Bills, but the waiting game gets tiresome when the team continues to lose in the regular season.

The plan all along has been to develop him using the blueprints for Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes. That’s the bar, the North Star. And to his credit, Dart has been doing the work.

He’s spent countless hours mimicking opposing QBs on the scout team, and every night, after the starters have gone home, he stays on the practice field with assistant quarterbacks coach Chad Hall to run through the entire first-team play script. But it seems you can’t outrun the noise when the banner planes are circling and the social media hounds are baying.

Dart, detours, and desperation

One has to be a special kind of fan to process this and come back with a sense of ironic detachment that the Giants faithful delivered. “They just drafted a rookie QB,” one fan quipped online, “so it does make a ton of sense to fire the head coach and make life harder on Dart. Great plan. Works all the time.”

It’s an absurd amount of pressure to place on a kid who had three whole snaps in a real NFL game. His very first play was a handoff to Cam Skattebo, a handoff that turned into a 24-yard run to the goal line. His presence forced the Cowboys to honor his running ability, adding a dimension to the ground game that had, up to that point, looked nonexistent.

As another fan chimed in with, “I’m not surprised. And Joe (Schoen) should go right along with him.” One fan, cutting right to the chase, lamented, “Nothing surprising about that. You have to win games, otherwise what is the point?!” The sentiment, though dripping with sarcasm, hits on a deeper truth. The G-Men have been stuck in the same frustrating cycle for years, and even a playoff win in Daboll’s first season now feels like a distant fever dream. The team’s 9-26 record since the start of 2023 has been the grim reality.

He calls for the rookie to be installed immediately, where he is also present, with one user simply stating, “Jaxson Dart’s time has come.” The most damning critique, however, came from a user who wrote, “Realizing way too late, Daboll has no successful resume. He left Buffolo, for Josh Allen only to get better when Daboll left. Daniel Jones was a mess, no confidence and thrown out of Jersey. He now is a true Danny Dimes far away from Metlife & not the mentor we thought in Daboll.”

The rub is also that the Giants and their veteran quarterback, Russell Wilson (As he made a big announcement on gym duties), who was slinging moonballs to the tune of a 40-37 loss against Dallas, are more desperate than ever for a win. Now they face Mahomes and an equally desperate Chiefs team that’s also unexpectedly 0-2.

As Dart puts it, “You got to prepare. The team’s going to put the best guys out there on the field.” So, will the Jinx break, or will Dart shine in some other team?