If the Giants were hoping for a smooth quarterback transition after Jaxson Dart went down, Jameis Winston did not exactly make it look seamless. Thrown into the Rams game, Winston completed just 11 of 27 passes as New York failed to find the end zone, which apparently was enough evidence that one healthy quarterback behind him was not going to cut it. Enter Jake Haener, who had only joined the Giants in August after being released by Kansas City and has barely seen an NFL field since 2024.

Now, with Dart done for the regular season, Winston gets the starting job, and Haener gets promoted to the active roster as his backup. Not exactly the succession plan New York would have drawn up in August, but here they are.

According to NFL insider Ian Rapoport on September 26, New York addressed that need ahead of Sunday’s Week 3 matchup against the Tennessee Titans. “The #Giants signed QB Jake Haener to the active roster and he’ll be the backup on Sunday,” Rapoport wrote.

Dart kept the Giants’ offense moving against Dallas. New York opened with a 10-play, 83-yard touchdown drive and converted nine of its first 10 third downs. Dart converted four third downs of nine yards or more, including a 16-yard completion to Malik Nabers late in the first half and a 12-yard completion to Isaiah Likely in the fourth quarter. He finished 23 of 29 for 230 yards and three touchdowns, while adding 54 rushing yards.

Against the Rams, that changed seven snaps into the game. On third-and-8 of the Giants’ opening drive, Dart dropped back and launched a deep pass under pressure before Byron Young and Josaiah Stewart hit him from opposite sides. The force of Stewart’s contact pushed Dart’s left knee inward, and the quarterback immediately grabbed at it before leaving for evaluation.

Winston took over from there and got the Giants across midfield on six of nine possessions, including two trips to the red zone, but New York scored only six points. He completed 11 of 27 passes for 111 yards, threw an interception, and finished with a 37.3 passer rating. The offense could move the ball, but it could not finish drives.

That now becomes Winston’s problem to solve as the starter. Behind him, Haener gives the Giants another option, but not much certainty. His NFL résumé consists of eight appearances, one start, 226 passing yards, one touchdown and one interception, and he did not take a regular-season snap in 2025.

His college production was stronger. At Fresno State, Haener threw for 9,013 yards and 67 touchdowns while completing 68.1% of his passes across three seasons. But that success is several years removed from what New York may need now. If Winston struggles or gets hurt, the Giants would be turning to a quarterback who has barely played meaningful NFL football, making Haener more of a depth solution than a proven fallback.

And the Giants’ problems are not limited to quarterback.

Brian Burns is questionable with an ankle injury after missing practice all week, while Deonte Banks and Tyler Nubin are also questionable with calf issues. That leaves New York potentially weakened at pass rush and in the secondary at the same time it is already trying to adjust without Dart. Malik Nabers and Andrew Thomas remain on the injury report as well, although neither carries a game designation.

Analysts are already pulling back on the Giants after one ugly night in Los Angeles. ESPN focused on Winston’s accuracy problems and how badly the offense missed Dart’s running threat, while CBS Sports warned that Dart’s injury could wipe out the momentum New York built in Week 1.

NFL.com went a step further in its Week 3 picks. Three of its five analysts picked Tennessee to beat New York, with predicted scores of 17-14, 19-17 and 17-16. Gennaro Filice argued that the Giants had gone from the optimism of their Dallas win to a “devastating gut punch” after losing Dart, and also pointed to Brian Burns’ ankle injury as another blow. Only two NFL.com analysts backed New York, and neither projected the Giants to score more than 19 points.

Fans were even less diplomatic.

The common reaction was that Dart had been hiding more problems than anyone wanted to admit. One fan called the difference between Dart and Winston “absolutely staggering,” while others went after the pass rush, secondary, tackling and both lines getting pushed around. Some even argued the run game stopped working once defenses no longer had to worry about Dart taking off. So the mood has gone from “maybe this team is onto something” to “how much of Week 1 was actually Dart covering the cracks?”

Giants Coach Makes Sets Expectations For The Team

2026 is John Harbaugh’s first season as the Giants’ head coach, and Week 2 was his first loss with the team. During the post-game media availability, Harbaugh praised Winston for the effort he put in during the game but warned that the team’s overall performance had been below expectations.

“It’s tough to come in, (but Winston) executed and he operated well,” Harbaugh said to ESPN. “But as a group, as a team, we just didn’t do what we needed to do to even have a chance to win the game. We didn’t play up to that level across the board.”

The head coach wasn’t the only one that felt that way. The Rams blocked the Giants at every turn on the field, and running back Cam Skattebo, who managed just 36 yards across 12 carries, was also frustrated.

“No excuses,” Skattebo said. “They outperformed us, they out-executed us, and we just need to go back to the film room and fix some things.”

Now, whether Winston and the team can show what they’re really capable of against the Tennessee Titans on Sunday will provide some insight into how the NFC East team will fare in 2026. Otherwise, this could be the beginning of a string of losses for the Giants this season.