New York Giants fans talked themselves into hope this season. A veteran quarterback in Russell Wilson. A rookie in Jaxson Dart, who looked like he might grow into something. Instead, Wilson is on the sideline, Dart hasn’t taken the leap yet, and the offense has been looking for answers all year. But at least now, Dart feels like he’s being heard.

“Our coaching staff is great, and they’ve been great from the moment I got here, with that communication. And, I know that as a rookie, that’s not always the case to have those conversations and heart-to-hearts. It’s something that I definitely respect,” the rookie said.

Fair enough. Most rookies don’t get that kind of access. But most rookies also aren’t handed the keys at quarterback. Dart is, whether the results are there yet or not. He’s the direction this franchise chose, so it makes sense that the staff is listening to him, not just coaching him.

“You just go back and communicate with the coaching staff and have those conversations, and being able to clean up on some things individually and just as an offense, try to just do our best to get back in sync,” Dart remarked.

Because right now, they’re not synced. The Giants rank 23rd in points per game and 20th in passing yards. Last week against Minnesota, the offense barely functioned. Twelve first downs. Zero-point-seven yards per pass attempt. They went 0-for-3 in the red zone. Dart finished 7-of-13 for 33 yards, which was his career-worst production.

The tension with Dart has always been the same. He’s fearless, runs like a linebacker, throws like he’s trying to force the issue, and believes he can win every snap by will alone. But there’s too much risk there. That’s where communication comes in.

Perhaps we’ll start to see that alignment this week against the Raiders in what will be the battle for the first overall pick.

Giants still have something to play for

A year ago, the Giants and Raiders were staring at each other from the bottom of the standings, locked in a race no one wants to win. Somehow, here we are again.

It’s a strange spot for the Giants. They haven’t won a road game since October 2024, and they carry a nine-game losing streak into Las Vegas this weekend. So this isn’t just about draft positioning but breaking that age-old curse.

A lot of that hinges on what kind of day Jaxson Dart has. When he’s steady, the Giants at least look functional. When he’s not, it falls apart almost instantly. He’s been talking through it with interim head coach Mike Kafka and leaning on veterans Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston.

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The hope is that some of that perspective starts to translate, because it’s high time now. Jaxson Dart is feeling the weight of this the same way the fan base is.

“We’re sick of losing, so we definitely are just wanting to get that (winning) feeling back,” Dart said. “It’s hard to go week to week and have these close games where you put in a ton of hard work and things just haven’t really paid off for us this year. “It’ll be huge for us these last two weeks to give everything we can to try to go get a win.”

It looks clear that they’ll go all out. And if they still come up short, Giants fans will be left doing the mental math again about the draft orders.