Fearful tourists in New York City tend to gravitate toward the bright and familiar. They avoid the city’s unique bistros and districts, and end up in Times Square eating the same tired burgers at the same tired old two-star chain restaurants they could’ve visited at home. They avoid risk, they avoid challenging themselves, and they waste money and precious time as a result.
In totally unrelated news, Russell Wilson made a thoroughly unremarkable debut for the New York Giants Sunday, losing to the Washington Commanders, 21-6. The 36-year-old Wilson finished with 168 yards passing on 17 of 37 attempts. Of the Giants' nine drives, six ended in punts and another by turnover on downs at the Washington 3-yard line. At the exact same time several hundred miles to the west, Daniel Jones, whom the Giants deemed unworthy of their starting job, spent three glorious hours absolutely torching Miami.
All of these factors combined — opportunities missed, opportunities squandered, opportunities lost — naturally lead Giants observers to look to the future. Specifically, the Giants’ likely future quarterback, Jaxson Dart.
The only question now is, how soon will that future arrive? Next year, next month or next week?
The game’s defining sequence came with just under three minutes remaining. Wilson guided the Giants all the way down to the Washington 3. (Yes, it was garbage time, but still.) Given a chance to at least salvage some dignity on the scoreboard, Wilson proceeded to throw four straight incomplete passes, and that was that.
Purely by coincidence, Tom Brady, who’s seen Wilson experience some frustration at the goal line before, was in the building calling the game. And his verdict on an earlier Wilson drive summed up the entire afternoon: “That’s what we call bad football.”
"Everybody, offensively, that's all of us, we've all got to be better," Giants head coach Brian Daboll said after the game. "Every coach, every player. You have six points there, just not good enough. We've got to do better there."
Oh, and just to twist the knife a bit more in the souls of Giants fans … none other than Jones, cast aside by the Giants after six spotty seasons, unleashed the hellhounds on Miami. Jones led his new team, the Indianapolis Colts, to an easy 33-8 win over Miami, in a game where he rushed for two touchdowns and threw for a third.
So when exactly is it Dart’s time? The Giants traded up to grab Dart with the 25th pick of this year’s draft. The quarterback from Ole Miss — the same alma mater as a certain other notable Giants QB — impressed his coaches with a 32-of-47, 372-yard, three-touchdown, no-INT preseason. That was enough to win the No. 2 designation Sunday over veteran Jameis Winston. NFL.com reported that the Giants even designed a package of plays for Dart, but that didn't come into play on Sunday.
Asked directly if he thought about putting Dart into the game, Daboll replied, simply, "I did not."
Daboll apparently wasn't the only one who wanted to keep Dart sidelined. When reporters attempted to speak with Dart afterward, Giants personnel apparently halted the Q&A, according to NJ Advance Media's Darryl Slater:
That's not a great look for the Giants, given the chaos swirling around the quarterback position. In other words, it's apparently dysfunctional business as usual in the Giants organization.
New York's next three games come against Dallas, Kansas City and the Los Angeles Chargers, meaning Wilson — and, hypothetically, Dart — will be facing uphill battles until Week 5 and New Orleans. Who will be under center for the Giants when that game arrives? Will the Giants go with the same-old, same-old, or opt to get adventurous?
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