ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Promising but far from perfect was rookie first-round draft pick Jaxson Dart’s assessment of making his preseason debut at quarterback in the New York Giants’ 34-25 win over the Buffalo Bills on Saturday.
“There’s definitely moments where I feel like I did some good stuff, but I’m excited to look back on the tape and look at the things I can clean up,” the 22-year-old said following an outing in which he led three scoring drives on four first-half possessions, which led to two field goals and a touchdown.
“I just felt like the only reason that we stopped ourselves from scoring touchdowns were just some of those third downs and not converting,” Dart added. “I feel like personally I’m really hard on myself so in those moments I want to capitalize on that.”
The outing, overall, provided the Giants an encouraging glimpse into not only their future, with Dart, but also their present with veteran Russell Wilson also making his playing debut.
The 36-year-old Wilson — New York’s anticipated season-opening starter — was efficient in running the Giants’ quick-strike passing attack by going 6 of 7 for 28 yards in an opening drive ending with Graham Gano’s 53-yard field goal.
Dart — New York’s starter in waiting — closed the half by displaying his arm strength and mobility. He finished 12 of 19 for 154 yards, including a 29-yard touchdown pass to Lil’Jordan Humphrey, while adding three carries for 24 yards.
Coach Brian Daboll said very little surprised him about Dart’s poise and decision-making because he’s seen it already in practice.
“That’s about what I thought he would do. Efficient, effective, aggressive, confident in the pocket,” Daboll said. “Some stuff we can work on, but he’s doing good.”
The outcome was decided with the teams trading leads four times in the second half of their respective preseason openers.
New York backup kicker Jude McAtamney scored the go-ahead points, hitting a 42-yard field goal with 7:13 remaining.
Bills third stringer Mike White threw two second-half touchdown passes, including a 39-yarder on fourth-and-4 to K.J. Hamler.
Giants third stringer Jameis Winston led three second-half possessions and went 7 of 11 for 62 yards, including a 7-yard completion to Gunner Olszewski. Tommy DeVito mopped up by going 10 of 14 for 73 yards and a 8-yard touchdown to Jonathan Ward.
Otherwise the focus was on Dart’s outing.
His touchdown capped a seven-play, 80-yard drive with a perfectly placed pass to Humphrey, who brought in the contested ball in stride at the goal line, a step ahead of defender Dane Jackson.
Dart showed off his running ability on a 19-yard scramble. And he played without fear on a run-pass-option call in which he faked a handoff to Devin Singletary, stepped aside to avoid oncoming rusher Michael Hoecht, before completing a pass to Greg Dulcich, who was tackled for no gain.
“He’s a confident young player,” Daboll said. “He’s improved since he’s been here. Still got a long way to go, but I enjoy working with him.”
This is what the Giants were counting on in signing Wilson, now on his fourth team in 14 years, and trading three draft picks to move back into the first round to select Dart 25th overall.
New York is starting from scratch at quarterback following a 3-14 record and an offense that finished 30th in the NFL in yards per play and 31st in averaging 10 points per outing.
The five-time defending AFC East champion Bills, meantime, have no questions at quarterback in providing NFL MVP Josh Allen a day off.
Primary backup Mitch Trubisky went 9 of 13 for 138 yards, including an 11-yard touchdown to Dawson Knox in playing the entire first half. His 58-yard completion to Tyrell Shavers set up newly signed kicker Caden Davis hitting a 24-yard field goal to close the first half.
Buffalo signed Davis a day earlier with Tyler Bass sidelined by a pelvis injury.
Running back Ray Davis also got involved in the kicking game by hitting the point-after attempt following Knox’s score.
“You know, you never know, right? I just feel like, what if it happens in a game?” Bills coach Sean McDermott said of giving his running back a chance to test his leg in a competitive setting. “Ray takes a lot of pride in things. In particular, playing running back, being a great teammate, and then in this case, kicking.”
Up next
Giants: Hold two joint practices with New York Jets before hosting their Big Apple rivals on Saturday.
Bills: Hold a joint practice at Chicago in the leadup to game against the Bears on Saturday.
