Jaxson Dart off to sluggish start as New York Giants install new offense

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The New York Giants' offense has struggled early on this training camp as they learn the offensive system of the new coaching staff with a slew of new faces in the huddle.

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It isn't uncommon for the defense to be ahead of the offense at this point of camp, so there's not much to worry about yet. Throw in the new wrinkles the coaches have incorporated with second-year quarterback Jaxson Dart, and much of the sluggishness is understandable.

"New coach John Harbaugh and offensive coordinator Matt Nagy have challenged Dart to run a more traditional offense," Dan Duggan of The Athletic wrote this week. "That means an emphasis on playing under center to facilitate what’s expected to be a run-heavy attack. That’s a major adjustment for Dart, who was in the shotgun on 79.9 percent of his snaps as a rookie. For comparison, Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson was in the shotgun on 67.1 percent of his snaps last season.

Dart said he feels comfortable with the footwork changes he’s had to make, but those aren’t the only differences. He’s turning his back to the defense more and going through more reads than in the RPO-heavy offense he ran last season. That could explain why the offense has looked disjointed early in camp."

Dart's passing accuracy has been a concern, but he's still getting used to a new receiver group and Malik Nabers has yet to practice in earnest. It's still very much a work in progress. It should get better with time.

The way Dart ran around last year and made plays with an exciting, improvisational style had fans optimistic that they had a special player in their midst. The incoming staff doesn't see that style as sustainable and is trying to corral Dart into playing a more cerebral and disciplined game.

Harbaugh told reporters on Tuesday that the coaches aren't trying to hold Dart back, that they still want him to be a quarterback teams have to account for, but right now, he has to learn how to do things their way.

"I think he's going through his progressions really well, but we do want to practice extended plays," Harbaugh said. "Even if he would have gotten sacked, which, that's up in the air. Who knows? On offense, they don't think they ever get sacked. On defense, they think they always sack him in training camp. What we like to do is go ahead and extend the play. So, let’s let him get out and extend the play and see if our guys can work on scramble drill.

"How do you get open on (an) extended play? There's two plays, potentially. There's the first play. If it doesn't work, quarterback gets out of the pocket, we've got another chance. We want to take advantage of that. And then, defensively, especially in the back end, that means we've got to cover again. The play's not over if the quarterback is out of the pocket. So, we've got to cover people, and we've got to go rally and get the quarterback on the ground, too.

"You see it with – so many quarterbacks make so many plays on the second effort, on the second chance. It's a two-play game. With Jaxson, to me, it can be a two-play game for us. That's an advantage for us on the scramble. So, we want to practice that."

Harbaugh also said the Giants will still call Dart's number in the running game, but they'll just do it more strategically.

"You don't want to do too many of them because that's not all you do," he said. "We have a lot of different types of runs, so as much as we can as we install them, we're practicing them as we put them in. We put in a couple of designed runs or quarterback read runs. So, you pick up an extra blocker because you're reading one of their defenders. The quarterback, if they leave him the opportunity, he'll keep it and run around the edge. Two of those plays were in today. We had to practice them today, so they were part of the rotation."

This article originally appeared on Giants Wire: Jaxson Dart off to sluggish start as New York Giants install new offense

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