One of the favorite buzzwords of the Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll regime was conspicuously missing Wednesday from the Giants’ explanation to bench Russell Wilson for rookie Jaxson Dart.
“It’s my decision,” Daboll said before practice. “We’re going with Jaxson. We’re going to get him ready to play this week and for the remainder of the season.”
What happened to collaboration? What was the deliberation like with Schoen and owner John Mara?
“That’s the direction I wanted to go. That’s the direction we’re going to go,” the Giants head coach said. “There’s good conversation we had. Those are private conversations, but ultimately it comes down to me.”
In other words, if the hot-seat Daboll, who is 1-13 in his last 14 games, is going to go down, he is going to go down with his handpicked quarterback of the future in control of his fate.
Wilson was expected to get longer than a three-game runway when he signed as a free agent, was named the starter and took almost every first-team rep during training camp.
The longer Dart sat to hide any flaws, the better it is for Schoen’s job security as general manager.
Getting more out of Wilson and his one-year, $10.5 million contract would’ve been good for Schoen, too.
“I’m not going to get into any of the specifics,” Daboll said. “I think it’s the right thing for our football team. That’s why I’m doing it. We have to do a better job all the way around, and that’s what we’re trying to do.”
Was his own perilous job security a factor at all?
“It’s a long season,” Daboll said. “We’ve lost three games. Haven’t put it together all collectively, and made the decision to play Jaxson.”
Daboll also made it clear that an anonymously sourced report 10 days ago from ESPN that the Giants felt “no sense of urgency” to start Dart didn’t come from his mouth.
“I would say that I haven’t had any conversations but with players,” Daboll said.
Daboll plans to continue having offensive coordinator Mike Kafka call the plays for Dart, whose first start will come against the Chargers at MetLife Stadium.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
