They don’t know what they don’t know.
Jaxson Dart and Cam Skattebo are not the Giants’ best players — not yet, anyway — but the contact-seeking rookies have injected a level of naivety into a locker room that had been unmistakably energy-zapped by years of losing.
It could be felt everywhere late Thursday night after the Giants stunned the Eagles 34-17 in prime time.
“You feel like you can win every single game possible,” right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor told The Post. “Skatt is a f—ing wild card. With him and Dart in the huddle, they are both psychopaths.”
The defending Super Bowl champion Eagles had won 19 of the prior 23 meetings with the Giants, including 10 of 13 with a playoff victory since the longest-tenured Giants (Dexter Lawrence and Darius Slayton) arrived.
Do you think Dart cares about streaks that started when he was an 11-year-old boy running around Utah?
Or Skattebo cares about what was happening in New York when he was pinballing off telephone poles to develop his running style?
“I just think there’s, at times, some negativity that’s surrounding here,” Dart said. “For us, some of the new guys, we just got here, so we don’t feel like we were involved in the past. We’ve got a lot of winners on this team.”
Brian Burns is tied for the NFL lead in sacks (seven) and never has played better in living up to being the Giants’ highest-paid player.
But his career record when in uniform for the Giants and Panthers is 28-75.
Lawrence (32-65-1) is a three-time Pro Bowler on his way into the Giants’ Ring of Honor.
Andrew Thomas (25-39-1) is a former Second-Team All-Pro.
Slayton (31-65-1) is a holdover from the Eli Manning years.
Like all great competitors, those veterans go into every game expecting to win, but there has to be some muscle memory involved in years of facing boos at home, getting bullied by division rivals (eight-game losing streak snapped) and seeing things go wrong at the most inopportune time that has not penetrated the DNA of the new quarterback and running back.
“They are very competitive individuals who have a lot of pride, toughness and belief in themselves,” head coach Brian Daboll said. “That’s important for any team when you have players like that. They care about their teammates, they prepare very diligently and I trust them a lot on the field.”
Dart was 29-10 over his three years at Ole Miss.
Skattebo was 26-13 over the last three years at Sacramento State and Arizona State.
The Giants (2-4) were 18-32-1 in that same span, taking rookies from successful college programs and introducing them to how hard it is to win in the NFL.
Dart and Skattebo haven’t hit that wall or been soured by the business side of the NFL yet.
“They are playing fearless,” Burns said. “That’s something I really respect. As they get older and age well in this league, they will make more calculated decisions. But, right now, hey, balls to the wall.”
Like when Dart launched himself like a projectile toward the first-down marker on a third-down scramble. Or high-fived an official whose hands were in the air to signal a touchdown.
“He’s insane,” Burns said.
Like when Skattebo lowered his shoulder on First-Team All-Pro linebacker Zach Baun. Or over-aggressively celebrated Cor’Dale Flott’s interception on the sideline.
“More than saying something, I felt him roughing me up,” Flott said. “I was like, ‘Alright, Skatt, let me go right now.’ ”
The box score shows Dart passed for 195 yards, rushed for 58 and accounted for two touchdowns, while Skattebo rushed for 98 yards and three touchdowns. It doesn’t note that they made veterans have fun again.
“They are super competitive and they love to win,” left guard Jon Runyan Jr. said. “They do a great job firing up the guys. When Jaxson is holding the ball back there or Cam has the ball, anything can happen.”
When the Giants drafted Dart after a first-round trade-up, his moxie was a part of the equation. When the Giants drafted Skattebo in the fourth round, a big part of the discussion was the punishing attitude that he would bring.
Call “good vibes” a scouting tiebreaker.
“They play with an edge,” Daboll said, “and they play with a style that we want our team to play with.”
Dart and Skattebo are ignorant of the history that only 16 of the 260 NFL teams to start 1-4 since 1970 have gone to the playoffs. They see the “long season” ahead as an opportunity — not a threat.
“We need their energy,” Flott said. “It’s refreshing to us, for sure. That they haven’t felt that vibe we’ve been having, it shows.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
