Had the Giants not resoundingly defeated the hapless Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday, the conversation would have been different.
Instead, New York snapped its nine-game losing streak with a 34-10 win, doomed their hosts to a 10-game losing skid, and in the penultimate week of the season, handed the Sin City franchise the right card to hold onto the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft.
Advertisement
Before the game, a report from NFL Media’s Ian Rapport indicated that if the Giants lost and had pole position for the top spot, taking a quarterback, one year after selecting Jaxson Dart with the 25th overall pick, would be on the table.
“Expect them to evaluate all options, including looking at [Indiana QB] Fernando Mendoza before they make a decision on how they’re going to proceed if they have this pick,” Rapoport said.
Dart, who earned his third win in his 11th start during his rookie campaign, said he “did not” see the report before the game when asked after his solid, two rushing touchdown performance in the win.
Asked how he processes a report like that, the 22-year-old dismissed the issue.
Advertisement
“I’m going to continue to play my ball,” Dart said. “I know I’m going to be here for a very long time, and I’m just excited to start winning more games and turn this place around and do my job, and we have a bright future.
“And that was one thing that, I was just standing on the sideline and I’m watching Abdul [Carter] ball, I’m watching [Darius Alexander] ball. [Cam Skattebo] was here today, and when you just think about this rookie class, I think that we have a really bright future, and we’re going to be a big pivot and turn this thing around.”
As far as the noise from outside the building about the “Tank Bowl” as the game between the two struggling sides, approaching the game in which a loss would be better than a win, Dart said that was just more “noise.”
“Sometimes that just happens with us not really having the year that we’ve wanted, and people just start talking,” he said. “But from a player perspective, from a team perspective, I felt like we were dialed all week, and we needed to win. Just a morale, just some excitement, finally. We needed to win, and that’s how we felt.”
Advertisement
Interim head coach Mike Kafka, who earned his first victory since taking over from Brian Daboll in November, dismissed any notion the franchise was looking to avoid the win: “The only discussions we had were just how can we find a way to win and putting our players in the best position to do that.”