Jaxson Dart wishes the New York Giants won more games in his rookie year. The fact they have not makes their season finale Sunday against the Dallas Cowboys mean something.
The Giants can still get the first pick in the draft if they lose and Las Vegas beats Kansas City. Dart does not care about that and just wants to finish on a high note.
“This is a huge division game,” Dart said. “That obviously matters to me a ton, and I’m excited to go out there and compete against them.”
New York is 3-13, Dallas is 7-8-1 and there’s not much more on the line than draft positioning and Dallas’ Dak Prescott leading the NFL in yards passing. Cowboys first-year coach Brian Schottenheimer feels good about Prescott and the rest of the starters going on the field at the Meadowlands.
“Plan on finishing strong,” Schottenheimer said. “(We) get a chance to go 5-1 hopefully in the division, finish 8-8-1 and that’s the plan as we’re looking at now.”
The Giants planned to take a step forward after going 3-14 in 2024. Instead, Russell Wilson flamed out with an 0-3 start, coach Brian Daboll got fired and everything has fallen apart.
The biggest long-term question is whether ownership will fire general manager Joe Schoen or keep him and let him oversee the coaching search. Dart may or may not be the franchise QB moving forward, so he’s just focusing on this weekend.
“I care about winning, so whatever that takes,” said Dart, who has thrown for 13 touchdowns and run for nine.
The focus is on ‘Flus’
First-year Dallas defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus’ job security is a topic of serious speculation with the Cowboys among the worst defensive teams in the NFL. A brief surge in three games after trading for standout defensive tackle Quinnen Williams has faded with more blown assignments and big plays allowed.
Owner and general manager Jerry Jones said on his radio during the week that any decisions on the coaching staff would come “pronto” after the season. He has said several times there wouldn’t be an in-season firing of Eberflus, who was Chicago’s coach until being fired midseason last year.
Schottenheimer deflected a question about Jones’ comment.
“I want to get through this game, and then everything’s going to be evaluated,” Schottenheimer said. “But the biggest thing that we want to do is make the right decisions in everything we do. My focus right now really is not on New Year’s. It’s about figuring out how to block Dexter Lawrence, you know, ‘Sexy Dexy.’ I mean, he is a big man. That’s our focus right now.”
Giants’ pass rush gets another chance
Even with Kayvon Thibodeaux on injured reserve, New York still has Lawrence and edge rushers Brian Burns and Abdul Carter. Burns has a career-high 16 1/2 sacks, and Carter has heated up late in his rookie year with stats to show for how much pressure he has caused.
“He’s committed to it and we’ve talked a lot about him committing to his process and making some tweaks and changes, which is great,” interim defensive coordinator Charlie Bullen said of Carter. “You can’t always force the process, as well, so I think it’s just been continued commitment by him off the field and then on the field, he’s had some success. I think now, at this point, he’s in a little bit of a groove and a rhythm and gaining confidence and so that’s what you’re seeing on the field.”
No championship in this opportunity
One of Schottenheimer’s pet phrases is “championship opportunity,” and he’s still using it even though the Cowboys are about to play their third game since being eliminated from the playoff contention.
They do have the incentive of trying to avoid consecutive losing seasons for the first time since the last of three in a row in 2002. Prescott said he has never had a losing season when he wasn’t injured. It has happened twice in Dallas in years cut short by injuries to the star quarterback (2020 and 2024).
“To me, a championship opportunity is you take whatever that game is, you give it everything you’ve got throughout the course of the week,” Schottenheimer said. “Because what you want is you want the bigger the game becomes, it’s no different. When you’re playing in a Super Bowl, you want it to feel no different than Week 6 or Week 7 or Week 8. Because it’s just another championship opportunity.”
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AP Pro Football Writer Schuyler Dixon in Frisco, Texas, contributed to this report.
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