Giants Win against Dallas and Shake Up their Draft Positioning

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ – All we can do is laugh. The New York Giants entered Sunday with the number 2 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. All they had to do was lose to the hated Dallas Cowboys. That did not happen. Jaxson Dart lead the Giants to a 34-17 win over the Cowboys, tanking the Giants draft positioning below #2.

The Offense

Tracy and the Offense

Dart continues to shine for the Giants, even when he did not look his best. The second quarter touchdown before the half with the pass to Bellinger was impressive, and shows what kind of playmaker Dart is.

"Oh, yeah. Just had a double-sided screen, fake to one side. The guy got up field fast so I was like, crap, I've got to make something happen here." Dart said on the Bellinger touchdown. "He kind of got my face mask so it made me stumble a little bit. I knew that he was kind of a little scotch-free so I just tried to give him an opportunity. He got his knees up when he was running so he looked good scoring that touchdown. I was happy for him. It was a good play for our team."

Today, Dart posted a career-high 110.2 passer rating. During the game, he completed 13 of 20 passes for 154 yards and threw a 29-yard touchdown. He also contributed to the scoring by connecting with Tyrone Tracy Jr. for a 13-yard touchdown pass, helping the Giants finish the season with back-to-back wins.

Tracy ran for over 100 yards today, making it back-to-back seasons running for 1,000 yards.

"It was great." Kafka said. "He became the third (player) in Giants history to have 1,000-yard back-to-back seasons (from scrimmage in his first two seasons) so that was a cool milestone for him."

Jaxson Dart

For his full rookie campaign, Dart appeared in 14 games (starting 12) and threw for 2,196 yards with 14 passing touchdowns and 5 interceptions. He distinguished himself as a significant dual-threat quarterback, setting a Giants franchise record for rushing touchdowns by a quarterback with 9 scores. By the end of the season, Dart's 9 rushing touchdowns placed him third all-time for a rookie quarterback in NFL history, trailing only Cam Newton and Billy Kilmer.

"I thought offensively, we just had a couple drives early in the game that we could have executed at a higher level." Kafka said on Dart and the offense. "I think there were a couple calls I'd like to have back as well. Just not finishing in the red zone, I really thought we could have taken more control of the game earlier if we'd finished some drives in the red zone.

"We took some field goals, which was still good. Kept us in the flow of it. But there was a couple missed opportunities, whether it was penalties or whether it was a poor play call, which I thought I had a couple of those I want back. I'll go back and look at it. I'd say the early start of that, I could have helped Jaxson out better."

The Giants were also able to create this savvy two-point conversion to provide some separation between them and the Cowboys. 

The run game for the Giants was really good today. They were able to get down the field super easy today, but their Red Zone troubles persisted today.

Special Teams

This one will be brief – Ben Sauls is perfect. The Giants struggled all season with the kicking unit, and the past two weeks with Sauls at the helm, the Giants kicking unit looked much, much better.

"Yeah, Ben has been lights out." Said Kafka. "He's been doing a really good job for us. He had some opportunities with the extra points and the field goals early in the game to keep the us up, and he was nailing them."

The Defense

The Giants defense made plays today, and forced turnovers – all things you like to see. It is night and day between how this team looks under the direction of Charlie Bullen rather than Shane Bowen.

Bobby Okereke continues to be a playmaker for the Giants, forcing another turnover, second in two weeks.

Abdul Carter continues to be productive for the Giants, with 

Draft Positioning

The Giants will pick fifth in the 2026 NFL Draft. They finish the season with a 4-13 record, a one-game improvement from last season. The Giants end the season on a two game winning streak, their first multi-game win streak since 2023.

"They never wavered." Said Kafka on winning their final two games. "I know the results weren't there, but the process was right... Just really proud of them"

Jaxson Dart is now 1-0 against Dallas in his career.