Hour 1: Dart's Season is Over

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This is The Michael Kay Show Podcast.

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Michael Kay (0:41)

And good afternoon, everybody. This is indeed The Michael Kay Show. We thank you for joining us on this Wednesday, September 23rd, 2026 It's me and you for two. Those are the rules of engagement. It's the fastest-moving two-hours-in-sports talk radio. And one of the reasons why is I have great co-hosts. And those co-hosts are you. And you know the password to be a co-host, right? 1-800-919-3776. 1-800-919-3776. So we start off with the situation with the New York Giants. And during a Carlin show, it was reported that Adam Schefter and Ian Rappaport were both reporting that Dart is going to have season-ending surgery. So this injury was much more serious than they initially thought. And it's a blow. There's no way that you're going to sit here and put lipstick on a pig and say, well, this doesn't impact how the Giants are going to do this season. Of course it impacts how the Giants are going to do this season. And it puts the program back because part of this season was the refinement of Jackson Dart. How far can he go? How far could the team go with him? And it's a huge blow. So obviously it's a major knee surgery that is going to have. And then when he comes back next year, there's going to be a decision whether or not he's the same quarterback. Will he be able to move? Will he have that escape ability? So we don't know what you're getting once you have a surgery like this. Now, surgeries are so advanced right now. You would hope that he comes back and he's as good as gold. But there's going to be that feeling out period. Anytime anybody has a surgery, you're going to wonder is this going to hold up. I mean, you see it with Malik Nabors. He underwent a really serious surgery and they didn't have him hit during preseason. They didn't want anybody to touch him. So if you do that with Dart, then he's going to go into next season wondering exactly what went on. So you have taken one year out of the five years that you know you're going to have on hardball here and you've made this a test of, okay, how far can he go without his quarterback? Is he going to be able to instill the culture that he wants? Is he going to be able to make this team have the grit and the personality that he wants when you don't have the main component? That's one of the great things about the NFL and it's one of the really shaky things about the NFL. The reason that the quarterbacks make the most money is they are the team. So, you cannot tell me that you can lose the team, quote unquote, the team, and you're not going to skip a beat. They're going to skip a lot of beats. Now, I am of the opinion, I hope that you are as well, Jameis Winston cannot be as bad as he was after taking over for Jackson Dart in the game against the Rams on Monday night. He was dreadful. He was absolutely dreadful. Didn't seem like he knew where he was throwing the ball. He brings a completely different skill set into the equation than Jackson Dart. He doesn't have the escape ability. He has the big arm, but you know, it's hit or miss. He's going to throw it deep. Are you going to run under it or not?

He throws a lot of interceptions. We know that this talent there, the guy was the number one pick in the draft, but I think that talent has waned quite a bit. I think his personality and his impact in that room, one of the reasons that the Giants re-signed him is that two-year $13 million deal, making one of the highest paid backup quarterbacks, but is he a legitimate backup quarterback that could take the reins of this team over the next 15 games and make this the team that everybody thought it could be? Can they win eight, nine games? Can they compete in December for a postseason berth? Don't know. We're going to see. Now, my gut feeling is no. Now, I don't think he's as bad as what he showed on Monday night. You know, he hadn't had any first team reps as they were getting ready for the first two games. Completely different animal now. He's going to be the guy that the offense is designed around. So all of the Yankee, or the Yankee, all of the Giants' offensive minds are going to be able to sit there and put it together and say, this is what we're going to have to do. I think it would behoove the Giants to go out and trade for quarterback, maybe a quarterback that's on a taxi squad. I like Joe Milton with the Cowboys. Maybe that's somebody that they could look for. I don't think you're going to get a backup quarterback from another team because everybody's going to know that the Giants are desperate. And if you're going to sign anybody that's not with a team right now, is it going to be much of an upgrade? But you do need to back up the Jameis Winston. It's a big blow. It's a big blow. And the Giants are going to say all the right things. We all have to do our job. We have to work around it. But remember one thing that John Harbaugh said after the game on Monday night when the Giants thought that Dart could be out 3 or 4 weeks.