Jason Leach
The New York Giants got their first win of the season as they defeated the Los Angeles Chargers 21-18. But it was a costly win as star receiver Malik Nabers is feared to have suffered a torn ACL in his right knee.
Nabers will have an MRI on Monday, where it’s expected to confirm that his ACL is torn and that he’ll be done for the season.
New York experienced the highest of highs on Sunday by winning in Jaxson Dart’s first career start. But they also experienced the lowest of lows as they’ll have to play the remainder of the season without their best player. Here are four takeaways from the game.
Jaxson Dart started red hot
If there were concerns that facing one of the league’s best defenses would overwhelm the rookie quarterback, he put those concerns to bed on the team’s first offensive drive of the game. The 22-year-old quarterback led the team on a nine-play 89-yard drive that culminated with him scoring on a 15-yard run.
On the drive, he completed both of his pass attempts for 20 yards and ran the ball three times for 28 yards and the touchdown. It was important for the team to get off to a fast start, and they never trailed throughout the course of the game.
This immediately proved that head coach Brian Daboll made the right decision to insert him as the team’s new starter.
The defense made life miserable for Justin Herbert
With the loss of the superstar receiver, the defense knew they needed to take their game to the next level, and they did by harassing Justin Herbert all afternoon. Although they were only credited with two sacks, Herbert was under constant pressure and had his worst game of the season.
The Chargers’ signal caller completed 23 out of 41 passes for 203 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. New York’s defense held him to his lowest yardage output, lowest completion percentage, and most interceptions in 2025.
Outside of giving up a 36-yard touchdown to Quentin Johnston at the end of the first half and a 54-yard touchdown to Omarion Hampton in the third quarter, Big Blue shut down Los Angeles’ potent offense.
The franchise now has a brief moment of relief
Winning has a tendency to cure everything with a team, and with the win on Sunday, the Giants can breathe a sigh of relief.
Coming into this game, there were questions on whether Brian Daboll would remain head coach for the entirety of the season and if the team was rushing to name Dart the starter.
After the game, Daboll talked about how much the win meant to the team.
“I’m happy to get a win, that’s the goal. But I’m more happy for the assistant coaches, the players. We put a lot of effort into this. Haven’t got the results we want. We were close in one game, not close in other games. But credit goes to the guys that are staying there late at night, players that are busting their cans. I’m proud of them, I’m proud of all the guys that contributed, which is not just the guys that were out there, it’s the practice squad guys. But give a lot of credit to our guys and try to build off of this next week.”
With the losing streak coming to an end at least for this year, there won’t be any speculation on the 50-year-old head coach’s tenure coming to an end.
Giants need outside help to replace Nabers
In the NFL, injuries happen, and teams have to have a next man up mentality. But that’s easier said than done, especially when it comes to trying to replace a player of Nabers’ caliber.
In his brief action on Sunday, Nabers caught two passes for 20 yards. The only other wideouts that caught a pass on Sunday were Darius Slayton and Wan’Dale Robinson, who combined for six catches for 58 yards.
With third-year receiver Jalin Hyatt yet to catch a pass so far this season, the team is going to have to look outside the organization to add a receiver to the roster. There are a number of possible candidates, but we won’t know who the Giants will sign until later this week. One thing is for certain; the offense will look vastly different without #1 on the field.
