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The Giants, with Jaxson Dart, and the Commanders, with Jayden Daniels, are getting the worst of the NFL’s run of early-season injuries to prominent quarterbacks.
The two NFC East teams will be hard-pressed to keep the competitive portion of their seasons from ending far sooner than they’d hoped.
The Giants and their fans received troubling news Tuesday about the injury that Dart suffered to his left knee during Monday night’s loss to the Rams. The Commanders and their followers, meanwhile, are waiting for clarity about Daniels’ playing status after he suffered a dislocated left elbow during Sunday’s defeat to the Cowboys.
The injuries suffered by other quarterbacks—the Seahawks’ Sam Darnold, the Vikings’ Kyler Murray, and the Bears’ Caleb Williams—during the season’s first two weeks won’t keep them sidelined long term. But the entire league is being reminded that the NFL relies on its star quarterbacks being healthy and on the field to sustain its scoring metrics, viewership, and business model.
The Dart development has dulled excitement among New Yorkers about the Giants’ season-opening win over the Cowboys in John Harbaugh’s debut. The second-year quarterback limped off the field at SoFi Stadium after being hit high and low by two Rams defenders while releasing a throw during Monday night’s game.
Dart is expected to undergo surgery for the injury to his left knee, a source confirmed to FOS on Wednesday. Harbaugh said Wednesday that Dart would miss the rest of the regular season.
Initial indications suggested Dart had a sprained MCL in his left knee that would require about six weeks to recover. ESPN reported during its broadcast that Giants general manager Joe Schoen had said Dart would be “okay.”
Not so much, it now appears.
The Giants have made only two playoff appearances and have one postseason victory since 2011, when they won their second Super Bowl title in a five-year span with Tom Coughlin as coach and Eli Manning as quarterback. Fans could dream of a revival when the team hired Harbaugh in January; the Super Bowl-winning coach was fired by the Ravens after 18 seasons and a dozen playoff appearances. The opening triumph over the Cowboys affirmed the positive vibes.
But now, Jameis Winston is the quarterback and the task ahead is daunting.
Ditto for the Commanders, who are among the NFL’s eight 0–2 teams. They reached the NFC Championship Game in 2024, with Daniels thriving as a rookie. The fan base was rejuvenated after Josh Harris bought the franchise from Daniel Snyder in 2023. Better days surely were ahead, it seemed.
But things came undone last season, as the team went 5–12 and Daniels suffered a dislocated left elbow. His ghastly re-injury of the same elbow on the final play of the first half Sunday against the Cowboys left Tom Brady muttering “oh, shit” on the Fox broadcast and put another Washington season on the verge of unraveling. Daniels is reportedly getting opinions from specialists and trying to determine whether season-ending surgery is needed. He is expected to be sidelined for at least several weeks.
For now, Marcus Mariota is the starter at quarterback and Dan Quinn is on many observers’ early-season lists of NFL coaches with their jobs in jeopardy.
The quarterback situations are not as dire for other NFL teams. Murray could return to the Vikings lineup this week after missing one game because of a concussion. Minnesota is among the league’s eight 2–0 teams. Williams’s hamstring injury is not considered serious, and he could play for the Bears within a few weeks—although they could have a big problem this week, with backup Tyson Bagent reportedly in the NFL’s concussion protocol, meaning third-string quarterback Case Keenum could start Monday night against the Eagles. Darnold could return in the coming weeks after missing one game due to a glute injury suffered during the Seahawks’ opening win over the Patriots.
NFL teams totaled 791 points in the opening weekend, matching the most ever scored in Week 1 of a season. But that dipped to 647 points in Week 2, an 18% decline.
Early-season viewership has been mixed. The Week 1 viewership was down 13% from last season’s opening weekend but still was the NFL’s third-best Week 1 mark over the past 10 years. Amazon’s viewership for its opening Thursday Night Football broadcast of the season was up 5% from last season’s opener, it said Monday.
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