Jaxson Dart, ferocious Giants pass rush upset Chargers in rookie QB's first start

Pat Leonard, New York Daily News on Sep 28, 2025

Published in Football

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NEW YORK — A ferocious New York Giants defense intercepted Justin Herbert twice. Jaxson Dart persevered through a physical first NFL start, and Brian Daboll pulled his team’s 2025 season from the ashes with a 21-18 win over the Los Angeles Chargers Sunday afternoon at MetLife Stadium.

A home crowd that had booed Russell Wilson off the field one week ago was chanting “Let’s go, Giants” with eight minutes left in Sunday’s fourth quarter.

That’s because Dart scored a 15-yard rushing touchdown on his first NFL drive. A ferocious pass rush by Abdul Carter and Kayvon Thibodeaux had Herbert and the Chargers’ passing game on its heels all day.

And Dexter Lawrence and Dru Phillips interceptions set the offense up at the Chargers’ 3-yard line twice, which resulted in 10 points for Dart’s offense on a shovel TD pass to Theo Johnson and a Jude McAtamney field goal.

The Giants (1-3) likely lost top receiver Malik Nabers for the rest of the season to a torn right ACL, which will be confirmed with an MRI on Monday.

And Dart’s offense failed twice to ice the game late in the fourth quarter, which gave the Chargers the ball back down by three points with less than a minute to play.

But the team didn’t let Nabers’ second quarter injury ruin their fight on their way to their first win of the season, which may have provided hope and promise for an organization that had been teetering on disaster.

The Giants now will fly to New Orleans (0-4) with an opportunity to win two straight if they can beat the winless Saints.

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