Giants 34, Philadelphia 17
Q. Jaxson, what is it like in your three starts you're scoring on your opening drive in all three starts? Prior to that the team had a hard time scoring. What do you see different?
JAXSON DART: Yeah, I mean, I try to talk about it in the week of just how important it is to start fast. It's a great tone setter of the game. Especially get the big boys rolling up front.
That's definitely really important to come out and score on that drive, then give the defense the chance to go match it. It was big for us.
Q. What you're trying to build going up against a team like Philly, to have that performance today, what type of message do you think you guys sent?
JAXSON DART: Well, first of all, can't be naive to everything. We hear what people say. Definitely lights a fire in us. Me and Skatt talked about like last week we were talked about it was on us losing that game. Feel like we moved the ball fine. Our big emphasis was to make sure we take care of the ball. We feel like if we do that, we're going to be able to move the ball.
Just really proud of how the guys played. I think we're just trying to set a standard of intensity here each and every day.
Q. What do you mean by 'what people say'? What stood out?
JAXSON DART: I just think there's like at times some negativity that's surrounding here. For us, some of the new guys that are coming here, we just got here, so we don't feel like we were involved in the past.
We got a lot of winners on this team, guys who come out every single day, work their ass off to put on a good showing on Sundays. I feel like we're just connected.
We just had some games, times and those moments where it hasn't gone our way. We do feel like we're a really good team, we have really good players. We're just trying to win games. We're just trying to stay internal and stay connected each and every day.
Q. What does it mean to see Cam have the same kind of response?
JAXSON DART: Me and Skatt just have a lot of talks. We sit next to each other on the plane back. It definitely hurt us last week a lot because we felt like we absolutely should have won that game.
We had talks during the week. We just kept telling each other we got each other, we're going to lay it all on the line each and every play for each other. We try to message that to our teammates as much as possible.
We know everybody is going to rally around each other the more we have performances like this. We can't get too high, we can't get too low. The most important thing is the next play, the next moment. For us it's going to be the next game.
Q. Do you think this was a statement?
JAXSON DART: Yeah, I mean, it absolutely is because you have to have a lot of respect for that team. They just come off winning the Super Bowl. Top team in the league. Quite honestly, nobody really expected us to put up a performance like this.
As a locker room, as teammates, we felt confident. We'll just try to play hard for each other. We're not trying to make statements. We're just trying to play for each other and win games.
We want to find an identity. I felt like we did a good job of putting that together tonight.
Q. What would that identity be? How would you describe it?
JAXSON DART: I think just as a team, like we're trying to finish in everything that we do. Finish to the whistle. In the fourth quarter, when it comes down to seeing what teams are about, we want to finish. When we have opportunities to win games, we have to take advantage of that.
Shout-out to our defense. Flott made an amazing play. I felt like that was a huge swing for our team. Everybody was involved in this.
Q. This is the first time you had a short week as an NFL player. What was that preparation like?
JAXSON DART: It was kind of similar. I played in the Egg Bowl in college. We had short weeks. Kind of compared it to that. There's a lot more that goes into the game planning in the NFL.
It was a loaded week. I have a great supporting cast around me, great teammates, coaches who really bought into this game plan. I thought we did a really good job of staying on the same page.
We felt confident in the game plan and we were able to go out there and play fast.
Q. Four for four in the red tonight. What was the key?
JAXSON DART: I feel like the last three weeks we've gotten better at it. I think that we're just trying to use the whole field. We're trying to get everybody involved. Guys are just executing. That starts with our offensive line.
Like, you have to be able to run the ball in the red zone. Been able to get really good pushes. We lean on those guys. We have running backs who run really hard. We identified it as a thing we struggled on early in the year. We're just going to try to stay consistent with that.
Q. Protecting yourself sometimes as opposed to getting the extra yard, is there something you have to weigh diving for first downs?
JAXSON DART: Definitely answered this question a lot (smiling).
There's just situations where if it's third down, I'm going to get the first down. That's important to me, important to the team. We have to keep the drives alive.
Was there maybe one or two hits today I could have avoided, yes. But in my mind when I'm running the ball, I'm trying to get a few yards and put our team in a really good situation.
I understand that you got to take care of your body. I definitely try to do my best with that. In situations where things are important, I'm going to do my best to get that done.
Q. When you went into the blue tent, did that seem like an hour and a half for you?
JAXSON DART: It felt so long. It felt so long. A few guys popped in. I was just trying to get back there on the field. I understand they have protocol, whatnot. I was just trying to get out there fast.
Q. (No microphone.)
JAXSON DART: I'm tired of it, man. I'm tired of it.
Q. These two wins you've had, the defense has helped you out. What does it mean to see guys like Burns getting...
JAXSON DART: We talk about it all the time in our team meetings. Our defense has done a great job of keeping us in games. Even the games where we didn't win.
I feel like as a rookie quarterback, to have a defense play that hard, to make big plays like that, helps me out a lot, helps our whole team out a lot.
Think you can feel momentum shifts, especially in the second half, with how they played. I love those guys. I love how hard they play. They play with a chip on their shoulder. They're going to get better each and every week. We have a ton of confidence in those guys.
But it definitely helps us out as a whole team.
Q. You talked about how the younger guys haven't been here in the past. Where do you think the energy is with this team, especially the last three weeks?
JAXSON DART: I think we have a little bit more excitement in the locker room. We feel like anytime we go out there on the field, anybody we're playing against, we have a chance to win. Doesn't matter what Vegas says. Doesn't matter what the spread is. I was watching the Pat McAfee, who is going to win the game. We don't care about that stuff. We feel like we're confident to go out there, put on a good performance, win games.
Q. Since you and Skattebo and Abdul were drafted that weekend, the rest of the draft class, this organization has talked about the attitude you were going to bring here. How does that manifest itself?
JAXSON DART: It's a long season, so we have to bring it every single day. We have to try to keep that the culture. We have to stack wins. We can't have performances where we play really good, next game we turn the ball over five times. That stuff can't happen. We have to try to be consistent.
From an attitude perspective, it's the kind of energy we're just trying to bring here. The intensity of coming to work every single day. Yeah, I think guys are trying to do that and rally around each other.
Q. You were talking about the negativity that predated you. How much are you embracing being somebody that can turn that around?
JAXSON DART: I love it. I understand the most important thing for everybody is winning. As competitors, that's how we feel, too. I feel like this city is starving for that. We are starving for that.
We hate losing. It's the worst feeling in the world. We just try to do our best, regardless of what outside noise is, try to keep everything internal between us.
I have all the confidence in the world in every single player in this team. We just got to try to do our best to rally and stay consistent.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports