The optimism and good tidings the New York Giants enjoyed through the first week of the NFL season are suddenly on hold as the team is busy evaluating the status of injured quarterback Jaxson Dart.
Dart, in his second NFL season, injured his left knee during the first series of the Monday Night Football game between the Giants and Los Angeles Rams.
The injury happened on a first-quarter hit when Dart was hit by Rams defenders both high and low. And the low hit seemed to cause his left knee to bend in a manner it is not meant to bend.
That’s not all. The team also had a bit of a scare when receiver Malik Nabers left the game after a pass thrown his way fell incomplete. He was seen clutching his right shoulder.
Jaxson Dart No. 6 of the New York Giants walks off the field after a play against the Los Angeles Rams during the first quarter at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., on Sept. 21, 2026. (Getty Images)
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Nabers returned after missing a couple of series nursing his shoulder on the bench.
The hit on Dart left the quarterback on the ground clutching at the knee of his forward leg when he throws. That is never a good sign.
The saving grace: Dart’s leg was not planted on the turf when he was hit.
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That allowed the entire part of the lower leg to bend with the knee.
So, this is not a season-ending ACL tear.
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But Dart suffered some sort of MCL issue, according to an NFL source. If that is confirmed by an MRI scheduled for Tuesday.
“Yeah, we’ll know more tomorrow,” coach John Harbaugh said after the game. “That’s in the neighborhood of it, I would say. We’ll get an MRI tomorrow and have a really good feel for it, and it’ll give you more information then.”
Dart won’t need surgery, but will miss some time. This is not, however, a season-ending injury.
“The fact that it’s not that outcome that you’re talking about, the devastating outcome, is really good news,” Harbaugh said.
Head coach John Harbaugh of the New York Giants reacts during the second quarter of a game against the Dallas Cowboys at MetLife Stadium on Sept. 13, 2026, in East Rutherford, N.J. (Getty Images)
Dart limped off the field and was initially treated in the team’s medical tent. Several teammates huddled outside the medical tent while Dart was inside, no doubt worried about the status of their starting quarterback.
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Dart was eventually escorted to the locker room, limping there under his own power.
Backup quarterback Jameis Winston came on in his absence and was largely ineffective, throwing one interception without a touchdown and posting a passer rating of 37.7, which is bad.
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