Jaxson Dart injury update: MRI came back worse than expected, out an extended period, possibly the season
Monday night the word was a sprained MCL and a GM saying he would be OK. Tuesday afternoon the MRI said otherwise. Here is what changed, what is still not known, and what it means for a 1-1 team that built its season around a rookie.
Update, Tuesday 3:45 PM ET: the MRI was worse than the sprain
NFL Network's Ian Rapoport and Mike Garafolo reported Tuesday afternoon that Dart's MRI revealed a knee injury more severe than the team anticipated, and that he is out an extended period of time, possibly the season. No specific ligament has been named publicly. Coach John Harbaugh had told reporters the injury was in the neighborhood of an MCL sprain before the imaging came back. Rapoport's follow-up was five words long: there was hope last night, not now. With Dart likely done, Jameis Winston is the starter going forward.
What that does to New York: the plan was built around the rookie, and Monday night showed what the offense looks like without him, 11 of 27 from Winston and no rhythm. That is now the offense for the foreseeable future, not a one-week patch. The next question is whether the Giants go get a veteran or ride Winston, and the answer will tell you how they view the rest of this season.
What follows is what we wrote Monday night, before the MRI, left as written.
What is confirmed
Dart's left knee bent the wrong way in the air when Stewart and Young hit him as he released a third-down deep ball on the last play of the Giants' first possession. He went down, got up, and walked to the sideline without help. Later he walked slowly down the sideline to the locker room under his own power with a cart available that he did not use. X-rays at the stadium were negative. The MRI is Tuesday. The team's stated fear is an MCL sprain, and general manager Joe Schoen told ESPN's Laura Rutledge that Dart is going to be OK. CBS's read on the situation, as of late Monday night: he is expected to miss time but appears to have avoided a long-term injury.
Jameis Winston finished the game. He went 11 of 27 for 111 yards with an interception, and the Rams won 28-6. Our full recap of that game is Rams 28, Giants 6: the game ended when Jaxson Dart's knee did.
What "going to be OK" means and does not mean
A GM on a sideline interview an hour after the injury is telling you two things: the X-ray was clean and nobody thinks it is the ACL. He is not telling you the grade of the sprain, because he does not know it yet. That is what the MRI is for. Until it comes back, every timeline you read is a guess dressed up as a report.
Here is the general shape of MCL sprains, which is not a diagnosis of Dart, just the ranges teams work with. A mild sprain can be a week or two. A moderate one is usually measured in weeks, often several. A complete tear is a different conversation and can involve surgery. The walk-off and the negative X-ray both point toward the lower end of that spectrum, but "points toward" is doing a lot of work in that sentence, and nobody outside the Giants' building should pretend otherwise until Tuesday afternoon.
What it means for the Giants
The whole plan was built around the rookie. You saw what the offense looked like without him: 11 of 27 from Winston, no rhythm, running out the clock on a bad night. If the MRI comes back on the mild side, this is a one- or two-week problem and the season keeps its shape. If it comes back moderate, the Giants are looking at a stretch of Winston starts with a game plan built for a different quarterback, and 1-1 turns into something uglier before Dart gets back.
The right way to watch Tuesday: ignore the anonymous "weeks" numbers until someone with a name attaches one to the MRI. The GM already gave you the honest version. He will be OK. How soon is the only question left.
MRI report per NBC Sports / ProFootballTalk (Sept. 22, 2:44 pm ET) citing NFL Network. Monday night details per CBS Sports. Opinion is the taproom's.