Saints present a different Giants challenge in Jaxson Dart’s second start

NEW ORLEANS — As he was preparing for his 84th NFL game, veteran guard Jon Runyan Jr. knew that breaking in a rookie quarterback was a full-time deal, that everyone is involved in the process and that everything is a new experience for the new kid in the huddle. Runyan also knew time and place was important.

“I think it will help being at home, first game, he’ll be able to hear at least,’’ Runyan said.

Oh yes, Jaxson Dart was able to hear last week, as he made his first NFL start, and it was no coincidence that the Giants, after opening the season with three losses, won their first game this season, beating the Chargers 21-18.

Dart heard the roar of the MetLife Stadium crowd as he ran it in for a 15-yard touchdown on his opening drive, and heard the roar as he finished off the festivities by hitting tight end Theo Johnson on a clutch 10-yard completion on third down to leave the Chargers with pretty much no time (18 seconds) to spoil the Darty Party.

The noise will kick up again Sunday, when Dart makes start No. 2, but in reverse. In what will be a fall and winter of firsts after firsts for the 22-year old, this one is a biggie — his first NFL road game as a starting quarterback. The opponent is not unbeaten, as the Chargers were last week. In fact, the Saints are winless, one of three teams in the league sitting at 0-4. For the Giants to kick a team while it’s down, they are going to need Dart to handle what is always a loud and raucous environment inside the cavernous Superdome.

“I played in the SEC, so I played in a lot of really loud places,’’ Dart said. “Obviously, this one that we’re walking into is notoriously one of the loudest in the league. So, we’ve got to definitely be prepared and have to communicate to the best of our ability. We try to do a really good job at practice of creating sound. Not all the time can you implement exactly what it’s going to be like, but you just try to prepare that way.’’

Sure enough, the Giants practiced this past week with simulated, ear-splitting crowd noise blaring from speakers lining the field. There is no doubt Dart in his three years at Ole Miss walked into hostile stadiums and showed he was not intimidated. He won at Texas A&M as a sophomore, won at LSU’s Death Valley and at Auburn as a junior, and won at South Carolina as a senior.

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Leave it to the uber-confident Dart to put a positive spin on what awaits him this weekend.

“I mean, every college has an indoor facility, too,’’ he said. “A lot of practices, especially at Ole Miss, throwing in there. Then I had several games where I played indoors, especially bowl games. The ball comes out better in those environments. So, just excited for it.’’

There will be adjustments Dart must make in a league that is usually unkind to his kind — rookie quarterbacks. The Giants last week ran plenty of up-tempo offense, emboldened by Dart’s proven track record operating at a quicker pace in college, cognizant that, playing at home, communication would not be compromised by crowd noise. This is a different week in a different venue, and going no-huddle could be quite a challenge for Dart.

“Whether or not we do much of that this week, it was something we thought we could do last week a little bit,’’ head coach Brian Daboll said. “I’d say just playing in a loud environment and stadium is a challenging thing offensively. Calls, snap, there’s a million different things that come into play.’’

Dart will not have Malik Nabers (torn ACL) to target for the final 13 games, and that is a detriment — no other player on the roster comes close to Nabers, as far as talent and the ability to get open and make plays with his own individual excellence. The onus will be on offensive coordinator Mike Kafka far more often now to lean on play design and schemes to get people open, because there is no one to replicate Nabers’ one-on-one prowess.

The Saints are 30th in the league in scoring defense, allowing 30.3 points in their four losses.

“They’re aggressive,’’ Kafka said. “They’re at home, too, so they’ll have the crowd noise working for them.’’

For the first time in his nascent NFL life, Jaxson Dart is tasked with going on the road and quieting that crowd.