Giants new-look Matt Nagy offense has chance to set critical tone in preseason opener

The next time someone tells you that NFL preseason games are just a source of meaningless overreactions, try issuing a reminder that it took four passes for the Jaxson Dart Hype Train to reach full speed last summer — and it hasn’t slowed down yet.  Get texts from Paul Schwartz with all the latest Giants news and insights, exclusive to Sports+ subscribers.By the time the rookie dropped an introductory 28-yard touchdown pass in the bucket to complete an 80-yard drive featuring two scrambles, Dart had shaved some time off the expected number of weeks he had to wait on the bench behind Russell Wilson. So, while the result of Saturday’s 1 p.m.

Giants-Vikings clash at MetLife Stadium soon will be forgotten, certain tones will be set.And good vibes — let’s call them “points scored” — are needed (especially but not exclusively on any series led by Dart) for the new Matt Nagy-coordinated offense that has looked out of sync for most of training camp. Preseason offenses are usually vanilla by design but … “He’s definitely aggressive.

He’s definitely wanting to create explosive plays,” Dart said of Nagy.“But the big thing is he wants to always stay ahead of the sticks.

That’s the big point of emphasis that we have.Any negative plays, whether it may be penalties [or] loss of yardage on a run or sacks, he’s really big on minimizing those things.

I think that as an offensive coordinator, when you’re able to get your players to do that, it definitely helps him feel like he’s in control of the game, helps our offense get into a flow.” Head coach John Harbaugh didn’t commit to playing his offensive starters given the risk of injury, but it sure sounded like he recognized the importance of Dart and Nagy building a rhythm and gaining confidence before facing the Cowboys and Rams in Weeks 1 and 2, respectively. The same could be said for Nagy establishing an in-game rapport with passing game coordinator Brian Callahan and running gam...