Where to watch Giants vs. Chargers: TV channel, live stream, prediction, pick, odds

As fall begins across the Hudson River in New York City, a new era in the century-long history of the New York Football Giants will begin: Like Charlie Conerly and Eli Manning before him, Jaxson Dart -- once a star quarterback at Ole Miss -- now assumes the mantle of being the Giants' starting quarterback, as he makes his first career start in Week 4 against the Los Angeles Chargers.

After an 0-3 start that has already put the Giants and their brain trust on the brink, Dart is tasked with not only infusing life into a team and fanbase starved for success, but likely also with saving the jobs of the coach and general manager that chose him with the No. 25-overall pick in this year's draft.

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But, all of the positive feels aside, it will be no easy task against the Chargers, who enter this game at 3-0 coming off three division wins to start the year and boast quarterback Justin Herbert playing at an MVP level as well as a suffocating defense that has presented problems for veterans Bo Nix, Geno Smith and Patrick Mahomes ... But a rookie quarterback making his first career start will solve the Chargers?

Where to watch Giants vs. Chargers live

When: Sunday, Sept. 28 | Time: 1 p.m. ET
Where: MetLife Stadium -- East Rutherford, New Jersey
TV: CBS | Stream: Paramount+
Follow: CBS Sports App
Odds: Chargers -6; O/U 43.5 (via DraftKings)

Giants vs. Chargers: Need to know

Is this Brian Daboll's last gasp? A common theme throughout coach Brian Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen's tenure with the Giants has been the scapegoating of others for losing, whether it was quarterback Daniel Jones, various assistant coaches, or even former defensive coordinator Wink Martindale after an explosive falling out. But with Daboll now inserting his own, hand-picked quarterback into the lineup, the buck now finally stops at his and Schoen's lack of results.

Since getting off to a 7-2 start in a playoff season with a roster that mostly had former GM Dave Gettleman's fingerprints on it, Daboll has gone 11-33-1 as head coach of the Giants. He is 3-17 since the start of 2024, and a measly 1-14 in his last 15 games. As much as Daboll has been hailed as a top coaching mind held back by his quarterback play, his winning percentage (18-35-1, .343) is fourth-worst in franchise history ahead of only Joe Judge (10-23, .303), Pat Shurmur (9-28, .281) and Bill Arnsparger (7-28, .200). If Dart's play at quarterback does not translate into wins, Daboll and Schoen are both out of excuses -- and likely out of a job by the end of the season, if not sooner.

Eyes on the skies. Speaking of Arnsparger, you have to go all the way back to the 1970s to find the last time Giants fans were in full-scale revolt against their team. Following the infamous Joe Pisarcik Fumble in 1978, Giants fans took action against a generation of their team's ineptitude by flying a plane over Giants Stadium that carried a banner reading "15 Years of Lousy Football -- We've Had Enough."

Amid one of the worst seasons in franchise history last year, the planes returned. And Sunday, the planes are set to fly yet again: According to the New York Post, at least two planes have been booked to fly over MetLife Stadium with messages towards team owner John Mara from fed up Giants fans. According to NJ Advance Media, one plane will carry a banner that is tentatively set to read "MR MARA ENOUGH IS ENOUGH CLEAN HOUSE." 

While good performances by Dart may abate the rage of Giants fans, it likely won't quell it altogether. The Giants have had just three winning seasons and one playoff win since Super Bowl XLVI in 2011, and they have fallen from a keystone franchise of the NFL to being the league's biggest doormat since 2017 under the watch of Mara as well as co-owner Steve Tisch, who to this point has dodged public scrutiny.

What about the Chargers? The Chargers are an interesting opponent for this particular moment in Giants history, as the two franchises are linked by a blockbuster Draft Day trade in 2004 in which the Chargers sent No. 1-overall pick Eli Manning, who refused to play for them, to the Giants in exchange for No. 4-overall pick Philip Rivers. In some ways, the Chargers have now benefited from their own quarterback spurning New York: Justin Herbert was coveted by the Giants leading into the 2019 Draft, but he opted to stay at Oregon in order to play with his brother, effectively ducking Big Blue in favor of entering the Draft in 2020.

The Giants have historically struggled against the Bolts over the last 30 years, as they have not beaten the Chargers since a 34-16 win on Sept. 27, 1998. Their most famous meeting was an ugly moment in the history of Giants Stadium, as late season game in 1995 saw Giants fans angry at the end of an eventual 5-11 season pelt the field with snowballs, knocking out Chargers equipment manager Sid Brooks and nearly resulting in the Giants being forced to forfeit the game.

Giants vs. Chargers prediction, pick

The Chargers are a 6-point favorite in this matchup, and while I don't doubt that Jaxson Dart could provide the Giants a spark, the fact remains that he isn't an antidote for the Giants' core issues which include, among other things, lack of identity in the run game, poor run defense and an overall lack of physicality. By comparison, the Chargers know what they want to be in terms of running the football and will impose their will physically, and Justin Herbert is exactly the type of quarterback that presents a poor matchup for the Giants' defense overall, which does little to throw opposing quarterbacks off and relies solely on its players lining up and winning their matchups. Dart may make enough plays to keep the Giants in the game, but the Chargers are the better coached and better put together football team as a whole. Pick: Chargers, Over 43.5