Dart's knee outlook worsens. The Giants face a much bigger question.

The Giants' 28-6 loss to the Rams was already a bad night. The news about Jaxson Dart's knee became considerably more serious on Tuesday, after further testing replaced Monday's guarded optimism with the possibility of an absence lasting the rest of the season.

ESPN's Adam Schefter reported Tuesday that the injury is worse than initially thought and that Dart and the team face the possibility of season-ending knee surgery. NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, citing sources after the MRI, reported that Dart will be out for an extended period, possibly the season. Those are reports about the range of outcomes, not an announcement that surgery has been scheduled or that Dart's season is over.

The change matters because the first assessment pointed in a different direction. Dart injured his knee on New York's opening drive Monday and did not return. After the game, coach John Harbaugh described a reported MCL sprain as in the neighborhood of the diagnosis, while saying the team would know more after an MRI. That comment came before Tuesday's further evaluation.

The assessment changed after Monday night

The Giants have not publicly specified the full injury or announced a treatment decision in the team updates reviewed for this report. Rapoport later relayed Harbaugh's description of the evaluations as ongoing. Until the team and Dart settle a medical plan, a return date would be an invention.

There is a football consequence even without a final timetable. New York is 1-1, and a starting quarterback who directed the opening win over Dallas may now be missing for far more than the next game. Jameis Winston replaced Dart against the Rams. The Giants need to prepare the offense for him while the longer-term decision remains unresolved.

The next scheduled opponent is Tennessee on Sunday. Whether Dart plays again this year is now a question the Giants must confront, but it is not one anyone outside the medical and team decision-making process can answer today. The accurate headline is serious enough: the injury outlook worsened after testing, and season-ending surgery is possible.