Jaxson Dart's Giants have no clue where the Meadowlands are either

Hard Knocks has mostly run its course as compelling television. Players and coaches understand every camera is an opportunity to become a meme. The preseason and in-season stories being told aren't new or engaging. It's empty calorie television that survives not due to any inherent quality or storytelling but because it chronicles the most popular sport in the country.

But it thrives in those viral clips. This week, New York Giants rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart and second-year tight end Theo Johnson gave us a beautiful example why. It turns out these two guys -- two players who have spent the bulk of their last seven months (at least) in New Jersey -- don't actually know where New Jersey is.

What began as simple small talk about wind turned into a lengthy discussion about where the Giants' practice home in New Jersey's Meadowlands actually is. When offensive coordinator Tim Kelly told the young playmaking duo the wind was whipping off the ocean, he was met by disbelief.

"Pretty sure there's no ocean," Johnson replied, accidentally creating the next conspiracy theory that will live on in message boards and undermine political elections for the next decade. "Pretty sure it's a river, ain't it?"

"That's a river," Dart affirmed.

"On the other side of those buildings [New York City]," responded Kelly. "Nothing but blue water."

Both Johnson and Dart met this declaration with disbelief. Kelly began to draw a map on his play sheet. Immediately after pointing out New York, Dart asked, with urgency: "But where are we? Where are we?"

It turns out, they're right here:

The Meadowlands are closer to the Hudson River and about 10 miles as the crow flies from the Upper Bay. So they aren't quite on the river but Kelly's point of "beyond the buildings [of New York City]" remains. And it's significantly more accurate than Dart's claim that heading southeast from northern New Jersey would land him in Pennsylvania.

In fairness, Dart grew up in Utah and spent his college years in Los Angeles and Oxford, Mississippi. Johnson was born in Manitoba and spent his first 18 years in Canada before heading to State College, Pennsylvania to play for Penn State. It makes sense Johnson, the second-year pro, would know a little bit more than the rookie. Even if they don't know a ton.

Either way, next time Kelly's just gotta tell his players wind is just the elder gods coughing and walk away before things get too stupid.

This article originally appeared on For The Win: Jaxson Dart's Giants have no clue where the Meadowlands are either