The Patriots hosted the Giants on Monday Night Football and Jaxson Dart was back in action for the first time since November 9 after recovering from a concussion. It did not take much time for the rookie quarterback to take another big hit against New England, and it started a bit of a scuffle between the two sides.
Dart and the Giants’ offense were on the field after the Patriots scored the first touchdown of the evening on a punt return by Marcus Jones. Dart scrambled out of the pocket on second-and-13 to gain for the first down. He sprinted down the sideline and got near the marker—but got absolutely flattened by New England linebacker Christian Elliss as he tried to pick up a few extra yards.
Dart went flying out of bounds as a result of the hit and his teammates were incensed. Elliss was immediately accosted by several Giants players as both sides started pushing and shoving.
Jaxson Dart gets rocked and a fight pic.twitter.com/hOqkBChhds
— Giants Nation Show (@GiantsNationPod) December 2, 2025
Once the extracurriculars settled down the referees ruled the hit was clean. Replay showed Dart was still in bounds when Elliss drilled him. However, Giants tight end Theo Johnson got hit with a personal foul for his role in what happened afterwards; he was the first of Dart’s teammates to go after Elliss.
Dart’s propensity to take big hits has been a talking point this week in New York. The rookie is obviously talented and has shown enough flashes to consider him the future of the quarterback position for Big Blue. But he has to stay on the field to fulfill that vision. Dart has been evaluated for a concussion four times this season, and he just missed two games while in concussion protocol. Hits like this are part of football, to an extent, but if Dart sacrificed a yard by stepping out of bounds a moment earlier, he would have avoided getting plastered.
An eventful start to this week’s MNF matchup.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Patriots, Giants Scuffle After Jaxson Dart Gets Sent Flying by Huge Hit on Sideline.
