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Patriots, Giants Scuffle After Jaxson Dart Gets Sent Flying by Huge Hit on Sideline

Liam McKeone

Jaxson Dart took a big hit against the Patriots on Monday night.
Jaxson Dart took a big hit against the Patriots on Monday night. / ESPN
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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.

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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Liam McKeone
LIAM MCKEONE

Liam McKeone is a senior writer for the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has been in the industry as a content creator since 2017, and prior to joining SI in May 2024, McKeone worked for NBC Sports Boston and The Big Lead. In addition to his work as a writer, he has hosted the Press Pass Podcast covering sports media and The Big Stream covering pop culture. A graduate of Fordham University, he is always up for a good debate and enjoys loudly arguing about sports, rap music, books and video games. McKeone has been a member of the National Sports Media Association since 2020.

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