Giants Rookie QB Jaxson Dart Takes Two Big Hits, Sparks Sideline Scuffles in Loss to Patriots
On a cold Monday night in Foxborough, things got heated early - and not just on the scoreboard. The New England Patriots rolled to a 33-15 win over the New York Giants, but the story of the first quarter wasn’t the score. It was the punishment absorbed by Giants rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart and the fiery reactions it triggered on both sidelines.
Dart, fresh off concussion protocol after a November 9 head injury against the Bears, was back under center for the Giants - maybe sooner than some expected. And in just his first two drives, the Ole Miss product took a pair of jarring hits that had his teammates seeing red.
The first one came fast. On New York’s opening possession, Dart tried to escape the pocket with pressure closing in, looking to roll right. But Patriots linebacker Harold Landry had other plans, meeting Dart with a crushing hit that came dangerously close to helmet-to-helmet contact.
That was all it took to ignite the first flare-up. Giants right guard Greg Van Roten didn’t hesitate - he grabbed Landry by the collar, and the two sides briefly squared off. No flags were thrown, but the tension was unmistakable.
“This is what everybody’s worried about on the Giants sideline,” ESPN’s Troy Aikman said in the moment, summing up what many were thinking. After all, this is a rookie QB coming off a concussion, and he was already taking shots like a 10-year vet.
But it didn’t stop there.
On the very next drive, Dart again tried to make something happen with his legs, scrambling up the right sideline. This time, it was Patriots linebacker Christian Elliss who delivered the blow - a shoulder-first hit that sent Dart to the turf and Giants tight end Theo Johnson into retaliation mode. Johnson immediately got into it with Elliss, and before long, players from both teams were mixing it up near the New York bench.
“We’re gonna get a fight,” play-by-play man Joe Buck said as the sideline erupted.
The melee was short-lived, but not without consequences. Johnson was flagged for unnecessary roughness - a 15-yard penalty that effectively derailed what had been a promising Giants drive.
Despite the chaos, Dart bounced up both times and stayed in the game. And while the hits looked brutal, they were ruled legal.
Dart was inbounds on both plays, and no flags were thrown for the contact itself. Aikman noted as much during the broadcast: “It looked to me like a legal hit.
And it’s just Dart trying to get a little bit extra. He has to protect himself.
And he’s a target.”
That’s the reality for mobile quarterbacks in today’s NFL. Dart’s willingness to extend plays is part of what makes him dangerous - but it also puts him in harm’s way, especially against a physical defense like New England’s.
To his credit, Dart didn’t flinch. On the Giants’ third drive, he shook off the early punishment and connected with Darius Slayton for a 30-yard touchdown strike - a reminder that the rookie’s got some fight in him, too.
Still, this game was a wake-up call. The Giants have a young quarterback with talent and toughness, but if they want him to be around long-term, they’ve got to do a better job protecting him - and Dart has to learn when to take the extra yard and when to live to fight another down.
The scoreboard says the Patriots won. But for the Giants, the bigger question coming out of Monday night is whether their rookie QB can stay upright - and how much more of this he can take.