The New York Giants and New England Patriots got into a scuffle on the sideline in the first quarter of “Monday Night Football” at Gillette Stadium after a hard — but legal — hit on quarterback Jaxson Dart.
On the Giants’ second offensive drive, Dart scrambled along the right sideline for a gain of 12 yards. He was stopped by Patriots linebacker Christian Elliss, who hit Dart and sent him tumbling out of bounds.
Immediately after the play, Giants tight end Theo Johnson ran up and shoved Elliss on the sideline. The two got into it before teammates from both teams joined the brawl. Elliss hit Dart while he was inbounds, meaning the play was legal. Johnson was flagged for unnecessary roughness, which pushed New York back to a third-and-16.
Players had to be separated after Patriots LB Christian Elliss hit Jaxson Dart along the sideline. pic.twitter.com/wZPTVasGSw
— ESPN (@espn) December 2, 2025
Dart returned Monday after missing the Giants’ last two games with a concussion. Dart’s aggression as a runner has been a major storyline in New York this season, and interim offensive coordinator Tim Kelly was asked earlier this week about coaching Dart to take fewer hits. The rookie quarterback has been examined for a concussion four times this year, including the preseason.
“I think that’s a big part of playing quarterback in this league, especially starting quarterbacks. Especially guys that have his mobility, his mindset, his really understanding the value of being available. And you’re never going to take that mindset away from him,” Kelly said.
“That’s the main reason as to why he is who he is, but being able to understand when you need to put the cape on and when it’s OK to go ahead and slide. So again, I think that’s part of the process for these younger quarterbacks coming into the league, is just understanding, you always have that mindset of, I’m going to do everything I can to go get that last yard. Well, a yard with 12 minutes to go in the first quarter is a little bit different than a yard to go with 10 seconds to go in the game. So being able to have some situational awareness there and understand when we need him to put the cape on and when he needs to protect himself.”
Dart suffered his first confirmed concussion in a Week 10 loss to the Bears. It happened in the fourth quarter, on his sixth carry of the game, when he fumbled at the end of a 7-yard run deep in Bears territory.
“The only thing about that play is the ball got knocked out of my hands and when you kind of lose control of the ball, you’re not really thinking about bracing for the ground,” Dart said of that play earlier this week. “It’s kind of been a point of emphasis going into each game of just being smarter with the hits that I take. When I look back at the game, there’s not a hit where I’m like, dang, I shouldn’t have taken that hit, to be honest. I felt like I was making smart decisions. I didn’t take really any unnecessary hits. That was just a situation where you kind of lose control of your body when you fumble it and you’re not really bracing for the ground. But obviously, moving forward, now I’ve got to be more available for this team, so, that’s obviously on the forefront of my mind going forward.”
The Patriots entered Monday’s game at the top of the AFC standings and surged to a 17-0 lead in the first quarter.