The education of New York Giants rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart continued on Monday night as he made his return to the lineup against the Patriots after missing two games with a concussion.
Like the rest of his teammates, Dart struggled as the Giants lost their seventh straight and fell to the Patriots 33-15 at Gillette Stadium.
Dart completed 17-of-24 passes for 139 yards and a touchdown, and he continued to take big hits, including a vicious, clean hit from Patriots LB Christian Elliss on the sideline in the first quarter. Giants TE Theo Johnson was called for a penalty after going after Elliss following the play.
After the loss, Dart discussed the play.
“I’m going to get hit if I’m in the pocket or outside the pocket,” Dart said. “I feel like I’ve played this way my whole entire life. It shouldn’t be any shocker to anybody if you’ve followed along with my career. We’re not playing soccer out here. You’re going to get hit. Things happen. It’s just part of the game.”
Elliss described what he saw on the play.
“During the play, I saw the scramble,” Elliss said. “I started chasing him down. He started tiptoeing on the sideline. I thought he was just going to go out of bounds, but then I saw him tiptoeing. When I saw he was going to stay in bounds, what am I supposed to do? We play hard on defense. We try to bring life to this team. That is all I was trying to do, was just do my job and hit anything in the white jerseys.”
Dart plays and runs with aggression, and according to the 25th pick in this year’s draft, he’s always played this way.
“Like I said, I’ve played like this my whole life,” he said. “Turn on my high school tape, turn on my college tape, it’s not a shocker to anybody. It’s how I’ve played. I felt like if you just watched the game, I did slide. I did avoid a lot of hits. So, you’re going to get hit. It’s football.”
Despite the big hits, Dart says his body feels just fine.
“My body feels good,” he said. “I got knocked out of the game against Chicago on a fluke play. You watch the hit, I lose control of the ball, and I don’t brace myself because I’m trying to re-catch the ball. It’s not because of the hit. It’s because I lost the ball. So, just like any other league, you take new steps. There’s bigger, faster players. My body feels good. So, I’m going to play aggressive. I feel like if I just turn into a complete pocket passer, that’s just not how I want to play the game. I feel like there’s an advantage to me using my legs.”
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