It didn’t take long for the fireworks to start on Monday between the New England Patriots and New York Giants.
The Patriots and Giants faced off on this week’s edition of “Monday Night Football” at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. During the first quarter, the Giants had a 2nd-and-13 in their own territory.
With nobody open for him to throw to, Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart tucked the ball away and scrambled for the first-down marker. He stepped out of bounds before he made it … but paid the price as Patriots linebacker Christian Elliss absolutely leveled him with a hit.
Elliss’ takedown of Dart sparked a fight as Giants tight end Theo Johnson immediately charged in to shove Elliss. That led to players on both sides getting into the mix down the New York sideline.
Here is the full video of the incident.
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 appeared to be just barely inbounds still at the time of Elliss’ hit, so the takedown was perfectly legal. However, Johnson picked up a 15-yard penalty for unnecessary roughness for shoving Elliss after the fact.
The 22-year-old rookie Dart took over as the starting QB for the Giants in late September and has had moments of brilliance (though New York continues to lose and entered play on Monday at 2-10 on the year). But his aggressive style as a runner has sparked some internal concerns for the Giants, and Dart once again put himself in harm’s way on Monday during that incident with Elliss.
