The New York Giants’ 33-15 loss to the New England Patriots had multiple bizarre moments, including a scare involving their quarterback. Jaxson Dart took a hard, dangerous hit from Patriots linebacker Christian Elliss. This immediately set off chaos along the sideline. After the game, Elliss finally explained what really happened during that incident.

Speaking to the reporters, Elliss explained that he was simply doing his job.

“During the play I saw the scramble, I started chasing him down,”  he said, as per Alex Barth. “I thought he was going to go out of bounds, but I saw him tip-toeing…what am I supposed to go? We play hard on defense. Try to bring life to this team, so that’s all I was trying to do is just do my job and hit anything in the whites.”

He further added that the hit is a message for the team to keep their QB safe. “Make sure to slide,” he said.

It happened in the first quarter when Dart was just a step away from trying to grab a first down. He was scrambling out of the pocket on a second-and-13 play when Elliss’ hit sent him flying onto the Giants’ sideline. And the Giants players didn’t take it lightly.

After watching their QB get knocked down, they immediately rushed in to defend him. This was enough to start a brief scuffle with the players from both sides pushing each other. Later, the officials ruled the hit as legal.

Even if it looked bad, the hit was clean. As for the Giants’ QB, he had no issues with the hit. “Guy made a good hit,” he said.

It was also the second big hit on the QB during the game. This is understandably frustrating for the Giants. After all, it was more of a dangerous moment for Dart, who had only recently returned from a concussion and came close to facing a fifth concussion evaluation.

As per Jordan Raanan, the Giants have been trying to protect their quarterback this season by discouraging him from scrambling. They even removed designed runs from the playbook to avoid unnecessary hits. But it’s quite clear that Dart has no intention of slowing down or changing his playing style.

Jaxson Dart breaks silence after getting hit by Christian Elliss

Dart’s health has been a serious issue, but Dart isn’t too worried about the hits. He believes it’s simply part of the sport.

“No, look, I understand the question, but this is football,” Dart said. “I’m going to get hit if I’m in the pocket or outside the pocket. I feel like I played this way my whole entire life. It shouldn’t be any shocker to anybody if you followed along with my career.”

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Still, this is a major concern for the Giants. Dart suffered a concussion in the game against the Chicago Bears on November 9. He already missed two games this season because of the concussion, and he dealt with one in the preseason as well. Even more worrying, he has been evaluated for a concussion four times in the last eight games.

But he is confident about his approach.

“We’re not playing soccer out here. You’re going to get hit. Things happen. It’s just part of the game.”

With several games still left on the schedule, the Giants can’t afford another injury to their quarterback. Yet Dart has made it clear that playing safe isn’t part of his plan. While that fearless style can help the team, another potential injury could derail everything for both Dart and the Giants.