Pats Pulpit
With their bye week awaiting and a national audience watching, the New England Patriots set the tone from the get-go against the visiting New York Giants. One play in particular showed that the team meant business.
On the Giants’ second possession, rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart escaped the pocket in an attempt to make a positive play on 2nd-and-13. Christian Elliss had other plans, though: the linebacker came across the field full-speed and quite physically sent Dart flying out of bounds.
Afterwards, Elliss said he tried to send a simple message.
“Make sure to slide.”
“During the play, I saw him scramble,” he said during his postgame press conference after the Patriots’ 33-15 victory. “Started chasing him down, he started tip-toeing on the sideline. I thought he was just going to go out of bounds, but then I saw him tip-toeing, so I was like, ‘Stay in bounds.’ I mean, what am I supposed to do? We play hard on defense. We try to bring life to this team. That’s all I was trying to do — do my job and hit anything in the whites.”
The tackle, which happened one yard ahead of the line to gain, prompted Giants players to come after Elliss. It was the third scuffle between the two clubs within the game’s first 11 minutes, and an understandable reaction for the veteran defender.
“I understand it 100%. If it was Drake that took that shot, we would probably react the exact same way,” he said during his postgame press conference. “But for me, I was more excited, ready to celebrate with my teammates. I was ready to go celebrate with all the guys on the sideline, and I saw them come flying in. I was like, ‘Oh.’ But we’re good.”
While the hit was a hard one, it also was textbook. Elliss made shoulder-to-shoulder contact well within the field of play.
Referee Shawn Smith and his officiating crew agreed. In fact, the only penalty in that sequence belonged to Giants tight end Theo Johnson, who was flagged for unnecessary roughness during the post-play scuffle.
Dart himself also had no issue with the no-call from the referees.
“Scrambling out of the pocket, trying to get the first down and the guy made a good hit,” he said when asked about the play following the game.
The play was one of several that saw the Patriots’ speed and physicality on full display. Outside linebacker Harold Landry, linebacker Marte Mapu and cornerback Christian Gonzalez also delivered hard hits, while Elliss himself later forced a fumble on kickoff coverage.
His sideline tackle against Dart, however, was what set the tone for the night. According to head coach Mike Vrabel, it brought some energy the entire team and indeed stadium fed off of.
“I think I certainly did. I think our fans did. I think our team did,” Vrabel said. “And again, that’s a weekly reminder to the quarterback — our quarterback, we show him every week — don’t get too...
