The most brutal and talked-about hit of the NFL’s Week 13 came in the Monday night football matchup between the New England Patriots and New York Giants. The Patriots cruised to a dominant 33-15 victory, but the tone was set early by New England linebacker Christian Elliss with 4:20 remaining in the first quarter.
That’s when Elliss took out Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart with a violent hit as the rookie in his eighth NFL start raced down the sideline, but failed to get out of bounds. The 26-year-old Elliss collided at full speed with the Giants’ 22-year-old first-round draft pick, taking both Dart and himself off their feet.
The Giants clearly felt that the viciousness of the hit was uncalled for, and a fight broke out on the sideline when New York tight end Theo Johnson attacked Elliss immediately after the hit. Johnson was called for a 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalty for the after-the-whistle shove of Elliss.
The NFL Operations Office says it reviews every play each week, whether they were flagged by game officials in real time or not. On Saturday, the league announced its ruling on whether Elliss would receive any punishment for the hit on Dart.
Elliss Says He Did Nothing Wrong
Elliss, for his part, defended his actions, saying that the hit on Dart was well within the NFL’s rules.
“I saw the scramble, 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,” Elliss said later, as quoted by NBC Sports. “So I was like, He’s staying in bounds — what am I supposed to do? We play hard on defense. We try to bring life to this team. I was just doing my job and hit anything in the whites.”
The NFL Operations office agreed with the Patriots linebacker, sparing Elliss any fine or punishment for the hit.
Johnson, however, was hit with a fine for his extracurricular activity. The league dipped into the tight end’s wallet to the tune of $6,488, for what was described as a late hit.
Patriots Safety Receives a Fine
Though Elliss escaped any financial penalty for his hit on Dart, another Patriots defender, safety Jaylinn Hawkins, was not as lucky. The 28-year-old Atlanta Falcons 2020 fourth-round draft pick will be writing a check to the league for $9,944 — the first fine of his six-year career.
Hawkins was penalized in real time, for what USA Today Patriots Wire reporter Jordy McElroy described as “a devastating helmet-to-helmet hit” on none other than Johnson, the same Giants tight end who was flagged and fined for the late hit on Elliss.
The violation came with 13:03 remaining on the clock in the second quarter, on an incomplete pass from Dart to Johnson, with safety Craig Woodson covering and Hawkins also in on the stop, using his helmet illegally on the play.
Though the fine was the first of Hawkins’ career, Elliss has received one fine – but none since an incident in a preseason game before the 2021 season, the same year Elliss signed with the Minnesota Vikings as an undrafted free agent.
The Vikings waived Elliss during that same preseason.
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