Giants QB Jaxson Dart cleared after injury scare

Jaxson Dart got another taste of life as an NFL quarterback on Thursday night.

His first injury scare.

With less than three minutes to go in the first quarter of the Giants' preseason game against the visiting New England Patriots, the New York rookie took off out of the pocket and broke free for a long run. When Patriots defensive back Craig Woodson tried to tackle him, Dart cut inside where trailing linebacker Jack Gibbens slammed him to the ground.

Dart appeared to hit his head on the ground and was evaluated on the sideline for a concussion.

According to the Amazon Prime broadcast, Dart cleared concussion protocol though he did not go back into the game. Cameras later caught Giants head coach Brian Daboll talking with Dart on the sideline, appearing to jokingly telling his quarterback to slide.

"There are certain times when you got to make the right decision," Daboll told reporters after the game when asked about balancing Dart's aggressiveness with the nature of playing quarterback. "I would say this particular game's probably a good time to slide, our third preseason game."

Dart, asked if he should have slid to end the play, replied, "Yeah, I mean, first of all, just shouldn't have fumbled. Never been taken out of a game for getting the air knocked out of me, so that was the first. But, I mean, I quite honestly felt like I could split them when I saw the open field. Honestly in this situation, I didn't feel like I was in too much of a threat to get a big hit on me.

"But I think that quite honestly, like it's just situation-based. If you're going to take a big hit, then you slide. I didn't feel like I was in a situation where I was going to take a really big hit, so I felt like I could extend the play and make something out of it."

Dart finished the game 6 of 12 for 81 yards and a 7-yard touchdown pass to Greg Dulcich just 2:01 into the game. The Giants won the game easily, 42-10, to complete a 3-0 preseason.

Dart, selected 25th overall out of Ole Miss, finished the preseason 32 of 47 (68.1 percent) for 372 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions. Daboll already announced veteran Russell Wilson will begin the season as the Giants' starting quarterback.

New York opens the regular season at Washington on Sept. 7.