In a bone-rattling moment during the New York Giants‘ Week 9 loss to the San Francisco 49ers, rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart took a thunderous sack from behind, courtesy of 49ers edge rusher Clelin Ferrell.
The play unfolded on second-and-7 midway through the second quarter, with the 49ers up 14-7. Dart, evading pressure, scrambled left — ball clutched tightly in one hand — unaware of Ferrell looping back after beating elite left tackle Andrew Thomas upfield.
Thomas, widely regarded as one of the NFL’s premier blind-side protectors, owned the miscue postgame.
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“Yeah, so it was an up-field rush. My back is turned. I see him scrambling, and I just got to do a better job of finishing the play,” Thomas told reporters. “That’s something that we talked about up front. Jaxson’s going to scramble. He’s going to make plays. We just have to block until the whistle, and I didn’t that play.”
Dart, undeterred despite the jarring impact, credited his grip for avoiding a fumble.
“Strong hands,” he quipped when asked how he held on. “(Didn’t see him) until like the last second, but some of those are hard. I don’t have eyes in the back of my head. And you know, they did a good job. I thought they were a defense that really played through the whistle, and you saw that on film.”
The hit, which has gone viral on social media, underscored the Giants’ offensive line’s growing pains amid Dart’s mobile style of play.
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This article originally appeared on Giants Wire: Giants’ Andrew Thomas shoulders blame for huge hit on Jaxson Dart