Jaxson Dart tosses ball at Giants defender sparking dustup

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. -- New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart is known to play with a bit of feistiness and flair, but that might have gotten him in trouble Tuesday.

After rushing for a touchdown during a red zone period at training camp, Dart tossed the ball at the helmet of the closest defender, cornerback Greg Newsome. The ball hit Newsome in the helmet before ricocheting to the ground. All of which prompted several defensive players to jump in and have words with Dart as he walked back to the huddle.

The defense wasn't amused by Dart's actions. Neither was his coach.

"I think it's a 15-yard penalty for taunting, so we backed up the extra point and had them do it again," Harbaugh said.

Kicker Ben Sauls made the 48-yard attempt after the penalty.

Did Harbaugh, who generally is relatively quiet during practice, say anything to Dart on the field while this was all unfolding?

"I think he understands that we don't want it for the game-winning extra point, we don't want it to be a 50-yard extra point or so," Harbaugh said.

"Do you think I need to say anything in that case? It's pretty clear-cut."

That was the last play the Giants' first-team offense would run in the practice.

While Dart was not available for comment after practice, other players seemed to brush off the incident. "Just them competing," tight end Isaiah Likely said. "I mean, training camp, Day 2 of pads, getting tired, obviously in the red zone points are at stake. I mean, that's the type of dog you want in a quarterback.

"And obviously, Newsome, I've been playing with him for quite a while. I know he's a dog himself. So he's not going to back down on nobody."

The Giants' offense with Dart under center has struggled early in training camp. They finally found the end zone late in practice Tuesday when Dart hit Likely for a score in a red zone drill. The very next period is when Dart scrambled to his left and ran untouched into the end zone.

Penalties have been a problem for New York during the first two days of training camp practices in full pads. The Giants had 14 penalties called during Monday's practice, including nine on the offense.

Harbaugh thought they were better Tuesday. There were seven penalties called in Tuesday's practice, including the 15-yarder on Dart. Most of the penalties have been pre-snap infractions as the Giants and Dart have worked hard on cadence early in training camp in addition to having Dart under center significantly more than last year.br/]