FOXBORO — Patriots linebacker Christian Elliss sent a message to opposing quarterbacks when he sent Jaxson Dart flying on a hard hit while the Giants QB tiptoed down the sideline on a scramble.

“Make sure to slide,” Elliss said after the game.

But the hit, which wasn’t flagged since Dart was still in bounds when he was leveled, also sent a message to Patriots quarterback Drake Maye.

“It’s a weekly reminder to the quarterback, our quarterback — we show them every week. I wouldn’t get too cute over there by the sidelines,” head coach Mike Vrabel said. “It happens every week. So Christian’s playing through the whistle, and as long as the player’s inbounds he’s going to try to hit him legally.”

Maye understands it loud and clear.

“I think it’s something that’s been across the league that has showed up with quarterbacks near the boundary or near the sideline just kind of relaxing,” Maye said. “And I think I learned last year, the Chargers I had one on that same sideline over there. I got smacked on the sideline. So just be smart and know you’ve almost got to accelerate or get down or do something over there. I think Jaxson, he made some good plays with his feet, so he’s tough to handle.”

Dart doesn’t seem to be learning the same lesson that Maye picked up on early in his career. Dart missed two games with a concussion suffered on Nov. 9 and then still refused to go out of bounds with Elliss barreling toward him.

“I’m going to keep playing aggressive,” Dart told reporters after the game. “Hopefully everybody can take a second to watch my tape going back to high school and realize that this is not a shock. I play the game aggressively. I took one hit that people are talking about. I slid. Got out of the way of a lot of hits. I appreciate people wanting me to be healthy and all that stuff and I want to be healthy too. I play this game aggressively. I’m not just going to change how I play the game.”

Maye has done a better job of protecting himself this season. He did briefly leave the Patriots’ Week 7 win over the Titans to get evaluated for a concussion but was quickly cleared to play.