EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Jaxson Dart the morning after absorbing a crushing, legal hit that knocked him out of bounds and defending his aggressive style by saying he's “not playing soccer,” the New York Giants rookie quarterback hadn't changed his thinking.
Dart called it a good hit by New England's Christian Elliss and continued making no apologies for how he plays. More specifically, he pointed out that he watches how Kansas City’s three-time Super Bowl champion Patrick Mahomes and Buffalo’s reigning MVP Josh Allen use their legs to make plays.
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New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart (6) is sacked by New England Patriots linebacker Harold Landry III (2) during the second half of an NFL football game Monday, Dec. 1, 2025, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart, center, looks on before an NFL football game against the New England Patriots, Monday, Dec. 1, 2025, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart (6) runs against New England Patriots defensive tackle Christian Barmore (90) during the first half of an NFL football game, Monday, Dec. 1, 2025, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart, left, is sacked by New England Patriots linebacker Harold Landry III (2) during the first half of an NFL football game, Monday, Dec. 1, 2025, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
"They take hits, too, so I’m not an anomaly here," Dart said Tuesday as Giants players gathered one final time before parting ways for their late-season bye week. “I just see that they play the game as competitive and as hard as they can.”
With New York 2-11 and long eliminated from playoff contention, Dart's development is the most important thing during the final four games of the season. Keeping the current and future face of the franchise upright and healthy is at the heart of that.
Interim coach Mike Kafka worked with Mahomes for four seasons with the Chiefs, and general manager Joe Schoen was with the Bills when Allen was evolving as a pro, so they see parallels that can help Dart learn the same sorts of lessons.
“They’re both different, but there’s definitely similar scenarios that have happened that you learn as you continue to play more and more,” Kafka, a retired QB in his own right, said. “He’s an aggressive player, as well, and the same conversations that we have with all the young quarterbacks that I’ve ever been around is, ‘Around the sideline, out in the open field, there’s a decision to make.’”
Dart's penchant to take a hit to make a play is not a unique situation. Washington's Jayden Daniels and even Giants predecessor Daniel Jones are among the many at the sport's most important position who go through the process of figuring out when that extra yard or two is worth it versus sliding.
“There’s very few that can be the pocket passer that’s just a statue in there these days,” Schoen said. “Just got to be smart when you can get down and not have to take hits and unnecessary hits. You've got to take advantage of those opportunities so you can live to see another day.”
Scrambling effectively and not being afraid of contact is one of the reasons Schoen and since-fired coach Brian Daboll liked Dart coming out of Mississippi so much they traded back into the first round to take him. Dart has rushed for 337 yards and seven touchdowns in his first 10 games (eight starts) in the league.
He was also concussed in one of them and missed two as a result. That is why Dart faced so much scrutiny for running with reckless abandon against the Patriots and explained this is how he has played since high school — and like Mahomes and Allen.
“This is football: You’re going to get tackled,” Dart said. “They get tackled. Every quarterback gets tackled. They’ve taken big hits. Every single quarterback has taken big hits.”
Kafka believes Dart is learning the hard way. Getting crushed by Elliss when he could have stepped out of bounds is a textbook example of that, and Dart appreciated tight end Theo Johnson and teammates coming to his defense.
“I appreciate my guys having my back,” Dart said. “That’s just something that I know they’d do for me, and I’d do the same thing for them.”
The Giants do not want to change Dart and take away his creativity. They'd just like to keep him on the field so he can lead the turnaround the organization badly needs.
“You try to find a fine line between playing smart but also not taking away what makes them great,” Schoen said. “There’s a fine line and what makes Jaxson great is his competitiveness, his desire to win and that’s the way he’s wired.”
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New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart (6) is sacked by New England Patriots linebacker Harold Landry III (2) during the second half of an NFL football game Monday, Dec. 1, 2025, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart, center, looks on before an NFL football game against the New England Patriots, Monday, Dec. 1, 2025, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart (6) runs against New England Patriots defensive tackle Christian Barmore (90) during the first half of an NFL football game, Monday, Dec. 1, 2025, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart, left, is sacked by New England Patriots linebacker Harold Landry III (2) during the first half of an NFL football game, Monday, Dec. 1, 2025, in Foxborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI on Thursday arrested a man accused of placing two pipe bombs outside the headquarters of the Republican and Democratic national parties in Washington on the eve of the U.S. Capitol attack, an abrupt breakthrough in an investigation that for years flummoxed law enforcement and spawned conspiracy theories about Jan. 6, 2021.
The arrest marks the first time investigators have publicly identified a suspect in an act that has been an enduring mystery for nearly five years in the shadow of the violent Capitol insurrection.
The suspect was identified as Brian J. Cole Jr., 30, of Woodbridge, Virginia, but key questions remain unanswered after his arrest on explosives charges, including a possible motive and what connection if any the act had to the assault on the Capitol the following day by supporters of President Donald Trump.
Law enforcement officials reviewed credit card purchases of pipe bomb components, cellphone tower data and a license plate reader to zero in on Cole, according to an FBI affidavit filed in the case. The FBI and Justice Department declined to elaborate on what led them to the suspect, but characterized his arrest as the result of a reinvigorated investigation during the Trump administration and credited a fresh analysis of already-collected evidence and data.
“Let me be clear: There was no new tip. There was no new witness. Just good, diligent police work and prosecutorial work,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said at a news conference.
Calls to relatives of Cole listed in public records were not immediately returned Thursday. Hours after Cole was taken into custody, unmarked law enforcement vehicles lined the cul-de-sac where Cole’s home is while FBI agents helped shoo away onlookers. Authorities were seen entering the house and examining the trunk of a car nearby.
The pipe bombs were placed on the evening of Jan. 5, 2021, near the offices of the Democratic and Republican national committees. Nobody was hurt before the bombs were rendered safe, but the FBI has said both devices could have been lethal.
In the years since, investigators have sought the public’s help in identifying a shadowy subject seen on surveillance camera even as they struggled to determine answers to basic questions, including the person’s gender and motive and whether the act had a clear connection to the riot at the Capitol a day later, when supporters of Trump stormed the building in a bid to halt the certification of the Republican's 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.
Seeking a breakthrough, the FBI last January publicized additional information about the investigation, including an estimate that the suspect was about 5 feet, 7 inches tall, as well as previously unreleased video of the suspect placing one of the bombs.
The bureau had for years struggled to pinpoint a suspect despite hundreds of tips, a review of tens of thousands of video files and a significant number of interviews.
In the absence of harder evidence, Republican lawmakers and right-wing media outlets promoted conspiracy theories about the pipe bombs. House Republicans also criticized security lapses, questioning how law enforcement failed to detect the bombs for 17 hours.
One particularly vocal commentator was Dan Bongino, the current FBI deputy director who, before being tapped for the job this year, was a popular conservative podcaster. He floated the possibility last year that the act was an “inside job” and that the truth was being shielded behind a “massive cover-up.”
But since joining the bureau, he and Director Kash Patel have described the investigation as a top priority for the FBI. In a long Nov. 13 post on X, Bongino wrote that the FBI had brought in new personnel to examine the case and “dramatically increased investigative resources” along with the public reward for information “to utilize crowd-sourcing leads.”
"You’re not going to walk into our capital city, put down two explosive devices and walk off into the sunset,” Bongino said at Thursday's news conference.
The reinvigorated investigative focus on the pipe bombs came even as the Trump administration has been engaged in a much broader effort to rewrite the history of the events of Jan. 6, including through Trump’s pardons on his first day back in office of the rioters who stormed the Capitol — even those who violently attacked police with poles and other makeshift weapons.
Though Patel said the FBI in the prior administration had “refused and failed” to sift through each piece of data in the case, agents for years had conducted a sprawling investigation.
Surveillance video taken the night before the riot showed the suspect spending close to an hour moving through the surrounding blocks, pausing on a park bench, cutting through an alley and stopping again as a dog walker passed.
Agents paired their video review with a broad sweep of digital records. They gathered cell tower data showing which phones were active in the neighborhood at the time and issued subpoenas to several tech companies, including Google, for location information. Investigators also analyzed credit card transactions from hobby shops and major retailers to identify customers who had purchased components resembling those used in the two explosive devices
The FBI affidavit filed in connection with the arrest lays out a series of evidentiary clues that investigators pieced together to arrive at Cole, who lives with his mother and other family members in a five-bedroom house on a quiet cul-de-sac in Woodbridge, Virginia, about 30 miles south of the Capitol building.
Using information from his bank account and credit cards, authorities discovered he purchased materials in 2019 and 2020 consistent with those used to make the pipe bombs, according to court papers. That included galvanized pipes and white kitchen-style timers, according to the affidavit. The purchases continued even after the devices were placed.
Authorities also obtained records showing Cole’s cellphone was near the RNC and DNC on the day the pipe bombs were placed, the affidavit says.
In addition, the FBI says, Cole's Nissan Sentra was captured driving past a license plate reader on the evening of Jan. 5, 2021, less than a half-mile from where the person who placed the devices was first spotted on foot around 7:34 p.m. that night.
Associated Press reporters Michael Balsamo, Michael Kunzelman, Michael Biesecker, Brian Witte, Jim Mustian and R.J. Rico contributed to this report.
Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks about the recent arrest in the pipe bombs on the eve of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, during a news conference at the Department of Justice, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Prince William County Police block the street near the house where the FBI made an arrest, in Woodbridge, Va., Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
Prince William County Police block the street near the house where the FBI made an arrest, in Woodbridge, Va., Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025, in a nearly five-year old investigation into who placed pipe bombs in Washington before the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the US Capitol. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
An FBI agent stands near the house where the FBI made an arrest, in Woodbridge, Va., Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025, in a nearly five-year old investigation into who placed pipe bombs in Washington before the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the US Capitol. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
FILE - Attorney General Merrick Garland speaks at the Department of Justice in Washington, Jan. 5, 2022, in advance of the one year anniversary of the attack on the U.S. Capitol. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, Pool, File)
FILE - Members of law enforcement are pictured outside Democratic National Committee headquarters, Sept. 11, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
FILE - Images from an FBI poster seeking a suspect who allegedly placed pipe bombs in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. (FBI via AP, File)
FILE - This image shows part of a "Seeking Information" notice released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation regarding pipe bombs planted outside offices of the Democratic and Republican national committees in Washington on Jan. 5, 2021, on the eve of the attack on the Capitol. (FBI via AP, File)
