Giants furious after refs picked up flag on potential game-tying conversion

The New York Giants were so close to tying the game late against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but got jobbed by the referees.

In the second half, things appeared to be doom and gloom for the New York Giants, as they blew a 14-3 lead to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Facing a 25-17 deficit late in the game, quarterback Daniel Jones led the team deep into the red zone with a couple of solid fourth-down conversions. Finally, Jones hit Golden Tate in the back of the end zone to cut their deficit to 25-23. All New York had to do was convert the two-point conversion to send the game into overtime.

On their two-point attempt, Jones targeted running back Dion Lewis near the end zone plane. However, Lewis was blocked out by Tampa Bay rookie safety Antoine Winfield Jr. The refs initially called a penalty for the obvious pass interference, but after a discussion, the crew waived it. Thus, the Buccaneers secured the win. And Giants head coach Joe Judge was furious!

Giants screwed out of obvious pass interference

Can you blame Judge? That call cost them the chance of earning their second win of the season.

When looking at the replay, you can see that Winfield made contact with Lewis before the ball was in his general vicinity. Sure, it looked to be a bang-bang play in real-time, but those aren’t the calls where a ref should pick up the flag. That’s exactly what they did and it cost the Giants big time, even though it was obvious pass interference.

Jones had an up-and-down night, as he completed 25-of-41 pass attempts for 256 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. While he shined on the brilliant dime pass to Tate late in the fourth quarter, he showed some mind-numbingly bad decision-making.

To be specific, we’re talking about Jones’ interception in the fourth quarter, where he tried to force a pass to Tate while in the grasps of linebacker Shaquill Barrett, resulting in an interception by cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting. It’s a common error that Jones makes. Instead of taking the sack or throwing it out of bounds, he forces a pass and it nine times out of 10 results in a turnover.

Now, the Giants fall to 1-7 on the season, even though they played a heck of a lot better than their record. This loss will sting for sure, as the Giants were on the verge of potentially notching a huge upset against the favorites to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl. They can stew in their anger now, but they’ll have to prepare for their Week 9 matchup against the Washington Football Team.