WHAT BRAWL AT THE END?
Giants’ first rule of late fight: Don’t talk about late fight
Amelee erupted on the field after Sunday’s Giants road loss to the Rams, reportedly set off by a fight between known enemies Golden Tate and Jalen Ramsey. And with no New York media present at SoFi Stadium and no media locker room access due to COVID-19 protocols, Fox and the Giants did their best to squelch the drama.
The game broadcast cut to commercial as play-by-play announcer Adam Amin described the post-game extracurriculars in general terms. Fox later showed a replay of the “fireworks” with players trying to pull people off a pile, but no mention of how the fight started.
And then the Giants shut down their postgame player Zoom interviews without making Tate available, despite numerous requests for him to talk, sending out Blake Martinez, James Bradberry, Nick Gates and Daniel Jones instead.
Greg Beachem of The Associated Press thankfully chronicled the play-by-play.
“Jalen Ramsey and Golden Tate are fighting at midfield,” Beachem tweeted. “Ramsey and Tate walked toward each other after the final whistle. They both took swings almost simultaneously and then went down in a heap. Their teammates pulled them apart.”
Gates, who clearly had been instructed not to speak on Tate’s business, was right in the middle of what Fox did show, shoving Rams away from a pile.
“I was just trying to protect my teammate,” Gates said.
The lack of transparency from the Giants and Fox was the first time this Giants season that the team and/or broadcaster used the virtual setup to limit gameday access.
It’s also inconsistent with how the team has been covered in the past.
Not that many years ago, Odell Beckham Jr.’s every move was chronicled and replayed as he fought Josh Norman and punched a kicking net. Dave Gettleman considered him bad for the Giants’ culture and traded him and signed Tate in his place. And the networks still, as of this past spring, were replaying Beckham’s sideline antics on loop to reflect the Giants’ dysfunction.
But now Tate is reportedly throwing punches after his team falls to 0-4 and there is nothing for anyone to see. Strange. But of course with no locker room open, NFL teams can be the gatekeepers to which players talk and which don’t.
Coach Joe Judge surprisingly didn’t say much.
“I gotta see and find out all the details,” Judge said. “I don’t have anything right there. Not yet anyway. Obviously we want to do all our fighting in between the whistles for 60 minutes.”
What happened wasn’t exactly a surprise, however, to those who know the history between Tate and Ramsey. Ramsey has two children with Tate’s sister, Breanna, a former Ole Miss track and field standout.
And when Breanna Tate was pregnant with their second child last summer, Ramsey announced on Instagram that he was in a new relationship with a Las Vegas dancer.
That fall a fan tweeted of Ramsey’s actions: “I would have words with this young fella.” And Tate replied: “He know he gonna have to see me.”
Ramsey slammed Tate down hard on a tackle in Sunday’s second half and gave him extra shots whenever he could. Judge seemed to imply he might have spoken to Tate about the bad blood leading into the game, but he wouldn’t reveal exactly what he said.
“Golden’s a competitive guy,” Judge said. “We talk to all our players every week about different things. I’ll keep some of the conversations with the players between me and our players. We don’t want to have happen at the end of the game what happened. That’s not the way we want to be as a team. I don’t know all the details yet. I want to look at that before I make any comments on it.”
ROOKIES SEEING BIGGER ROLES
Rookie inside linebacker Tae Crowder played most of Sunday’s game after getting his feet wet with his first two NFL defensive snaps in Week 3. The seventh-round pick out of Georgia nearly made an athletic interception of Rams QB Jared Goff to open the second half.
Rookie offensive tackle Matt Peart (third round, UConn), after logging two snaps in Week 3, played the full final series of Sunday’s first half at right tackle in place of Cam Fleming. Judge said that was planned to get Peart work. Fleming went back in for the entire second half.
And rookie guard Shane Lemieux (fifth round, Oregon) took his first NFL snap at fullback in the first half, helping Devonta Freeman to a three-yard rush.
MORE INJURIES ON DEFENSE
Edge rushers Oshane Ximines (shoulder) and Kyler Fackrell (neck) both left Sunday’s game in the third quarter with injuries. Fackrell returned while Ximines did not. Fackrell got his second sack of the season earlier in the game. Adrian Colbert made his first start at free safety but left in the second half with a neck injury, and the Rams promptly hit Cooper Kupp on a busted coverage with Julian Love at free safety for a 55-yard TD.