WORST THAT COULD HAPPEN
Giants see Saquon, Jones carted off with injuries, then a fight, in blowout loss to Cowboys
Dynamic Giants rookie Kadarius Toney tried to will his team back into Sunday’s blowout 44-20 loss to the Cowboys.
An NFL player on another team texted the Daily News during the second quarter while watching on TV: “Toney is electric.”
Then Toney snapped.
The rookie receiver threw a right-handed punch at Cowboys safety Damontae Kazee with 6:06 remaining, undoing a career performance of 196 yards from scrimmage on 11 touches.
Joe Judge’s team had fought hard against enormous adversity after losing Saquon Barkley, Daniel Jones and Kenny Golladay to first-half injuries, with Toney leading the way.
Now here was Toney unraveling with the rest of the Giants (1-4), who now sit in last place in the NFC East behind the Cowboys (4-1), Washington and Philadelphia (both 2-3).
“There’s a pretty distinct line in terms of competing and doing things that we’re not gonna condone as a team that put us behind,” Judge said of Toney’s punch. “That’s not gonna be acceptable.”
Toney’s loss of composure enraged Judge, who shouted Toney off the field to the locker room even before he was officially ejected. Judge could be seen saying “f***ing embarrassing” on a close-up provided by the FOX national broadcast.
Toney had been retaliating for Kazee tossing him to the turf after the play was over, drawing an unnecessary roughness penalty of his own. But Judge, a second-year coach, cannot abide such behavior if he wants to keep his last-place team in line.
Toney, 22, even talked back to fans as he headed for the tunnel, finally guided out of sight by Giants head of security Jerry Meade. He was not made available to the media postgame. He was seen being driven on a cart in the hallway, seemingly to have a possible injury examined.
“I’m pretty sure he wishes he could have that moment back and he had turned the other cheek,” Golladay said. “He’s a rookie. He’ll learn from it.”
Maybe so, but it will be difficult for the Giants to recover from the amount of key players they lost to injury.
Barkley sprained his left ankle stepping on Cowboys corner Jourdan Lewis’ foot in the first quarter.
Jones was concussed in the second quarter on a goal-line collision. The Giants quarterback had to be carted off with three minutes left in the first half after going helmet to helmet with Cowboys linebacker Jabril Cox.
Jones kept the ball on a zone read on 3rd and goal from the 1-yard line and ran left for the end zone. He put his head down to try to barrel into the end zone and collided with Cox’s helmet and had his neck bent back. The ball came out as Jones hit the turf. He was slow to stand up, knelt back down, then wobbled when he got to his feet and nearly collapsed. Finally the Giants’ medical team arrived, checked him out and put him on the cart on the way to the locker room.
Golladay was ruled out at halftime with a hyperextended knee.
“I guess it was kind of the guys I’d played with in the preseason to a certain extent,” said backup QB Mike Glennon, who threw for 196 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions, including one returned for a Cowboys TD by corner Anthony Brown.
Jason Garrett’s offense already had started the game without left tackle Andrew Thomas (left foot), receivers Sterling Shepard (hamstring) and Darius Slayton (hamstring), and left guard Ben Bredeson (left hand).
The defense was missing Jabrill Peppers (hamstring) and then lost corner Rodarius Williams (knee) in the second half, as well.
The Giants’ luck got so bad that Toney hurt his leg on an impressive sideline catch in the second half. And when he popped off the Giants’ bench in disgust, he inadvertently
headbutted the inactive Peppers, who had been walking over in street clothes to check on the rookie wideout.
Peppers grabbed at his face and even required attention from the trainers. Toney quickly apologized, because it was an accident. But that’s what kind of day the Giants had.
“It is crazy just looking in,” Golladay said of the avalanche of injuries. “But I got all the faith in the world in the other guys.”
Devontae Booker scored two touchdowns in relief of Barkley. And the persistent Giants kept the game close, tied at 10 -10 late in the second quarter. Lorenzo Carter even made an early interception on Dak Prescott.
But the Dallas offensive erupted for 515 total yards including 201 on the ground. Dak Prescott threw for 302 yards, three TDs and a first-quarter interception by Lorenzo Carter. Ezekiel Elliott totaled 112 yards and two TDs.
Top Giants corner James Bradberry was beaten for a deep touchdown and then dropped a huge potential interception late in the second quarter. Prescott connected with Amari Cooper for a 24-yard TD on the very next play for a 17-10 Dallas lead at the half.
“Should have caught it,” Bradberry said.
And the Giants had no pass rush to speak of. Leonard Williams’ name wasn’t heard until he ripped Cowboys running back Tony Pollard’s helmet off in the fourth quarter out of frustration.
Meanwhile, Cowboys ballhawk Trevon Diggs made an amazing, athletic interception of Glennon on an underthrown deep pass for C.J.
Board.
Toney’s joystick-like dashing and darting, of course, was the Giants’ silver lining.
“He’s special,” Glennon said. “You just don’t see guys make people miss like that in the NFL very often. I’m glad he is on our team.”
But it’s unclear if he’ll face further discipline. Judge didn’t sound like he intended to suspend Toney himself.
“I’ll let the league deal with that,” he said.
Regardless, Toney has to learn to keep his cool. The Giants are going to need him badly.
“The score wasn’t looking right,” Golladay said. “But at the same time what I told (Toney) was you did everything you could possibly do as a receiver, making plays and doing what’s best for the team. But plays like that? That can hurt the team.”