PHILADELPHIA -- The New York Giants weren't happy with some of the calls in Sunday's 38-20 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, particularly on what appeared to be a tush push fumble in the first half.
Giants outside linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux stripped the ball from Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts on a fourth-and-1 play early in the second quarter. But the officials ruled that Hurts' forward progress had been stopped. The play couldn't be reviewed. It was deemed there was no fumble.
Giants coach Brian Daboll challenged the first down ruling and lost. The Eagles scored two plays later on a 9-yard touchdown reception by Saquon Barkley to give Philadelphia a lead it would never relinquish. "[The official] said they called the forward progress before he reached the ball out," Thibodeaux said. "Sounds like some bulls--- to me."
Did the players not hear a whistle?
"That is the hard part about the tush push," Thibodeaux said. "Sorry, I mean, that was a great call by the refs. You can't blame missed calls on anything. I think we didn't stop the run. They made the 50-50 balls and they got the best of us."
There were several other calls the Giants didn't seem to agree with. Among them was a nullified 68-yard touchdown grab for wide receiver Darius Slayton that was negated by offensive pass interference in the fourth quarter.
Slayton and cornerback Quinyon Mitchell were battling with their hands on the play. Slayton's hand at one point was on Mitchell's hip. Mitchell's hand had a grasp of Slayton's undershirt. It was called an offensive pass interference by the officials. Slayton pretended to slam his helmet to the ground in disbelief after seeing the replay on the stadium's videoboard. Daboll was irate at the call, yelling and screaming in disgust.
"In my head I thought I had just fought to get my arm through and catch the ball," Slayton said. "I guess somewhere in there I, yeah ...
"That one was tough. The tush push fumble was a tough one. But at the end of the day, there were other plays out there to make. And we certainly could've executed better from our standpoint. But no doubt those type of plays hurt."
Daboll deflected after the game when asked about the calls.
"Not going to get into any particulars with it," he said on multiple occasions.
The Giants' head coach later added: "I'm not going to comment on what I think on officials. They call it, we got to play it."
The Giants (2-6) lost their 13th straight game in Philadelphia. The calls might not have changed the outcome, but they could have altered how the game was played.
The Slayton touchdown that was called back could have made it a 10-point game with just under 10 minutes left. They clearly thought it was a wrong call.
"I won't comment on that," wide receiver Wan'Dale Robinson said. "I might get fined if I say something crazy."