The New York Giants may have gotten away with a penalty on one of their early touchdowns in Sunday’s wild-card game against the Minnesota Vikings.
Daniel Jones helped put the Giants up 14-7 in the first quarter with a 14-yard touchdown pass to Isaiah Hodgins. The Vikings felt the play should have been blown dead, as it appeared offensive lineman Andrew Thomas jumped early.
Vikings edge rusher Za’Darius Smith actually gave up on the play because he was motioning to the officials to throw the flag. There was no whistle and the Giants scored.
FOX rules analyst Mike Pereira said he agreed with the no call. He thought it was a bang-bang play and that it was appropriate to give Thomas the benefit of the doubt. Tony Dungy was among those who strongly disagreed and seemed to call Pereira out on Twitter.
“The NFL officiating people need to stop with this narrative that these Offensive Tackle false starts are hard to see in real time. Everyone in America watching on TV can see them,” Dungy wrote. “If the D-lineman is just slightly ahead of the snap they call it offside every time. But not on Off?”
There were several plays during the regular season where teams appeared to get away with false start penalties in crucial moments. That is something the NFL may have to take a close look at heading into 2023.
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