The game-winning drive by the Chiefs on Monday night was helped by a pair of penalties on the Giants.
A facemask call on linebacker Tae Crowder that tacked 15 yards onto a 14-yard Travis Kelce catch was incorrect, but the Giants defense could have been off the field if not for a penalty on the previous play. Linebacker Oshane Ximines jumped offside to negate cornerback Darnay Holmes’ interception of Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes with 4:29 left to play in the game.
Giants head coach Joe Judge said after the 20-17 loss that the team “just can’t have penalties like that” and Ximines said it’s “never acceptable” for that to happen while trying to explain why it did.
“I’m not making no excuses or anything, but I thought they had some movement on the offensive side of the ball, but my opinion doesn’t matter,” Ximines said. “It’s what the ref sees. I was offsides, I’m accountable for that. It’s never acceptable to do that. And it goes against everything we’re building as a team. We’re a team that doesn’t like to make mistakes. That’s something we really harp on. I’m looking to make up for that.”
The Giants were called for 10 penalties for 88 yards overall on Monday night and the last two of them carried an extra sting for different reasons.