The officials picked up a flag, waved off a penalty and signaled for a Cowboys’ touchdown.
Hey, at least that penalty wasn’t called on the wrong team.
Because that happened, too.
The Giants were victimized by two strange officiating decisions Thursday during the first half of a 20-15 loss to the Cowboys.
First, tight end Daniel Bellinger was called for a facemask penalty that turned a would-be third-and-3 into a second-and-18.
Replays showed that when Bellinger and DeMarvion Overshown were tangled up as Bellinger blocked for Daniel Jones to run, it was Overshown who grabbed a fist full of facemask and not the other way around.
“I just saw the video and it looked like he grabbed my facemask,” an exasperated Bellinger said in the locker room after the game. “I tried to ask and they didn’t give me anything.”
The Giants still wound up with a field goal on that drive after Daniel Jones regained most of the yardage with two straight passes to Wan’Dale Robinson while head coach Brian Daboll quizzed Bellinger on the sideline.
“I thought it was a good block and then they throw the flag, I’m not sure what it is,” Bellinger said. “Come to the sideline, Dabes asks me what happened. I said, ‘Coach, honestly I don’t know what to tell you.’ They just got to get that call right.”
The real head-scratcher happened on the ensuing drive when flags flew as the Cowboys set up a screen pass to Rico Dowdle, who weaved through the defense for a go-ahead 15-yard touchdown.
The crowd and many of the players seemed to think that the play was coming back, with Dowdle tempering his end-zone celebration.
Daboll expected a holding call.
The officials thought they spotted an illegal man downfield, but huddled up and decided against it.
It left Daboll heated on the sideline.
“I thought it was a different call than what they called,” Daboll said later.
The play certainly confused the Giants.
“I think it was just collective confusion in that moment,” linebacker Bobby Okereke said. “But obviously we have to tackle better as a defense. We have to eliminate explosive plays. That’s been our Achilles heel — tackling and explosive plays.”
The Cowboys were flagged for 11 penalties resulting in 89 yards, compared to the Giants’ four for 35.
But that doesn’t make it any easier to swallow the penalty-that-wasn’t, which resulted in a touchdown adding 8 percent win probability in favor of the Cowboys, according to ESPN.
“Can’t blame the refs,” Kayvon Thibodeaux said.
