Tag: A.J. Cole

Giants’ Keion Crossen fined for hit on Raiders punter A.J. Cole

New York Giants defensive back Keion Crossen has been fined $6,133 for his late hit on Las Vegas Raiders punter A.J. Cole in Week 9.

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New York Giants defensive back and special teams ace, Keion Crossen, received a FedEx package from the NFL this week. And no, it wasn’t filled with anything celebratory.

Instead, Crossen was fined $6,133 for unnecessary roughness after his ugly and late hit on Las Vegas Raiders punter A.J. Cole in Week 9. Somewhat surprisingly, Crossen was not ejected from the game for the hit.

In reality, Crossen is lucky the NFL didn’t opt to suspend him for the hit. It was indefensible, although Giants head coach Joe Judge didn’t immediately recognize that.

“I don’t know exactly what they saw. I’ll look at the tape myself, but it didn’t look like he went to the head area,” Judge told reporters after the game. “I think Keion, he just explained to us that he saw (Pharoh Cooper) coming up the field, made a missed tackle, he stuck his foot in the ground and looked like he went up to what we call it, ‘next level’ and make the play on the person in front of you and the thing creased and got going. I don’t know if he even knew at that time it was the punter.

“We’re not going to take cheap shots on anybody — quarterbacks, specialists or whatever it is. But at the same time, if it’s an interception or it’s a return and there’s somebody in the way where we’re going to run the ball, you’ve got to block them and open up that seam. I have not seen the tape. I caught a bit of it out of the corner of my eye. I’m going to take a look at it right there and if it’s anything that we have to correct, we’ll correct.”

Judge never addressed the play again.

The 25-year-old Crossen was acquired by the Giants in a trade with the Houston Texans back in August. He has appeared in all nine games this season, recording eight tackles (six solo, one for a loss), one QB hit, one sack, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery.

Giants defeat Raiders, 23-16: Instant analysis

Analyzing the New York Giants’ 23-16 victory over the Las Vegas Raiders at MetLife Stadium in Week 9.

The New York Giants hosted the AFC West-leading Las Vegas Raiders at MetLife Stadium on Sunday afternoon, which was a perfect day for football with temperatures around 50 degrees and hardly any wind.

The Giants were coming off another disappointing loss while Las Vegas was coming off their bye week. It was hardly an uneventful week for the Raiders with the tragic Henry Ruggs situation, and the Giants were uncertain about who would be available this week after some faulty COVID-19 tests.

The line at kickoff had dipped down to Giants +2.5 with an over/under of 46.5 points as per the Tipico Sportsbook app.

The Giants opened the scoring with a crisp seven-play, 75-yard drive that resulted in a Daniel Jones-to-Evan Engram 30-yard hookup for a touchdown that Engram grabbed over Raiders safety Jonathan Abram.

The Raiders stormed right back, marching 72 yards on 10 plays and tied the game when Derek Carr hit Hunter Renfrow for a two-yard score after Renfrow shook James Bradberry on the goal line.

The defenses took over the game and the clubs traded field goals to bring the score to 10-10 with 2:00 remaining in the first half. The Giants have been terrible at the end of the first half all season and they continued that in this game as Las Vegas was able to add another field goal with 0:10 remaining in the half to take a 13-10 lead into the tunnel.

The Raiders lead was short-lived as Giants safety Xavier McKinney picked off Carr on the first possession the second half and took it 41 yards to the house to give the Giants a 17-13 lead.

On the next possession, the Giants defense once again stood tall and forced a field goal. It was their third red zone stop of the game in four tries.

Graham Gano’s 32-yard field goal widened the Giants’ lead with 14:07 remaining. The defense did their thing again on the Raiders’ next drive, stopping them on third-and-6 from the Giants’ 10. Daniel Carlson then hooked the 25-yard field goal attempt wide left to keep the score at 20-16 in favor of New York.

McKinney’s second interception shut the door on Las Vegas’ next possession and sent the Giants on a drive that resulted in a 36-yard field goal to extend the Giants’ lead to 23-16.

The Raiders took control of the football on their own 25 with 3:21 remaining. After driving down to the Giants’ 13 with 0:50 remaining, the defense went work again. Rookie defensive end Quincy Roche stripped Carr of the ball and it was recovered by Leonard Williams on the 23.

The Giants finally win close one. They are 3-3 after starting the year 0-3.

Notes

  • The Giants were shorthanded in the backfield. Saquon Barkley (ankle) and rookie Gary Brightwell (COVID-19) were inactive. Barkley has played in just 20 of the Giants’ last 41 games.
  • Devontae Booker had a career high 99 yards rushing on 21 carries and added 23 yards on three receptions.
  • Sterling Shepard (quad) missed his fourth game of the season. Shepard has now missed 14 games since the beginning of the 2019 season due to various injuries.
  • Fourth-round pick Elerson Smith, an outside linebacker out of Northern Iowa, made his NFL debut. Oshane Ximines was a healthy scratch, perhaps benched after his offsides penalty cost the Giants a chance to win last Monday night in Kansas City.
  • KR/WR Pharoh Cooper and safety J.R. Reed also made their Giants debut in this game.
  • Keion Crossen’s personal foul penalty on Raiders punter A.J. Cole was the 12th special team penalty of the season for the Giants, the most of any team in the NFL this year.
  • The game was broadcast on CBS as the Giants were hosting an AFC team. Kevin Harlan, Trent Green and Melanie Collins (field reporter) called the game.

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