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Dexter Lawrence wasn’t the sole reason for the New York Giants‘ loss to Washington on Thursday night. However, his miscue as time expired was the final nail in the coffin in what proved to be a heartbreaking final few minutes for the G-Men.
Washington kicker Dustin Hopkins missed a 48-yard field goal in the closing seconds of regulation which would have both ended the game in New York’s favor as well as halted a four-year streak of beginning the regular season 0-2. Unfortunately, Lawrence was flagged for an offsides penalty on the play, giving Hopkins another opportunity to send a dagger through the hearts of Giants fans — which he did, connecting from 43 yards out and handing Big Blue a 30-29 loss in Week 2.
Yet, while Big Blue faithful may have wept themselves to sleep on Thursday night, the 6-foot-4-inch, 342-pound Lawrence seemingly slept like a baby.
After not meeting with reported following the loss, Lawrence was asked on Friday if he had trouble getting to bed following the loss.
“Nah, I like to sleep, so it wasn’t hard,” Lawrence said, via NJ Advance Media.
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Lawrence Shoulders Blame But Appears to Disagree With Call
As you could expect, the majority of Lawrence’s media availability was consumed with questions regarding his offsides penalty. The former first-round pick accepted blame for his error, although with one caveat — he didn’t appear to agree with the call, even if he didn’t come out and blatantly say it.
“That’s on me,” Lawrence said. “I’ve got to be more disciplined in a critical situation. It was unfortunate that it had to happen then. I hold myself to a high standard. I can’t make that mistake. I don’t want to let my brothers down. I don’t want to let my family down. The frustration is there on myself. I’ve got to be better in that situation.”
As for the legitimacy of the penalty called on him, Lawrence claimed, “My opinion [about it] really doesn’t matter. The refs called what they called.”
Asked whether he believes he was offsides, he stated “That doesn’t really matter, I don’t think — I’m supposed to move when the ball moves. Obviously, I gave it to the refs to make the decision to think that I moved before the ball moved.”
While he mostly gave the politically correct take, many of the insiders and Giants beat writers seemingly saw through Lawrence’s comments.
Was Lawrence Offsides?
Whether or not Lawrence was offsides doesn’t actually matter, as the Giants have bigger fish to fry. Struggling out of the gates once again, New York must focus their energy on digging themselves out of the cellars of the NFC East.
Still, does Lawrence have any legs to stand on with his apparent gripe? Possibly so, check out this clip shared by Giants beat writer Alex Wilson and you be the judge.
“Although Lawrence clearly went before everyone else on the New York defensive line, one of the camera angles shown by Fox suggests that Lawrence’s sin was being too perfect with his timing,” wrote Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. “He seems to move as the ball moves. But because he moved before everyone else moved, he drew the attention of the officials, who dropped the flag.”
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