The New York Giants had a golden opportunity on Sunday to force a turnover near their own goal line.
But nobody realized that the ball was loose.
With Tampa Bay leading, 7-0 in the first quarter, Bucs running back Sean Tucker attempted to double the lead with a third-and-goal carry from the 1-yard line. But he lost the football as he tried to carry it through a pile of players at the line of scrimmage.
The ball bounced out of Tucker’s hands and backward toward the opposite end zone, with few on the field realizing that the ball was loose.
But Baker Mayfield did. The Bucs quarterback sprinted into the camera shot from off screen and jumped on the ball before anybody else with a chance at it realized it was up for grabs.
Multiple Giants players would have had an opportunity to pick up the ball, including safety Brian Burns, who might have had a free run at the other end zone had he realized that the ball was loose near his feet.
Alas, Mayfield came up with it to salvage a Bucs field goal. He attempted to roll toward the end zone after the recovery, but Giants defensive lineman Armon Watts leapt out of the pile of players to tackle Mayfield short of the goal line.
Watts appeared to be the only New York player to realize that the ball was loose to begin with, but he didn’t have a shot at a recovery thanks to Mayfield’s heads-up play.
Instead of turning the ball over, the Bucs kicked a field goal on their next play to extend their lead to 10-0. And the Giants added another lowlight to a season filled with them.