Aussie punter Brad Wing blamed for wild NY Giants’ defeat

A BAD week for Aussies in the NFL just got worse. Two “screw-ups” by punter Brad Wing just cost the New York Giants big time.

PHILADELPHIA, PA - OCTOBER 19: Brad Wing #9 of the New York Giants punts against the Philadelphia Eagles during their game at Lincoln Financial Field on October 19, 2015 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)

AUSTRALIAN punter Brad Wing has been blamed for costing the New York Giants a chance at victory in one of the games of the NFL season on Monday.

The Giants’ clash against the New Orleans Saints appeared headed for overtime with scores tied at 49-49 and just 20 seconds left on the clock. But the Saints managed to escape with a 52-49 win and it was all Wing’s fault, according to USA Today’s Chris Chase, because of two key mistakes he made when punting from the Giants’ 25-yard line.

“First, Wing, who has a huge leg and showed his knack for booming punts high in the air, opted for one of those running, line-drive kicks that went a respectable 46 yards, but got to returner Marcus Murphy far too quickly, allowing him to split the return team and scamper 25 yards to put New Orleans in Giants territory with five seconds left,” Chase wrote.

“Punt distances are deceiving. A 40-yard punt that goes high in the air and forces a fair catch is infinitely better than a 46-yarder that doesn’t. Anyway, the Saints were now at the Giants 47-yard line and faced an NFL-record 65-yard field goal. Maybe they’d have tried a kick or maybe they’d have gone for a Hail Mary. Either way, Wing took almost guaranteed overtime and put it into question.

“But Wing wasn’t done. When Murphy finally hit the pile near midfield, he had the ball stripped and it went right into the hands of teammate Willie Snead. Wing went for the tackle on Snead, but used the unorthodox (and slightly illegal) “grab the face mask” take-down. His bad punt, which led to a big return, was then augmented by a 15-yard personal foul. What would have been a 65-yard field goal turned into a 50-yarder, which Saints kicker Kai Forbath drilled, giving New Orleans an unbelievable 52-49 win.

“The worst part of the whole thing was that Wing’s face mask was completely unnecessary. Because there were under two minutes left in the game, an offensive fumble can’t be advanced, so Wing was tackling a meaningless player. Not that you expect a punter to have that rule in the back of his mind, but by not doing so, Wing doubled up on mistakes and gave his New York Giants another hardluck loss and cost the team a chance to take a sizeable lead in the NFC East.”

It was a brutal finish for Wing, who began the game with a sensational 62-yard punt which was downed by a teammate at the New Orleans’ four-yard line and drew this celebration from the Aussie.

Greatest Punter celebration of all time? 😂😂😂#NYGvsNO https://t.co/rFiHWakxEf

— NFL (@NFL) November 1, 2015

Quarterbacks Drew Brees and Eli Manning combined for an NFL-record 13 touchdown passes but it was Kai Forbath’s last gasp field goal that gave New Orleans the win.

Forbath booted the 50-yard game-winner as time expired to punctuate the Superdome shootout just after Saints signal-caller Brees tied the contest at 49-49 with 36 seconds remaining with a nine-yard touchdown pass to running back C.J. Spiller.

With that TD, which capped an 80-yard, 14-play drive he became the eighth player to throw for seven touchdowns in a single game, the league record.

The drive was one of six New Orleans scoring marches that covered at least 80 yards.

The Giants ran three plays from the ensuing kick-off but gained only five yards. Wing punted, and the Saints ended up with the ball on the Giants’ 32 yard line with five seconds to play, setting the stage for Forbath.

Manning threw a career-high six TD passes in a game that yielded more than 1,000 total yards and 800 passing yards.

The aerial show surpassed the 12 combined touchdowns thrown by the then-St. Louis Cardinals and the Saints on November 2, 1969, The 101 points tied for third-most in an NFL game.

— with AFP

Originally published as Aussie punter Brad Wing blamed for wild NY Giants’ defeat