Excusegate: Giants Fan Argues Patriots Cheated On Gostkowski’s Kick

Nov 16, 2015 at 8:47 pm ET 2 min read 1.2k views

Photo: Robert Deutsch - USA TODAY Sports

2 min read Patriots Commentary

Another week, another Patriots victory, and another accusation of cheating directed towards the New England Patriots.

In an article posted to dailysnark.com, a New York Giants fan is calling conspiracy through a video that was posted to YouTube that claims the Patriots received extra time to kick the game winning field goal which can be seen below.

Daily Snark posted this explanation of the purported incident.

“With Danny Amendola catching a pass from Tom Brady on the final offensive snap of the game, he falls down to save clock to allow the team to set up and kick the FG which would win the game. It appears though as if the Patriots were given the 40 seconds after Amendola was ruled down, per usual, but then as the ball was placed by the referee ready to be snapped, the holder signaled the play clock operator with a open palm upward pumping motion, a signal used by many QBs to let the operator know they haven’t been given the 25 seconds after the ball was placed. New England’s holder did this with 18 seconds left on the play clock, which was accurate considering the ball was placed just 7 seconds earlier, with the holder already in position on one knee. He would likely not be in this position before the ball was placed because he of course has to align himself with this spot. Then with the signal, the play clock resets all the way back to 25 with 8 seconds left on the play clock when the Patriots would be been about or already been out of time to snap the ball.”

There have been multiple occurrences of clock malfunctions already this NFL season but the argument that protects the Patriots is the Giants called a timeout right before the kick, therefore by rule the play clock was reset to 25 seconds because the ball wasn’t set again. The rule states you have a guaranteed 25 second minimum of the full 40 of play clock after the ball is set, which it was following the timeout.

Regardless of the fans accusations, the Patriots comeback win goes down as one of the more entertaining games of the NFL season. The NFL is not investigating the incident.

In the words of Tom Brady’s email that was made public, “we are the Patriots, everything is a big deal.”

We’re on to Buffalo.