Muffed punt got the ball rolling . . . away from Giants
Dwayne Harris of the New York Giants is tackled by Eric Kendricks of the Minnesota Vikings in the first half of the game on Oct. 3, 2016 at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. Credit: Getty Images / Adam Bettcher
MINNEAPOLIS — The Giants’ 24-10 loss to the Vikings on Monday night was thorough enough that it would be difficult to point to any one play as the culprit. But one candidate would be the punt Dwayne Harris muffed in the first quarter.
It gave the Vikings the ball at the Giants’ 41-yard line and led directly to Matt Asiata’s 1-yard touchdown run for the game’s first score.
What happened?
“I was just trying to run,” Harris said. “I was just trying to make a move before I had it. I didn’t really have control of it when I caught it, so it just spun out.”
Marcus Sherels recovered the ball, but it appeared Harris was rushed by a hard charge from the Vikings’ Cordarrelle Patterson.
“That’s every play,” Harris said. “As a returner, you have people closing in.”
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
