Will Tye finds first NFL touchdown elusive

Will Tye said he was so ready, he was preparing his dance. But before he could celebrate his first NFL touchdown, he looked down and the ball was on the turf.

"I don't even want to talk about it," he said of dropping a first-quarter pass in the end zone that could have given the Giants a 7-3 lead on a drive that instead ended with a field goal. "I don't know what it was."

It would have been the first NFL touchdown ever scored by a Stony Brook University player. Tye already has broken almost every other Seawolf barrier by becoming the first active NFL player and first player with a catch from the school. The only thing left is that first touchdown. And he had his chance.

"I saw it the whole way," he said. "I knew it was coming, I was ready for it. I was too anxious, maybe, but I don't know. It hit my hand and the guy [safety Chris Conte] kind of hit it. I was like, 'Dang!' "

Replays showed that Tye did not catch it cleanly and that as he tried to grab it on the double-catch bobble, Conte knocked it away.

"I didn't go get it," he said. "I waited until it came to me. I was definitely upset about that."

This was a big week for Tye. Although he didn't technically start (the Giants did not use a tight end on the first snap), he played a big role in the offense with regular starter Larry Donnell out with a neck injury. Tye did manage to make a key catch for a first down later in the game.

"I had a really good week," he said. "I felt confident in everything we had called for the game plan. I was ready to go. The coaches gave me confidence, the defense at practice. Everybody. They told me, 'Good luck, you can do everything.' It felt good."

Except for the drop. Even that, though, didn't feel as bad as it could have.

"If we lost, I would have been crying probably," he said. "Getting the win was the most important thing."

Perhaps, he noted, his first touchdown is destined to come at home at MetLife Stadium next week against the Patriots.

He did drop the ball in his first opportunity to make an NFL catch, only to return the following week with a four-catch performance at home. Maybe, he suggested, the same thing will happen with touchdowns.

"It's a sign," he said. "When it happens, it's going to be perfect."

By Tom Rock

tom.rock@newsday.com@TomRock_Newsday

Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.