Kadarius Toney wanted to be more involved in the New York Giants offense, and he got his wish when the team visited the Dallas Cowboys in Week 5. The rookie first-round pick was targeted a total of 13 times between Daniel Jones and Mike Glennon, the latter taking over after the former was ruled out with a concussion early in the third quarter. Toney went on to grab 10 of those targets for a blistering 189 receiving yards on Sunday, but that’s not what anyone will remember —
thanks to his frustrations spilling over late in the game.
Toney’s individual production was far from enough to stop the Cowboys onslaught and by the time the late fourth quarter had arrived, with the Cowboys still accelerating despite a 34-13 lead, the rookie couldn’t keep his anger at bay any longer. Toney caught his 10th pass on a routine play and after being tackled, shoves were exchanged in the scrum before Toney got up and unexpectedly threw a punch at the helmet of safety Damontae Kazee, who also wasn’t looking in his direction.
Toney was immediately ejected, but while he’ll reportedly be fined by the league, per Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, a suspension doesn’t appear to be in play. He issued the following statement on Monday morning, apologizing for his behavior at AT&T Stadium.
“Wanna take the time out to apologize to the entire organization — owners, my Teammates and the entire Big Blue,” he wrote, via Twitter. “Your emotions just can get the best of you sometimes. No excuses, just actions. Thank y’all.”
Head coach Joe Judge wasn’t forgiving of what he saw, though.
“Look, there’s a pretty distinct line in terms of competing and doing the things we’re not going to condone as a team that put us behind. That’s not going to be accepted,” Judge said after the game. “It’s not going to be condoned. That’s as far as I’m going to go with that. Obviously, it resulted in him leaving the game and I’m just going to leave it at that right now.”
Only, Judge didn’t leave it there at all. He had more venting to do on the subject, albeit indirectly.
“I think every rookie has a lot of maturing to do,” Judge added. “You’re asking specifically about an incident, I’m going to address that with the team. I’m going to address that with the players individually as well, make sure we’re on the same page. There shouldn’t be any confusion in that at all. I’ll leave it at that.”
