MUNICH — Tyrone Tracy didn’t need to say anything to reveal how he was feeling.
The expression on his face said it all.
The Giants rookie running back, who has been one of the team’s rare bright spots throughout a miserable season, fumbled on the first play of overtime, all but handing the Panthers the win, 20-17, Sunday at Allianz Arena.
It allowed the Panthers to just run three times and kick a 36-yard field goal to win.
“I just didn’t hold the ball correctly,” Tracy said. “I was trying to make a move, so I got in a hole. Got to get the ball up. That’s on me. I’ve got to live with it.”
The Giants had just clawed back from a 17-7 fourth-quarter deficit, with Graham Gano’s 42-yard field goal tying the game with just five seconds left in regulation.
The Giants won the toss and received the ball first to start overtime. But A’Shawn Robinson, who was on the Giants last year, subsequently stripped Tracy and Josey Jewell recovered.
Tracy looked devastated on the bench, keeping his face in his hands before putting a towel over his head.
“It was hard,” Tracy said. “I put a lot into this game — blood, sweat and tears — the same way everybody says, but I play with passion. I feel like you can see that on the field. I have a lot of energy, and I hold myself to a high standard. When things like that happen with the game on the line in overtime, we come all the way back, that’s the last thing on your mind that you want to happen.
“I feel like for me, I hold myself to a high standard. So whenever that happens, all of my emotions kind of came out of me at that moment.”
Tracy, whom the Giants drafted in the fifth round, has emerged as a force this year.
He entered Sunday with 442 rushing yards and two touchdowns — averaging 5.0 yards per carry — along with 17 receptions and 116 receiving yards.
He added 103 more rushing yards — averaging 5.7 yards per carry — and another touchdown against the Panthers, but he’ll travel back to the United States with regret.
Beyond the fumble, Tracy likely could have made a better play on Daniel Jones’ second interception.
Trailing 17-14 in the fourth quarter and facing a third-and-7 at the Panthers 8-yard line, Jones was blitzed and threw a short pass to Tracy.
Jones likely could’ve gotten his throw more to the outside, but it deflected off Tracy’s hands right into Jewell’s for the interception, costing the Giants at least three points.
Malik Nabers, a fellow rookie, consoled Tracy after the game.
“I went over to him because I know that feeling,” Nabers said. “You don’t kick a man when he’s already down. He knows what he did. That feeling is not a good feeling that you’ve got to carry over to the week until it’s time for you to play the next game.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
