As a play, it wasn’t much. Mike Kafka, the Giants’ offensive coordinator, called it and wished it had picked up a few more yards.
But he still liked it.
“That was a good one,’’ Kafka said Wednesday. “That was the weekly add for that game. It worked out nice. We only got a few yards out of it, but it looked sweet.’’
It did look sweet. The Giants, during the second quarter of their 31-24 playoff victory over the Vikings, drove into the red zone and from the 9-yard line, pulled a gadget play commonly referred to as the Statue of Liberty play. The Giants call it “Lady Liberty.’’ Daniel Jones took the shotgun snap, faked a throw to the right side to Saquon Barkley and in the same motion, with his left hand used a behind-the-back move to hand the ball to Matt Breida. The play gained 3 yards.
“There were a few things that had to happen right for the play to work,’’ Kafka said. “It was the right situation, I thought.’’
Kafka joked that the Giants worked on the play last week as soon as the media left the practice field.
“The creativity that the staff has, players love that kind of stuff,’’ he said. “Giving it to those guys and let them kind of run with it. I think Daniel handled it great. Those are neat plays. Those are things we’re building for our offense, we want to continue building.’’
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OLB Azeez Ojulari was a limited participant in practice but is trending in the right direction. Ojulari was forced out of the Giants’ victory last week with a quad contusion when QB Kirk Cousins inadvertently kicked him high up in the thigh area. He said the soreness is better than it was earlier in the week.
“If they say it’s good and they say I can’t hurt myself more, I’m going to give it a go,’’ Ojulari said.
CB Adoree’ Jackson (back) was a full participant in practice, a good sign after he returned to face Minnesota after he had missed seven consecutive games with a sprained knee. S Jason Pinnock (abdomen) also practiced fully. The other limited players: LB Landon Collins (ankle), WR Isaiah Hodgins (ankle), S Julian Love (hamstring) and CB Fabian Moreau (hip).
Defensive coordinator Wink Martindale was not a big fan of the roughing-the-passer penalty called on DT Dexter Lawrence that gave the Vikings a first down late in the fourth quarter.
“It doesn’t matter what I think,’’ Martindale said. “I had texts … after that game, they weren’t very complimentary of the call, from all my buddies that were watching the game, coaches and stuff like that. It happens. It’s a bang-bang play. The thing that I was proud of was that we just played the next play and we weren’t going to let that affect us. I think it made Dex rush harder.’’
Asked if he received an explanation for the penalty — was it for Lawrence slinging down Cousins or for hitting him in the head? — Martindale said: “They didn’t explain anything to me. They talk to Brian [Daboll] about that because, as you know, I got to go to the next call. Mr. [NFL commissioner Roger] Goodell has never stopped a game and said, ‘Hey, hold on. Wink’s pissed. He wants to talk to the officials about something.’ ” They’re getting ready to go to the next play.’’
