Giants’ Andrew Adams on penalty call: ‘I thought I was doing my job’

It was one of the turning points of the game, an unnecessary roughness call on New York Giants safety Andrew Adams that negated a blocked punt in a 29-27 loss to the Washington Redskins. With injuries to their secondary, Adams was promoted from the practice squad to the 53-man roster on Saturday.

With 11:20 left in the fourth quarter, the Giants seemed to have something going. Down 26-24, the defense had forced the Redskins to punt; Romeo Okwara then blocked the ensuing Tress Way punt with the ball going out of bounds at Washington’s 18-yard line. It seemed like momentum had turned to the Giants, but Adams was called on unnecessary roughness down the field, part of offsetting penalties on the play.

Instead of a big play and the Giants having the ball in the red zone, the Redskins punted again. The Giants would take the lead nine plays later via a Josh Brown 30-yard field goal but a golden opportunity at six points was negated due to an untimely penalty.

It was a potential big play in a game that was ultimately decided by a field goal.

“I thought I was doing my job, I didn’t know the ball was blocked. I had my back turned to the ball and was blocking my man. I didn’t know it was me until two plays later,” Adams told Metro.

“I thought I had a good block and everything, I was sort of confused. I have to see it on tape.”

After the play Adams said that his teammates tried to encourage him, knowing he was simply trying to do his job and that it wasn’t an aggressive penalty born out of frustration or stupidity.

“I was just trying to block for the return and that’s it,” Adams said.

It was a sloppy game from the Giants, who had 11 penalties for 128 yards along with one fumble lost and two interceptions. In addition, Weston Richburg was kicked out of the game.