The New York Giants might have violated NFL rules when they used a walkie-talkie on the sideline of Sunday night’s Week 14 game against the Dallas Cowboys when their communication system broke down. The Cowboys filed a formal report — remember those key words earlier in the week? — on the matter.
After the radio transmitter in Manning’s helmet stopped working early in the fourth quarter, Giants head coach Ben McAdoo used a walkie-talkie to transmit the plays to Manning. The league is looking into the matter; NFL rules stipulate that communication between the coaches and quarterbacks must stop when there are 15 or fewer seconds on the play clock.
The Giants did not issue a comment. Quite the off-field week for the team after the report that the Giants asked the NFL to look into the matter of the Pittsburgh Steelers potentially using underinflated footballs in Week 13.
Manning told the Post that there were communication problems during a brief stretch early in the game against the Cowboys, and he might accidentally have implicated the team on the matter.
Then the communication system for the Giants shut down completely for a brief stretch in the fourth quarter. Manning struggled in the game, and he threw a bad interception on the Giants’ first possession of the fourth quarter.
It appears the Cowboys also intercepted the walkie-talkie usage and informed the NFL with the formal request to investigate the matter this week.