EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — New York Giants wide receiver Kenny Golladay admitted Monday his emotions uncharacteristically got the best of him when the cameras caught him yelling on the sideline in the fourth quarter of Thursday night’s 30-29 loss to the Washington Football Team.
The video made it appear that Golladay was yelling at quarterback Daniel Jones. In reality, he said his discontent in the moment was actually directed at offensive coordinator Jason Garrett.
“Pretty much just me just talking to [Jason Garrett] a little bit,” Golladay said. “That is two competitive guys right there. More so just me wanting to do anything I can. Not so much get me the ball more.”
Golladay had three catches on eight targets for 38 yards in the contest. He also had a key drop. Golladay has seven catches for 102 yards in his first two games since signing with the Giants.
The prized free-agent acquisition, who received $40 million guaranteed from the Giants, considered his reaction on the sideline out of character.
“I’ve never done anything like that either,” he said. “Really just passion. Just being a competitor. I want to do anything I can to help the team and I let the emotions get the best of me.”
Coach Joe Judge downplayed the incident on Monday.
“Look, I’d say in terms of — you guys asked me the other night about Kenny, there was no argument on the sideline. There was no him versus Daniel or anything of that nature. This is a guy that in the heat of the moment, you speak very passionately,” Judge said. “You kind of speak with some emotion. I speak with emotion on the sideline. There was no blowup or anything that has to be made of it.
“I understand sometimes the perceptions will be what they are, but like I said the other day, there’s no issue there.”
This all comes on the heels of what can be viewed as the Giants’ best offensive game under Garrett and Judge. And Golladay apparently wasn’t the only newcomer who was frustrated in Week 2.
Rookie wide receiver Kadarius Toney played just 17 offensive snaps and didn’t have a catch or carry. The first-round pick has just two touches in his first two career games after missing most of the spring and summer because of a variety of ailments and incidents.
“I explained the other day on the sideline to [Toney]. I talked to him about it,” Judge said. “I said, look, there’s times in the game where it’s natural to become frustrated because you want to make an impact for your team.”
It has been a tough start to Toney’s career. He put a story on Instagram on Friday that Judge said wasn’t about the Giants or football, but it was misinterpreted to be about his role and lack of touches.
Toney then followed up on the public reaction with an Instagram story referring to the media as “clowns.” It’s something Judge felt the need to talk about with the young receiver.
“I will say I spoke to KT and the thing that was put out there that kind of caught flames or whatever you want to say, the initial thing, had nothing to do with football. We’re very open with our players. I talk to them all the time, when there’s something to be disciplined, we take care of it.
“In this instance, in terms of that initial deal right there, we talked with him on through it and the biggest part is educating these guys that if you’re going to be active on social media, sometimes you may just have to go and clarify it. … We’ve just got to make sure we understand that we are in a different situation with our jobs, that it is very visible to the outside and that anything you put out there is going to be interpreted and related directly to what your profession is.”