Kadarius Toney stepped up big for the Giants on a day where they were without two receivers for the whole game, lost another at halftime, and saw star running back Saquon Barkley go down as well.
Toney’s 10 catches for 189 yards broke Odell Beckham Jr.’s franchise record for receiving yards by a rookie, and as he had 10 catches for 92 yards on the season entering Sunday, the performance doubled his reception total and more than tripled his yardage number.
“He’s being very productive and talented, and it takes some time to learn the receiver position in the league,” head coach Joe Judge said of Toney. “He’s building a lot of technique and savvy on top of his natural ability. He’s a tough dude and a very smart football player.”
“Man, he’s special, and it was fun to see. When you get a ball in a guy’s hands behind the line of scrimmage and he gets 12 yards, you just don’t see that at the NFL level very often, making guys miss like that,” quarterback Mike Glennon added. “He has a unique skill set that we’re all finally seeing. “I think he showed what he’s capable of doing, and to have the day he did was hopefully just the beginning.”
However, that skill set was halted with 6:06 left in the game, as Toney did something on the play Glennon described that’s not very smart: he threw a punch at Dallas defensive back Damontae Kazee after a scuffle.
Toney was ejected, and earned an earful from Judge as he started his trek back to the locker room.
“There’s a pretty distinct line, in terms of competing and doing things that we’re not going to condone as a team that put us behind,” Judge said. “That’s not going to be accepted.”
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Judge would only say that “every rookie has maturing to do,” and Kenny Golladay, the receiver the Giants lost at halftime due to a knee injury, echoed that.
“At the end of the day, he’s a rookie with a lot of learning to do, and he’s going to make mistakes. The only thing I can really do is tell him not to make that mistake,” Golladay said. “Pretty sure he wishes he could have that moment back and turn the other cheek, but he’ll learn from it.”
Golladay’s other piece of advice for Toney?
“Just learn from it,” Golladay said. “The score wasn’t looking right, and I told him that you did everything that you could possibly do as far as making plays for the team – but plays like that can hurt the team.”
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Toney is “a playmaker and he’s showing it,” according to Golladay, but if his own knee injury is serious and either or both of Darius Slayton or Sterling Shepard remain out next week due to the injuries that have caused them to miss the last two games, Big Blue might be down up to four receivers against the Rams next week if Toney is suspended.
That possibility is something Judge said he’ll let the league deal with, but when it comes to internal discipline, the head coach was mum.
“I’m not going to go into any hypotheticals, so that’s as far as I’ll go with that.”
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