Giants shamelessly accuse the NY Jets of cheating to win in Week 8

The NY Jets are looking ahead to a crucial Week 9 showdown with the Los Angeles Chargers on Monday Night Football this week. Their Week 9 opponents, however, the New York Giants, are still thinking about their embarrassing loss to the Jets a few days ago.

Giants special teams coordinator Thomas McGaughey spoke to reporters on Thursday and said that Jets defensive end Will McDonald was lined up illegally on the crucial fourth-quarter field goal that Graham Gano missed toward the end of regulation.

McDonald was able to leap over the offensive line on the play without touching the snapper, potentially affecting Gano's kick, which sailed wide left. The missed kick, along with a number of other Giants blunders, allowed the Jets to get in field-goal range, tie the game, and win in overtime.

McGaughey would have a case, too, if it wasn't for the fact that he was 100 percent incorrect with his assertion. Giants head coach Brian Daboll declined to indicate if the team had heard from the NFL's official office about the play, but it's hard to imagine the league would have much to say.

The Giants should focus more on their next game instead of complaining about the NY Jets "cheating"

The rule states that a defender is required to line up with their helmet outside of the snapper's shoulder pads. As can be clearly seen in the video above, that's exactly where McDonald is lined up.

In fact, the entire play was a stroke of genius on the part of Jets special teams coordinator Brant Boyer. Boyer had Jermaine Johnson line up on the right side of the snapper, and Johnson was told to put his hand on the back of the long snapper.

This allowed McDonald to leap over the long snapper without making contact, which would have been against the rules. The play Boyer drew up was brilliant and completely within the rules.

The fact that not only are the Giants publicly complaining about a call from Sunday's game when they're less than 72 hours away from their next matchup is already sad, but the fact that they're completely wrong in their complaint makes it even more depressing.

There are countless gripes NFL teams should have with officials on a weekly basis, as we've seen from a number of Jets games this season. This call the referees actually got right. This is a legal play, as ESPN's Rich Cimini noted on social media.

Perhaps the Giants should be more concerned with the fact that they somehow blew a game that they had a 99.99 percent chance of winning with under a minute to play.

Or maybe the coaching staff should be more concerned about trotting out an injured kicker, who was injured going into the week and placed on IR after the game, to attempt a field goal when they didn't need to.

The Giants have no excuse for losing Sunday's game in the embarrassing way that they did. They're still searching for those excuses, though. It's probably time for Brian Daboll and his coaching staff to look in the mirror.