The New York Giants put up a stellar effort against the Detroit Lions on the road in Week 12. Coming off a loss to the Green Bay Packers the previous week, Big Blue took the fight to the Lions, leaving many fans in Detroit very nervous.
However, New York’s impressive outing fell just short in an exciting game that went into overtime, and the matchup also included a bizarre moment that saved the Lions.
Fans Are Blown Away by Lions’ Game-Tying 59-Yard FG
A fan on X posted an alternate angle of Lions kicker Jake Bates’ field goal that sent the game into overtime. After Bates sent the 59-yarder flying straight at the goal, the ball suddenly veered right, off target. However, it somehow curled back inside and sneaked in between the uprights to tie the game.
“Insane angle of Lions’ field goal vs. Giants,” the caption read.
Fans went wild in the comment section, with each giving their take on the highlight-reel moment.
One expressed just how unlikely it is for a kick to curl like that.
“This is literally witchcraft,” he tweeted. “There’s no way a ball can naturally move like this… The Giants are actually cursed.”
A Giants fan mentioned their experience in that moment, how it went from joy to sadness in seconds.
“I initially jumped off the couch because I thought it was no good then whatever black magic we are cursed with moved it 5 yards left in the last 15 yards of flight,” he said.
Locked Out Ethan recalled a similar incident from earlier in the season.
“The same exact thing happened on the Brandon Aubrey field goal in week 2,” he wrote.
“100% a magnet in the ball and in the pole,” one user comically claimed.
Max Chang echoed the sentiment as he speculated about a deeper theory.
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“They got magnets in the footballs. Why you think there are ‘kicking balls’ or why they confiscate balls if fans catch them?” he explained his theory.
Another user countered claims of witchcraft, tying simple science into it.
“No it’s called a magnetic, polar pull,” they wrote.
Despite the Giants’ consistent efforts throughout the game with veteran backup Jameis Winston under center, the 17 points that the Giants’ defense gave up in the second quarter came back to haunt them. The Giants’ defense is positioned in the bottom four of PFSN’s Defense Impact metrics.
New York might’ve taken a steady 27-17 lead in the fourth with a gadget play that saw Winston score a 33-yard touchdown, but Lions rusher Jahmyr Gibbs’s breakaway score and Bates’s bizarre kick kept Detroit in contention.
