League penalizes Giants, McAdoo for walkie-talkie use
- By Jeremy Bergman NFL.com
The National Football League has fined the New York Giants $150,000 and Giants coach Ben McAdoo $50,000 for their roles in illegal walkie-talkie use during their Week 14 win over the Dallas Cowboys, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported.
Rapoport adds that the Giants have also had their fourth-round pick in the 2017 draft moved to the end of the round following any compensatory picks.
The hand-held communication device was used for five plays on an early fourth-quarter drive that ended in an interception on a pass intended for Victor Cruz, Rapoport added last week. As the Giantsworked to fix McAdoo's communications equipment, the coach was handed a walkie-talkie as a replacement for the malfunctioning communications system.
The league said last Thursday that it was looking into the matter.
"League policy prohibits a coach from using such devices in a game," an NFL spokesman told NFL.com, "because he would not be cut off from talking by the switch operator for the coach-to-player helmet communication system. Communication is cut off when the play clock reaches 15 seconds or when the ball is snapped."
Rapoport reported on Sunday that discipline for the incident was expected.
McAdoo, in his first season as head coach of the Giants, is one win away from clinching the team's first playoff berth since 2011.