New York Giants running back Devin Singletary made an extremely selfless play towards the end of their 21-15 Week 3 victory over the Cleveland Browns.
However, TikTok users coming across the story on the ESPN Bet account might come away with a different perspective.
The Giants led by the aforementioned score with a little over two minutes left in the game when Singletary broke free from several tackles and found himself with a chance to ice the game with another touchdown. However, instead of waltzing in for the score, he slid down at the one-yard line.
Another great football play, this time from Devin Singletary.
But if you have Singletary on a fantasy team or took the over (37.5), you may not agree. pic.twitter.com/QWUVrfNraW
— The Comeback (@thecomeback) September 22, 2024
While the touchdown would have made it a two-score deficit for the Browns, who had zero timeouts, it would have left Cleveland enough time to mount a miracle comeback. However, by sliding instead of scoring, the Giants were able to kneel out the remaining time on the clock and garner their first win of the 2024 season.
While a smart football play for the Giants, Singletary’s decision was a particularly bad beat for anyone who had bet the 0ver, which was 37.5. The combined score as it stood was 36.
Now, it’s one thing to point out that Singletary’s decision affected those who bet the over/under, it’s another thing altogether to imply that he made that decision specifically to influence the outcome of those bets.
“Devin Singletary intentionally doesn’t score a touchdown so the game goes under the 37.5 point total,” reads ESPN Bet’s TikTok post on Sunday after the game.
The phrasing caught the attention of quite a few people on TikTok, who felt that the explanation for what happened was wildly inappropriate, not to mention an incorrect reading of Singletary’s reasoning.
“Orrrrrrrrr… hear me out.. maybe he just.. ik it sounds crazy.. but maybe he wanted to keep possession and drain the rest of the clock?!?” said one commenter.
“The fact ESPN posted this wild…fueling the theorists,” said another.
“This is a low point to me for ESPN as an organization,” said TikTok user DogsInAutumn. “This is a conspiracy theory.”
It’s worth noting that while ESPN Bet’s X account did note the bad beat, it did not share similar phrasing around the situation.
It’s easy enough to say that the TikTok post is poorly phrased and just let it go, but when it comes to professional athletes and the implication of doing anything related to influencing the outcome of a bet, it’s fair to expect a higher standard than this.
The NFL’s relationship with gambling is incredibly tricky at the moment as it welcomes the influx of money and advertising while also attempting to bring down the hammer on any player or coach who attempts to influence the outcome of a game in any way. So for one of the NFL’s partners to casually toss out such an implication, even if it was the result of poor syntax, is not something that should be considered acceptable.
That goes double in this instance where Singletary did something that was in the best interest of his team, regardless of how it might impact bets.
As DogsInAutumn notes in their post, TikTok accounts like these are essentially “content aggregators” with ESPN branding, but if you’re going to post under that brand, there’s an expectation around the way situations like this should be messaged. And implying a gambling conspiracy theory in any form should be off the table.
About Sean Keeley
Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.