Neville Gallimore didn’t even try to hide his attempt to kick Justin Pugh in the groin.
With less than a minute remaining in the Giants’ blowout loss Sunday against the Cowboys, Gallimore tore around the line of scrimmage and tried to sack Tommy DeVito before his pass to running back Jashaun Corbin.
DeVito managed to throw the ball in time, but he ended up tangled with Gallimore on the ground — and when Pugh tried to separate them, even with a referee nearby, Gallimore wound up his leg and kicked Pugh in the groin.
Gallimore received a 15-yard penalty and was ejected before the Giants scored the final touchdown of their 49-17 loss.
“Look, he hit the quarterback late, I took exception to it, I hit him, I shouldn’t have done that when he was on the ground, pushed him and he kicked me,’’ Pugh said after the game. “I’ve gotten in so many fights in my career, I’m not gonna cost myself money. He’s gonna get a FedEx so I feel bad for him on that. I don’t want a guy to lose money. But you don’t kick somebody on a football field.’’
Before his ejection, Gallimore had three combined tackles and two quarterback hits, and the Cowboys defense limited the Giants to 172 total yards in another brutal offensive performance without starting quarterback Daniel Jones.
Gallimore, who was a third-round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, had compiled five tackles entering the Week 10 matchup while not starting a game.
And for Pugh, Sunday’s loss marked his fifth game with Giants since inking a deal with Big Blue during the season to help solve their offensive line crisis.
He was a former first-round pick who also spent five seasons with the Cardinals, but Pugh has made an immediate impact amid injuries to Andrew Thomas, Evan Neal and others — while also embracing his “straight off the couch” return in a “Sunday Night Football” introduction.
Pugh played every snap in his first game back with the Giants, when they nearly upset the Bills, with Tyrod Taylor starting at quarterback, in Buffalo.
“Teams can reach out but there was never a doubt in my mind,’’ Pugh said last month. “I came here for a reason.’’
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