MUNICH — Tyrone Tracy didn't need to say anything to make his feelings clear.
The look on his face said it all.
The Giants' rookie running back, one of the team's few bright spots throughout a miserable season, fumbled on the first play of overtime to give the Panthers a 20-17 victory Sunday at Allianz Arena.
The Panthers needed just three runs and kicked a 36-yard field goal to win.
“I just didn’t hold the ball right,” Tracy said. “I was trying to move and ended up in the hole. I have to get the ball up. It's my responsibility. I have to live with it.”
The Giants had just come back from a 17-7 deficit in the fourth quarter to tie the game on Graham Gano's 42-yard field goal with five seconds left in regulation.
The Giants won the toss and received the ball first to begin overtime. But Ashawn Robinson, who was with the Giants last year, then stripped Tracy and Josey Jewell recovered.
Tracy looked devastated on the bench, holding her face in her hands before pulling a towel over her head.
“It was tough,” Tracy said. “As you say, I've put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into this game, and I play with a lot of passion. I feel like you can see that on the field. There's energy and we hold ourselves to a high standard. When something like that happens when the game is on the line in overtime, we keep coming back, it's something that never happens in your mind. That's something I don't want to do.
“For me, I feel like I hold myself to a high standard. So every time it happens, all my emotions come out of me in that moment.”
Tracy, the Giants' fifth-round draft pick, has emerged as a force this year.
He had 442 rushing yards and two touchdowns (averaging 5.0 yards per carry) on Sunday, along with 17 receptions and 116 receiving yards.
He added 103 more rushing yards (averaging 5.7 yards per carry) and another touchdown against the Panthers, but he will return to the United States with regrets.
Besides the fumble, Tracy could have played better on Daniel Jones' second interception.
Trailing 17-14 in the fourth quarter and facing third-and-7 at the Panthers' 8-yard line, Jones was blitzed and threw a short pass to Tracy.
Jones could have thrown it further outside, but it deflected off Tracy's hands and into Jewell's hands for an interception, costing the Giants at least three points.
Fellow rookie Malik Nabors consoled Tracy after the game.
“I went to him because I know how it feels,” Nabers said. “You shouldn't kick someone who's already down. He knows what he did. That feeling you have to carry over into the week until it's time to play the next game is never good. do not have.”
