The New York Giants let another game slip through their fingers in Week 2, 21-18, as the Washington Commanders won on the back of seven Austin Seibert field goals.
On the flip side, the Giants played the majority of the outing without their kicker — veteran Graham Gano — who had been dealing with a groin issue before the game. To be clear, Gano exited with a hamstring injury after the initial kickoff, per team reporter Dan Salomone.
But that didn’t stop the Big Blue community from criticizing head coach Brian Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen for their decision not to elevate backup kicker Jude McAtamney from the practice squad, just in case Gano suffered any sort of setback during the game.
“It is malpractice the Giants knew Gano was injured heading into this game and did not use a p-squad elevation on the kicker,” the Talkin’ Giants podcast said on X. “Now [punter Jamie] Gillan can’t reach the landing zone, and the Commanders are at the 40.”
They weren’t alone.
“I’ve covered a lot of losses,” New York Post reporter Ryan Dunleavy weighed in after the game. “This was probably the most-predictable way to lose that I’ve seen. As soon as Graham Gano popped up on injury report Saturday, you had a bad feeling. Remember, Giants left at least 3 (maybe 6) points off board [with no kicker]. Could’ve gone up 4 instead of 3 early in Q4. Changes everything.”
As did Empire Sports Media founder Alex Wilson, who commented: “The Giants just lost to the Commanders — 37 minutes of possession to 22. Daboll actually trotted out an injured Graham Gano and hoped for the best. This is catastrophic bad for the Giants. Unreal.”
And USA Today’s Giants Wire questioned: “How? HOW?” On the decision to play without a backup kicker.
Giants HC Brian Daboll Says They Thought Graham Gano ‘Was Good’ Prior to Week 2
Reporters immediately questioned Daboll about the kicker decision during his postgame press conference. The response from the Giants head coach was a snappy one.
“Yea, because we thought Graham [Gano] would be okay,” Daboll said after being asked to explain the team’s reasoning for only activating one kicker.
“He was chasing a kickoff return, he pulled his hamstring…we thought he was good”
Brian Daboll explains Graham Gano and the Giants’ kicker situation today
“He got hurt chasing down a — a hamstring,” the NYG HC went on. “He didn’t hurt his groin, he hurt his hamstring.”
After a follow-up then pondered if Gano might have suffered the hamstring injury by “favoring his groin,” Daboll simply replied: “I’m not a doctor.”
Later, after a third question on Gano. Daboll said: “I mean, anybody can get injured. Again, he was chasing a kickoff return, he pulled his hamstring. I’m not making excuses.”
“We thought he was good,” Daboll concluded, adding that he made the final decision on Gano and McAtamney.
Malik Nabers’ Performance a Silver Lining for Giants Despite Commanders Loss
This was a difficult defeat to stomach, but if there was a silver lining, it’d be first-round wide receiver Malik Nabers.
Targeted 18 times on the day, Nabers caught 10 passes for 127 yards and a touchdown. The performance included a 28-yard long.
Quarterback Daniel Jones also rebounded a bit, at least from a ball security standpoint. Of course, Washington’s secondary is expected to be one of the worst in football, so this was a favorable matchup for the NYG passing attack.
Jones finished with 178 passing yards and 2 touchdowns off 28 passing attempts (16 completions). He also ran for 32 yards, was only sacked once and he did not turn the ball over at all.
The Week 2 showing yielded an ESPN passer rating of 100.0, which narrowly bested Commanders’ rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels.
