Graham Gano thinks it is “pretty ridiculous” that New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll has faced a firestorm of criticism in the wake of Gano’s unfortunate hamstring injury on the first play of last Sunday’s loss to the Washington Commanders.
“I don’t know why he would,” Gano said on Wednesday in the Giants’ locker room.
To reset:
Gano was placed on the Giants’ injury report on Saturday with a groin issue. The Giants have rookie Jude McAtamney on their practice squad, but chose not to elevate him to the 53-man roster for the game against Washington.
That meant they were trusting that Gano would be able to get through the game.
“We thought he was good,” Daboll said.
The 37-year-old pulled a hamstring on the opening kickoff while chasing return man Austin Ekeler on a play that was brought back due to a Commanders penalty.
“As far as the groin is concerned, they’re two different injuries,” Gano said. “The hamstring was completely different than the groin.
“You can’t even pair those together. The groin is something I was going to be able to play with really easily, honestly. And I had a good warmup. That was the plan, me going to play the full game and just take care of it. I mean, I’ve dealt with groin stuff before and that was not concerning to me at all.”
There were pre-game reports that Gano struggled during warmups. He pushed back, saying “I was having a great warmup.”
He did leave the field to get the groin wrapped, which he said “is kind of normal if you have a groin injury.”
When he came back on the field to complete his warmup, he hit a field goal from 60 yards.
“I think that should show you enough,” Gano said. “I mean, it’s [the groin] no problem.
“The groin thing, I mean, I was able to kick fully with it. There was no real difference between me hitting balls with it and, you know, fully healthy. I mean, I was able to back it up to 60 yards and be very accurate. So, yeah, I think that’s pretty ridiculous [the criticism of Daboll] if that’s what’s happened.”
Gano said there is “not a chance” that the groin issue led to the hamstring injury.
“They’re completely different parts of the body,” Gano said. “One, the groin is more involved in kicking and shuffling and lateral movement. Hamstring is full strength. And so that’s what it was. It’s just bad luck. It’s unfortunate that it happened.”
