The New York Giants were put in a tough spot in their Week 2 21-18 loss to the Washington Commanders after kicker Graham Gano suffered a hamstring injury on the opening kickoff and left the team without a kicker for the entire game since the team had not activated a second kicker prior to the game.
Head coach Brian Daboll received a ton of criticism for failing to suit up a second kicker since Gano was already nursing a groin injury, and Gano had a lot to say to those criticizing his head coach.
The New York Post shared excerpts from Gano’s recent media session where the kicker defended his coach, and Gano said “I don’t know why he would [get criticized]. The hamstring, nobody knew that was coming at all. I think that’s kind of ridiculous, if that’s the case. The groin thing, I was able to kick fully with it. There was no real difference between me hitting balls with it and fully healthy. I was able to back it up to 60 yards and be very accurate.”
Gano later said that this was just an example of people looking for a story where one didn’t exist.
The injury had a significant impact on the rest of the game, as punter Jamie Gillan missed an extra point after the Giants scored their first of three touchdowns, which made Daboll opt to avoid kicking altogether the rest of the day.
Gano was adamant that his groin injury wasn’t an issue for him and that it also wasn’t the reason he suffered the hamstring injury, but when you’re 0-2, any story like this will get the media riled up.
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