LANDOVER, Md. (AP) — Graham Gano injured his right hamstring chasing down the Commanders' Austin Ekeler on the opening kickoff, and it ended up costing the New York Giants dearly.
Without Gano, and after punter Jamie Gillan missed an extra point try early, the Giants had to play touchdown-only football and left valuable points on the board. They failed on a couple of two-point conversions and went for it on fourth down rather than go for a chip shot field goal deep in Washington territory in the final minutes with the score tied, a combination of results that contributed to a 21-18 loss to the Commanders on Sunday.
“He missed the first one, and we thought our chances were better going for it or going for two as the game went on and how we were playing offensively,” coach Brian Daboll said. “I feel bad for Graham. I feel bad for us. No excuses. We had our opportunity.”
The Giants became the second team this century to score three touchdowns more than their opponent and lose, along with Houston in 2007, with the other 1,232 winning.
Gano popped up on the injury report Saturday with a sore right groin, but the team did not give him a game status or elevate Jude McAtamney from the practice squad as a precaution. The 37-year-old veteran, who is in his 15th NFL season and fifth with New York. said the injuries were not related and he never considered holding himself out before kickoff, when things went awry.
"The hamstring is just bad luck," Gano said. “There’s a difference between playing injured and playing hurt. I was playing hurt. This is the National Football League. There’s only one kicker. I feel a responsibility to be able to play. I’m always going to be smart about it. If I didn’t think I could play, I wouldn’t have played.”
Gano got injured while trying to make a tackle on Ekeler, whose return for a touchdown was negated by a holding penalty on the Commanders. Then he was forced to watch while Gillan missed that extra point and the Giants played the rest of the way like a high school team without a kicker.
"He’s a great kicker — he’s done a great job with it," Gano said of Gillan, who kicked in college at Arkansas-Pine Bluff, was an all-Southwestern Conference selection at the position in 2018 and made a field goal last season when Randy Bullock went down. “I’m just a player. I’m sure whatever decisions our staff makes are the right ones.”
Washington coincidentally won by getting all its offense from a kicker: Austin Seibert's 7-for-7 performance days after signing to replace Cade York, who missed each of his two field goal attempts in the season opener.
On defense, the Commanders were focused only on stopping the Giants and at least one player was unaware of the kicking situation.
"I was like, ‘they’re kind of close and they’re going on fourth down,'" cornerback Benjamin St-Juste said. “I didn’t even know that. I was wondering why they were not kicking.”
Daboll lamented the two-point conversion misses, and Malik Nabers not being able to catch Daniel Jones' pass on fourth and 33 from the 22-yard line late. Had the Giants gotten much closer, the coaching staff was considering letting Gillan get another chance, but that never materialized.
“We didn’t make the plays,” Daboll said. “We couldn’t finish it off.”
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