The Giants may be working without their primary placekicker in tonight’s matchup with the Chiefs. Minutes before kickoff, kicker Graham Gano was seen heading back into the locker room before being announced as questionable with a groin injury, per Dan Duggan of The Athletic. 
New York does have backup kicker Jude McAtamney on the practice squad, but McAtamney is not active to play tonight. That would mean the likeliest option to kick field goals and extra points would be punter Jamie Gillan. Gillan is the field goal formation’s usual holder and return man Gunner Olszewski is the backup holder. One wonders, though, if part of Olszewski’s responsibilities as backup holder requires practicing on both sides, considering Gillan is a lefty.
Per a narrative timeline from Connor Hughes of SportsNet New York, Gano came back from the locker room with his helmet and started kicking into the net on the sideline. After a few kicks, though, Gano went to talk to a trainer, and Gillian began taking reps in the kicking net, leading one to believe that Gillan may be the man tapped to fill in for Gano if the veteran kicker truly can’t go.
Through one quarter of play, no field goals, extra points, or kickoffs were attempted by the Giants. It will be interesting to see if Gano ends up being inactive or if his absence affects the way New York calls plays in situations where field goals make sense. Whenever they do kick, it looks like the punter Gillan will be called on for the try.
Even if they knew with a sufficient amount of time before the game, I’m not sure if they could have used a standard elevation with McAtamney since I believe he’s their IPP/17th PS player.
Giants would’ve had to go without a PK. You can elevate a maximum of 2 players from the practice squad but only the day before the game.
Gillan handled all the Giants’ kickoffs vs. Kansas City and attempted a PAT which was blocked. Gano did convert a field goal in the 4th quarter.
If the Giants are gonna keep rolling with Russ while me makes silly errors – then they should just let Dart make the same errors.
Russ isn’t saving their jobs – but showing growth with Dart this season could potentially.
Dart ain’t going to be showing any growth behind that horrible offensive line.
Didn’t the same thing happen last year in one of their games? They knew in advance of Ganos injury but they played without a kicker. I think it was against Washington
You are correct, it was Week 2 of last year and it cost them the game because they needed a field goal to win.
What is this with Gano?? Three times injured in three years??
Should have listened to family ( who are/were Giants fans..) who said..” If you don’t expect anything..You’ll never be disappointed…”
Whatta Mess…
A kicker with a groin problem needs a massage…oh wait! 🙂
Enough is enough. Every fking season! Cut him already
They would, but have you seen what’s going on around the league? Good kickers have been hard to find this year.
Is this common procedure, for teams to not carry a backup kicker on the active roster that they feel is actually capable of making kicks? Think about it – the most likely time for a kicker to get hurt would be during a game, so wouldn’t it make sense to have a backup in place? Or is this just the Giants? It bit them in the a$$ last year, and here it is yet again.