NOVEMBER 7: Gano is not taking part in Friday’s practice. To little surprise, then, Daboll said (via ESPN’s Jordan Raanan) he “assumes” it will be Koo handling kicking duties in Week 10.
NOVEMBER 6: Injuries have been a frequent problem for Giants kicker Graham Gano since he signed a three-year, $16.5MM contract extension in 2023. After combining for 18 of a possible 34 appearances from 2023-24, Gano has already missed four of the Giants’ nine games this year. He could sit out again when the Giants face the Bears on Sunday.
Gano, now battling neck soreness, spent time on IR earlier this season with a groin injury. The 38-year-old missed a field goal in a 34-24 loss to the 49ers last Sunday, his second game since coming off IR, but has connected on his other nine attempts this season. Gano is is also a perfect 9 for 9 on extra points.
While Gano has put together a more-than-respectable career since debuting with Washington in 2009, the former Pro Bowler admitted Thursday that injuries and outside criticism have taken their toll (via Ralph Vacchiano of FOX Sports).
“It’s unbelievably frustrating,” Gano said. “I can’t control the injuries that have happened. It’s not like I’ve done something that is out of the ordinary outside of the building to hurt myself or anything. I just want to play ball, and constantly not being able to is tough. Doing everything I can to try to come back and play, and that’s my hope.”
If Gano is unable to suit up in Week 10, the Giants are preparing to use practice squad kicker Younghoe Koo, head coach Brian Daboll said (via Ryan Dunleavy of the New York Post). Also a former Pro Bowler, Koo had a long run with the Falcons, who released him after a costly missed field goal in a 23-20 loss to the Buccaneers in Week 1. The 31-year-old caught on with New York’s practice squad on Sept. 23.
Although Koo has been with the Giants for about a month and a half, he hasn’t kicked in a game with them yet. The Giants instead turned to Jude McAtamney during Gano’s four-game absence. McAtamney converted his only two field-goal attempts while filling in for Gano, but he missed three of his 12 extra-point tries. Two of those misses came in a 33-32 loss to the Broncos in Week 7. The Giants cut and re-signed McAtamney to their practice squad after their Denver disaster, and the Northern Ireland native is now behind Koo in the pecking order.
Despite having Koo and McAtamney around as fallback options, the Giants worked out free agent kicker Ben Sauls on Thursday, according to Dan Duggan of The Athletic. As Duggan notes, the undrafted rookie from Pittsburgh signed with Atlanta’s practice squad after the team moved on from Koo. The Falcons cut Sauls on Tuesday.
One thing the Giants absolutely need to do this offseason is get a different kicker. I swear, Gano is always fighting some kind of injury. At least they have a few days notice on this one instead of Gano discovery it in pre-game warmups.
They gave up on Jude after just 3 missed extra points. If their expectation is perfection they’ll be signing a dozen kickers during the season.
I don’t think they expect perfection, but the cutting of Jude was more because of the frustration of the loss in Denver. Gano has been injured a lot the last couple of years, with injuries seemingly on a weekly basis, with some at the last minute. Pair that up with the organizations unpreparedness and it just creates a mess. They should just go to Koo now and declare Gano out instead of waiting and being without a kicker. This has happened too many times already.
Hey guys what are you missing about Jude….he is not an NFL kicker….Period….nothing more to say….the Giants NEVER should have entrusted kicking duties to this guy….look at Dallas….they drafted a kid to kick and now anything from 65 yds in is pretty automatic and gives them 3….its almost like the Giants were trying to make nice with the league over using an international AAA kid in a major league NFL games….if anything screams that this coaching staff is inept….its examples like this that scream for change…..do you think for 1 minute Vrable in NE would do the same….I can name 20 other coaches who wouldn’t make the same mistakes over and over again….can them all….
@crosseyedlemon: I can’t tell if you are joking, but Jude was atrocious. They left a bunch of points on the board by not even attempting several 40+ yard field goals that are makeable for normal NFL kickers. He also couldn’t handle kickoffs (though neither can Gano, another reason they should send him packing).
Gano began his NFL career with the Washington Redskins … can we blame his injury woes on that dodgy FedEx Field?
Apparently the playground Gano practiced on while in elementary school was quite a mess as well, so I’m feeling flexible about where the blame is placed 🙂
Just release Gano. The guy is a physical trainwreck.
Gano has been ruled out and won’t make the trip to Chicago. Koo is up from the practice squad to be the Giants’ PK against the Bears.