Not a good look for the New York Giants as they chase their first win of the season – they lost kicker Graham Gano seconds into the game after he was hurt on the opening kickoff.
Gano appeared on the injury list with a groin issue Saturday, but the Giants chose not to sign a kicker to their empty roster spot or elevate rookie Rutgers product Jude McAtamney from the practice squad.
Gano was active and briefly went back to the locker room during warmups, but returned and drilled a couple long field goals – but on the opening kickoff, he appeared to hurt his hamstring or reaggravate the groin trying to chase down Commanders RB Austin Ekeler on a return that went for a TD but was, thankfully for Big Blue, negated by a holding penalty.
However, Gano was unable to come out when the Giants scored a touchdown in the first quarter, instead pressing punter Jamie Gillan into duty for a PAT that went wide right. The Giants went for two on their second touchdown and missed, and Gillan handled both kickoffs.
This is the second straight week the Giants have chosen not to supplement a special teams position that was compromised only to lose their featured player – last week, Big Blue had a hobbled Gunner Olszewski returning punts with a groin injury, but he tweaked that groin in warmups and they turned to Darius Slayton, who fumbled one of his returns, in that spot.