How Brian Daboll made things worse for Giants after kicker Graham Gano’s new injury

The Giants have never been 0-2 under Brian Daboll, until now. They were 2-0 and flying high in 2022 and 1-1 after a rousing comeback in Arizona in 2023. So, this represents a low point as far as early-season difficulties for Daboll and the Giants. They had no business beating the Vikings in the opener and no business losing to the Commanders in Week 2. But here they are.

It is a rare twist to the narrative that the Giants are coming off a loss — 21-18 to the Commanders at Northwest Stadium — and there is no noise about how horrid Daniel Jones played. He put in a winning performance — not spectacular, but good enough — and was let down by a defense that allowed seven field goals on seven series and by a kicking game that absurdly was removed from the equation after Graham Gano went down with a hamstring injury on the opening kickoff.

There are no good losses but there are particularly bad ones. This was one of the bad ones. Here we go:

— Let’s get this out of the way right away. Most teams, if they lose their kicker on the first play, will not be able to function normally, as far as attempting field goals or extra points. But most teams should be able to function better than how the Giants turned Gano’s misadventure into a fiasco. It is true that most punters in the league are not adept at hitting long-range field goals but most of them should be able to do a credible job on extra points and maybe on very short field goals. Punter Jamie Gillan hit a 40-yard field goal last season, for goodness sakes. Yes, he looked bad hooking his first and only extra-point try wide right, but that shouldn’t have dissuaded Daboll from ever going back to him again.

Also, this was all almost too easy to envision. Gano came into the game with an issue with his groin and it seemed as if having a backup plan for a 37-year-old kicker in that condition was needed. Activate Jude McAtamney from the practice squad or sign a veteran kicker for the game. At least have the strong-legged Gillan handle kickoffs to relieve the stress on Gano’s ailing groin. It seemed as if Daboll’s ego got in the way here a bit with the way he boldly decided his two-point conversion plays gave his team a better chance for success than sending Gillan out for extra-point attempts. Of course, a team can make these decisions look good by executing and completing the task, but the Giants came up short on both of their two-point conversion attempts.

— Fair is fair. The offensive line was a bright spot in this game. All five starters played all 56 snaps and there is nothing to nit-pick with this group. When is the last time we could say that? The Giants rushed for 129 yards, averaging a robust 5.9 yards per attempt. The pocket was kept clean for Daniel Jones, who was sacked once. Sure, there was plenty of max-protect and blocking help from the tight ends. There were no penalties by any of the five offensive linemen, which is not easy to pull off on the road.