Twice in the past two season the New York Giants have been left in difficult situations when placekicker Graham Gano suffered debilitating leg injuries right before or at the beginning of games.
With Gano back to practice as he recovers from a groin injury and the Giants considering bringing him off Injured Reserve after cutting replacement placekicker Jude McAtamney, special teams coordinator Michael Ghobrial knows the Giants must be certain Gano is fully healthy.
“You’ve got to have really educated discussions amongst coaches, amongst trainers, that everybody has conviction going into the game that he’s going to give us the best opportunity to win the game and sustain and stay healthy,” Ghobrial said. “Have obviously had some unfortunate luck the past few years when it came to that. So again, we’ve got to explore every option and on Saturday, we’ll have a better idea of what that plan is. But obviously, whatever we decide to do, we’ll have ultimate confidence.”
Gano was 6 of 6 on field goals and 4 of 4 on extra points before going on IR.
As talented as he is, can the Giants be confident he is ready to get through games?
“You just have to make sure that he’s at full health and he’s kicking the ball well,” Ghobrial said. “Those are things that going into the week that you’ll never jeopardize if somebody is somewhat hurt or is still coming back, all that stuff. You’re going to look at where he is right now. You’re going to put a lot of educated opinion based off of the medical staff and talk, obviously, as coaches and move forward from that. And with that, you could have confidence.”
If the Giants are not certain, they could leave Gano on IR for now and elevate veteran placekicker Younghoe Koo from the practice squad. Or, there is a chance the Giants could activate Gano and elevate Koo as insurance.
“We’re going to have lots of discussions as coaches as this week progresses,” Ghobrial said. “We’re going to explore every option in giving our team the best opportunity to win the football game.”
As Gano continues to work his way back, Ghobrial expressed full faith in the veteran’s ability to regain his form — both physically and mentally.
“Graham is a guy that’s had success, and had success before he got hurt for us,” he said. “What gives him confidence is when he sees the ball go through the uprights. He did a nice job yesterday, and I’ve got tons of confidence in him.”
McAtamney, who missed two extra points in Sunday’s one-point loss to Denver and three over the last two games, is now back on the Giants’ practice squad via an International Player exemption.
McAtamney won a practice competition with Koo for the right to fill in for Gano.
“He’s [Koo] gotten more comfortable with the operation of Jamie [Gillan] and Casey [Kreiter],” Ghobrial said. “He’s in a good place mentally and in kicking form.”
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