October 29, 2023; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Giants place kicker Graham Gano (9) is shown as he gets a field goal for the first score of the game.
Syndication: The Record
(East Rutherford, NJ) – A frustrating season has come to a close for New York Giants kicker Graham Gano, as he’s being placed on injured reserve with a left knee injury.
Despite suffering the injury weeks ago, Gano attempted to play through it, and struggled in the process. During his first three seasons with New York, Gano converted on 91.8% of his field goal attempts. This season, he went 11 of 17 for a dismal 64.7% mark.
Given his diminished performance – which ultimately culminated in Gano missing two kicks against the Jets that contributed to the Giants’ most recent loss – some of Big Blue’s fans are questioning the New York medical staff. Why was Gano cleared to play if he had an injury that was impacting his ability to make kicks – and will now require surgery?
For his part, Gano is not among the people questioning New York’s approach as a team: “We have one of the best medical staffs in the whole league. I saw some stuff online about them and questioning them, and I don’t swear often, but I think it’s (expletive), honestly, because they’re one of the best in the league.”
Gano took it a step further, saying “I would trust my own children with them. I love those guys. They’ve done a great job with me. I think my knee probably would have been a lot worse had I not been in there getting it taken care of by those guys. I’m excited to get it fixed. Disappointed in how the season went, but I’m excited to get back to making field goals.”
And to be fair, Gano was reportedly kicking well in practice and also continue to have no issue on kickoffs, routinely knocking them into the endzone for touchbacks. The 36-year-old Gano is looking forward: “It’s definitely disappointing. I think the first thing I said a few weeks ago when I popped up on the report was that if I could manage the pain and if I could play well and help the team win, then I’d keep doing it. That was what the reports were saying then on my knee, and things just progressed for the worst. The pain, the swelling, instability just kind of increased and I wasn’t able to obviously do a good job on the field. We all made a decision to go ahead and get the surgery. I know it’s frustrating, but those guys in there do a fantastic job and it just got to the point, you could see it on the field and just physically, it wasn’t going to go well.”
Despite being placed on IR, the NFL’s new rules mean that’s not an automatic season-ender. Gano will be forced to wish at least four games.
“I think the big thing is I was given a few options as far as surgeries go, and I chose the one that gives me the best chance to get back on the field and help us win games.” Gano is trying to stay optimistic: “I’m looking forward to [returning]. It doesn’t make it any less frustrating, but I want to return to the form that I had the first three years here.”
