The Giants aren’t committing to a kicker just yet.
Head coach Brian Daboll said the Giants would evaluate their kicking situation after Jude McAtamney missed a pair of extra points in Sunday’s 33-32 loss to the Denver Broncos.
“We’ll see where that goes here throughout the week,” Daboll said Monday.
Daboll did not provide a health update on primary kicker Graham Gano (groin), who would be eligible to come off of injured reserve for Sunday’s game in Philadelphia.
McAtamney has filled in for Gano the past four games, but the Giants also have veteran kicker Younghoe Koo on their practice squad.
The missed extra points by McAtamney proved costly on an afternoon the Giants blew an 18-point lead in the final six minutes of regulation.
McAtamney missed wide left in the second quarter after the Giants’ second touchdown.
He missed wide right with 37 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, after Jaxson Dart’s one-yard touchdown run put the Giants up, 32-30.
The Broncos then charged down the field with a four-play, 56-yard drive to set up Will Lutz’s game-winning 39-yard field goal as time expired.
“Got to make the kicks,” McAtamney said. “Not going to shy away from that. I’ll take full responsibility.”
The two misses, ESPN’s Adam Schefter stated on Monday’s airwaves, were the first time a kicker had missed two extra points with neither being blocked in a game his team lost by a single point.
Following McAtamney’s first miss, the Giants attempted to get that point back by going for two after their third touchdown of the game. But that two-point conversion failed, leaving the Giants with a 19-0 advantage in the third quarter.
“That’s a decision that we made,” Daboll said of going for two. “That’s what was on our chart, and that’s what I went with.”
McAtamney is now 9-of-12 on extra points this season. He is 2-for-2 on field goals, but his longest was 31 yards, and he has not attempted a field goal in the last three games.
This is the third year in a row that the Giants have navigated an injury to Gano.
In a 2023 overtime loss to the Jets, Gano missed a pair of field goals, including a 35-yard attempt late in the fourth quarter. Gano had appeared on the injury report that week with a knee issue.
And in Week 2 of last season, Gano aggravated an injury on the opening kickoff against the Washington Commanders. Punter Jamie Gillan missed an extra point after the Giants’ first touchdown that day, and the Giants were later unsuccessful on a pair of two-point conversion attempts. They lost that game, 21-18.
Gano’s latest injury occurred as he warmed up before a Week 3 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. Gano did not appear until the fourth quarter of that 22-9 loss, and he made a 25-yard field goal.
“I was in a lot of pain,” Gano said at the time.
McAtamney, 25, went 12-for-18 on field goals as a junior at Rutgers in 2022, then missed his only attempt as a senior in 2023 as he operated as a kickoff specialist.
Koo, who played at Ridgewood High School in New Jersey, has made 181-of-211 field goals (85.5%) and 175-of-182 extra points (96.2%) over eight NFL seasons. He spent seven years with the Atlanta Falcons, who released him last month.
