Regardless of where blame goes, Giants blew it with Graham Gano injury

The Giants became the first team in NFL history to lose a regulation game despite scoring three touchdowns and allowing none. And they only have themselves to blame.

It’s unclear who specifically bears the blame for the fact that the Giants didn’t have a healthy kicker. But they didn’t. For the organization, it’s a failure.

Gano landed on the injury report on Saturday, with a groin problem. He injured a hamstring on the opening kickoff.

Coach Brian Daboll said after the game that they thought he was fine. However they came to that conclusion, they were wrong. Obviously. Whether Gano wasn’t straight with them or the training staff misread the situation or they should have told him not to run, he wasn’t good enough to stay healthy during the game.

Making matters worse is that they failed to have an alternative to Gano. They could have elevated kicker Jude McAtamney from the practice squad. Hell, with only 52 guys on the current roster, they could have made him an official member of the team.

Some teams have punters who can kick and/or kickers who can punt. Some have players at other positions who can punt or kick. With the Giants apparently not in that category, it was all the more reason to have another kicker in the pipeline given Gano’s status.

As longer field goals become more automatic, teams need to have players who can kick them. Especially when playing a tough game in the division where points likely will be at a premium.

Again, it’s unclear who’s specifically at fault for this. There might be many. There might be few. If only the Giants were doing early-season Hard Knocks, maybe we’d know.