"A week after Jude McAtamney missed two critical extra points in a one-point loss to the Broncos and was cut, three weeks after former Falcons Pro Bowler Younghoe Koo joined the Giants' practice squad but was unable to win the weekly competitions to play in the games, and a month after Graham Gano injured his groin in pregame warm-ups to not only cost the Giants points in their loss to Kansas City but set off this cavalcade of kicking chaos, the Giants will face the Eagles on Sunday in Philadelphia."
"Instead, the Giants stubbornly went into this season expecting Gano, 38, who missed eight games last season with injuries, to hold the job for the entire year. Then, when he couldn't, they tried to replace him with spare pieces lying about the garage rather than investing in a kicker who could do the job competently and consistently."
"That's not a knock on McAtamney, a former Gaelic footballer and International Pathway player from Ireland who returned to the practice squad on a roster exemption this week after his brief departure and still has one game-day elevation left. The Giants never should have asked him to shoulder such responsibilities, and they certainly should have sensed the pending doom he brought forth in Denver when he missed an extra point against the Eagles in Week 6. He was in over his head."
Giants special teams have descended into kicking chaos after Graham Gano's groin injury, Jude McAtamney's missed extra points and release, and Younghoe Koo's inability to win game-week competitions. The team enters a matchup with the Eagles uncertain which kicker will handle duties, with a decision possibly not finalized until shortly before kickoff. Coaching reliance on an injured veteran and stopgap solutions replaced the pursuit of a reliable kicker. McAtamney, a former Gaelic footballer from the International Pathway, was placed into high-pressure situations he was not ready for, prompting conservative play-calling and limited field-goal attempts.
Read at Newsday
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