The New York Giants are showing some semblance of being a competitive football team. The defense is starting to hit its stride, while the offense is struggling to find some consistency with their play each week. Still, no Giants fans expect the team to be the favorite in any of their remaining games. But if the G-Men are going to extend their modest two-game winning streak, the leg of Graham Gano will have a big say in the victory.
Graham Gano Has Been the New York Giants Savior
Gano Has Been Only Sure Thing Offensively
At times, Gano was the only sure thing the Giants had on offense as he has been a savior to the 2020 season. Gano has converted 20 straight field goal attempts, with the lone miss being a 57-yard try at the end of the first half against the Chicago Bears in week 2. And no one should be surprise by his accuracy as Gano has a career 82 percent field goal and 95 percent PAT conversion rate.
For his efforts, the Giants have rewarded Gano with a three-year contract extension. The deal is worth $14 million with $9.5 million guaranteed. Now, the G-Men have their kicker for the present and future. But you won’t hear Gano talk much about his recent success.
A Leg Injury Nearly Derailed Gano’s Career
Instead, you might label this season as a bit of a renaissance for the kicker as he had to endure an injury to his plant leg that kept him off the football field for over a season. Gano missed the last four games in 2018 and all of the 2019 season due to surgery to repair a fractured femur.
After his release from Carolina Panthers, Gano wasn’t unemployed for too long as kickers are movable parts on an NFL roster. The Giants were in dire straits for a kicker as the team released Aldrick Rosas after an offseason arrest for leaving the scene of an automobile accident that took place outside of Chico, CA. Coming to New York was a natural fit for Gano as his former Panthers special teams coach, Thomas McGaughey, holds the same position with the Giants. The move was the perfect re-start to his career as he became the offense’s security blanket in putting points on the scoreboard.
Just listening to Gano during media Zoom conference calls, he has a low key approach to every kick (FG or PAT) attempted. He doesn’t put too much thought into the process. Gano feels it will ruin your mindset prior to the kick. It is all about repeating the kicking technique on each attempt. Gano is the prototypical tunnel-vision athlete, and who can argue with his success.
Judge Knew Graham Gano was an Offensive Weapon
Naturally, every football team prefers to score a touchdown rather than settling for a field goal. However, Giants head coach Joe Judge knows his offense is still too inconsistent to be considered a reliable, scoring unit. But he was fortunate to have a kicker like Gano on the roster.
This advantage gives Judge the confidence to string a series of offensive plays together that moves the ball over the mid-field mark on the field. Then, the offense’s main objective is to gain enough yards that places the ball in Gano’s kicking range for three points on the scoreboard.
Hopefully, the offense has eaten up enough clock that if has shorten the game to the Giants advantage. Judge would love nothing more than having his offense execute long, extended drives that concludes with the team scoring touchdowns. But that hasn’t been the case this season.
No question, Graham Gano has been the Giants savior offensively in 2020.
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