Brian Daboll set Giants up for failure with misguided Graham Gano gamble

LANDOVER, Md. — This time the inquisition was not reserved for Daniel Jones. 

It was reserved for Brian Daboll. 

You don’t blame Daniel Jones (2 TD passes, 32 rushing yards) or Malik Nabers (18 targets, 10-127-1 TD) for Commanders 21, Giants 18. 

This one’s on the head coach. 

You couldn’t blame Daboll if he felt like kicking and screaming after Dan Quinn had a field goal kicker who could kick FGs, seven in all, and Daboll did not have one he trusted to even kick a PAT. 

Daboll spiked his headset when journeyman Austin Seibert’s 30-yard walk-off FG put him and his 0-2 Giants out of their misery. Except it was only about to begin: 

He rolled the dice on a healthy Graham Gano, who had popped up on the injury report on Saturday, and lost the gamble when Gano promptly injured his hamstring trying to chase down Austin Ekeler on a 98-yard opening kickoff return that was called back. 

When punter Jamie Gillan missed his first PAT, Daboll refused to trust him no matter how close Jones and Nabers positioned the offense. 

On a day when the Giants defense was bludgeoned for 35-215 rushing, on a day when elusive Jayden Daniels excelled on third down, on a day when Jones possessed the ball for only 22:28, Daboll kept asking his embattled quarterback to get the ball in the end zone. 

Gillan’s Wide Right PAT miss in the first quarter spooked Daboll and a pair of failed Jones-to-Darius Slayton two-point conversions, one when a PAT would have given the Giants a 19-15 lead with 11:32 left, cost Daboll five points. 

“We had some two-point plays that we liked,” Daboll said. 

“Feel bad for Graham, feel bad for us,” Daboll said. “But no excuses, had our opportunities.” 

Could a right groin injury lead to a right hamstring injury? 

“I’d say I’m not a doctor,” Daboll said. 

Better safe than sorry. 

When you play with fire, you get burned. 

He could have considered practice squad PK Jude McAtamney to handle the kickoffs but did not activate him off the practice squad (or perhaps Gillan). 

“I’m not gonna get into the discussions that we had,” Daboll said. 

Daboll patiently answered one question after another about the kicking fiasco: 

“We thought Graham would be OK. … He didn’t hurt his groin, he hurt his hamstring.” 

It left the Giants hamstrung. 

“Anybody can get injured. Not making excuses.” 

“We thought he was good. We thought he was good.” 

“All the decisions that are made are mine.” 

“We thought he was good to go. Talked to him. Talked to the trainer. Again, I can’t tell you he’s gonna get hurt chasing down a 100-yard kickoff return that was called back.” 

“We thought Graham was good. We thought Graham was good. I think he woulda been good if he didn’t pull his hamstring.” 

Except he did pull his hamstring. 

Hindsight is 20/20 and all that, but that’s why they sell insurance, right? 

“Again, we felt OK with the decision that we make. Obviously didn’t pan out because he pulls his hamstring.” 

Nabers was beating himself up for dropping a fourth-and-4 pass on the right sideline from the Washington 22 with 2:04 left. 

“I’m hurt that I let those veterans down,” Nabers said. 

Of course, there was still no guarantee the Giants would be able to break the 18-18 tie. 

The defense let everyone down. 

“We got somebody by the throat as a defense, we kinda gotta snap their neck off,” Brian Burns said. 

Gano thought he was hitting the ball well in warm-ups: He was convinced that there is no correlation between the groin and the hamstring. He reminded us that there is indeed a difference between playing injured and playing hurt. 

“As long as I was able to kick, I was gonna try. … Just tough luck. It wasn’t something that was bothering me at all until … I guess I was running too fast for my body,” he said. “I think I hit everything under 50 yards. I was going into the game confident. The hamstring, that’s just bad luck.” 

Luck, they say, is the residue of design. 

“I’m sure if we could do it again, we’d do the exact same thing,” Gano said. Giants fans will be kicking and screaming if they do.