Giants kicker Graham Gano suffers new injury on opening play vs. Commanders

One disaster was negated, but another remained in place for the Giants.

Kicker Graham Gano, who entered Sunday’s game with a groin injury, injured his hamstring trying to chase down the Commanders’ Austin Ekeler on a 98-yard kickoff return touchdown to start the game.

A holding penalty took Ekeler’s points off the board for the time being – the Commanders later settled for a field goal – but did not create a time warp. In other words, the Giants still lost Gano and had to turn to punter Jamie Gillan, who was 1-for-2 on field goals in his career, to pull double duty.

Sure enough, Gillan missed his first kick – a PAT after the Giants took a first-quarter 6-3 lead.

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Whether Gano was more susceptible to a hamstring injury because he was running with a groin injury is up for debate.