For NFL kickers, there's no place like dome
Graham Gano #9 of the Giants attempts a game winning field goal in overtime against the Washington Commanders at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, Dec. 4, 2022. Credit: Jim McIsaac
In the Giants’ critical 20-12 win at Washington last Sunday night, Graham Gano delivered a pair of 50-yard field goals. Afterward, he disclosed that during warmups, he wouldn’t have been able to connect on the second kick because of the conditions. But the wind changed during the game, making the second try not only possible but successful.
Such is life for NFL kickers, who already have difficult jobs before factoring in having to deal with swirling winds, freezing rain, snow and sleet.
Giants special teams coordinator Thomas McGaughey said “the hardest thing” is to weigh the kicker’s true level of confidence, even amid perfect conditions and certainly in dicey weather circumstances.
Why? “Because the kicker is going to always tell you ‘I can make it,’ ” McGaughey said. “You have to be realistic in the moment and you got to be smart. Look at the situation. Where are we in the game? What’s the score? Knowing that, OK, if I miss this kick, [what is] the field position? You got to be smart in how you do it and we trust Graham. Graham knows. He knows his range and he knows the situations as they come up.”
The situation Saturday afternoon in Minneapolis should be a most favorable one.
The Vikings play at U.S. Bank Stadium, a dome that opened in 2016. So while the weather outside is 11-degree frigid, the temperature-controlled dome should allow for perfect conditions.
In other words, there will be no need for Gano to channel his inner Lawrence Tynes and kick on the frozen tundra. No, Saturday’s wintry elements in Minneapolis will stay out of the way of Giants vs. Vikings. In fact, Brian Daboll said he might be willing to try a longer-than-usual field goal because of the pristine conditions.
The dome is home. And that is a gift especially for Gano, long snapper Casey Kreiter and holder Jamie Gillan (who also is the punter).
They all seem to be versions of perfectionists.
“When it’s windy, you’ve got to adjust,” Gillan said. “When you’re inside, you have to adjust, too. It is nice being inside, it’s going to be great because we don’t have that wind factor. There’s still a lot of moving parts.”
An example: Because Gillan is a lefty, Harrison Eisen, a 28-year-old equipment room assistant who has been around the Giants his entire life and travels with the team, is tasked with having the JUGS machine ready for Giants returners, who almost exclusively catch punts from right-footed punters.
Not surprisingly, there is an all-for-one, one-for-all feeling among the specialists. There also are quirks.
“I think all specialists have their own little weirdness that we all recognize with each other,” Kreiter said. “I’ve always said, no one kicker’s the same as another. And Graham has his quirks.”
One in particular manifests itself on game days when Gano carries a bag onto the field.
“It’s all full of shoes,” Kreiter said. “He’ll find the one that fits, but you never know. You never know which one it’s going to be. If anyone has time, watch Graham during the game and count how many time he changes his shoes. I’d like to get a number on it. And that’s not atypical. I’ve had a lot of kickers that do that.”
Kreiter laughed. “I’m really good pals with Casey and Graham,” he said. “You have to have a good relationship with your guys, for sure.”
As the long snapper, Kreiter said rain and humidity affect him and his job more than snow does.
“When it gets colder, the ball’s a little slicker, it doesn’t want to spin off your hands as easy,” he said. “When you talk about field goals, my job is really to control the laces and make sure the laces are out where Jamie catches it. So when the ball isn’t spinning as well, you’ve got to adjust for it.”
Gano has made 88.9% of his field goals (24 of 27) this season, placing him 10th among qualifying kickers. In his first year with the Giants, 2020, he made 31 of 32 attempts. Last season, he made 29 of 33.
Asked about the “perfect hold,” Gillam said, “Everybody’s different. Graham likes his holds his own unique way, so we just have to practice them on the JUGS machine. Everybody’s different.”
Yes, but the specialists have to work together and in concert. “Yep,” Gillam said. “That’s why we spend a lot of time together.”
All in the name of the perfect snap, hold and kick.
Kimberly Jones covers the Giants for Newsday, a beat she first worked in the early 2000s before joining the YES Network to cover the Yankees. She worked for the NFL Network for more than a decade and has been heard semi-regularly on WFAN.
