Josh Brown looks for opportunity to redeem himself
Josh Brown of the New York Giants watches his missed field goal in overtime with Rontez Miles of the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, Dec. 6, 2015 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Josh Brown isn’t one to wallow in self-pity after a missed field goal, and that’s certainly the case after Sunday’s critical 48-yard miss in overtime in a 23-20 loss to the Jets.
“You want to make everything, you want to be successful, especially in those moments, so sure, it hurts,” said the 36-year-old kicker, who had a string of 29 straight field goals — a franchise record — snapped with Sunday’s miss. “But the biggest thing is the next kick. You’ve got to keep moving. Got to make the next one.”
The next one can’t come any sooner. If it happens in Monday night’s game against the Dolphins, that would be just fine.
“It does me no good to go into a tank or even overthink [the missed field goal],” Brown said. “I’ve hit a lot of great field goals and I’ve made a lot of field goals, and I’ll continue to make a lot of field goals. So I’m not going to do anything different than I did last week getting ready for this game.”
Well, at least one thing will be different. The Giants were forced to sign long-snapper Danny Aiken as a replacement for veteran Zack DeOssie, who went on injured reserve because of a wrist injury. Other than that, it’s business as usual.
“I hope [the chance] comes again soon,” he said. “That’s the thing. I hope it comes. I hope they continue to come, and we will be successful on them. This was just one of those times when we weren’t. Just grow from it and continue to move forward.”
Even though the kick on Sunday wouldn’t have won the game, a successful conversion would have at least kept the Giants alive against the Jets. His kick, which sailed wide left, was his first missed field goal since Dec. 14, 2014, against the Rams. He had made all 25 of his attempts this season before Sunday.
“You’d like to get that play back, and I think everyone in this locker room would agree if they could get one play back individually, things would be different,” Brown said. “That would be my one play. But it’s time to look forward. It’s time to look forward to the next one.”
Bob Glauber retired in 2022 after covering the NFL for nearly 40 years. He was selected in 2021 for the Bill Nunn Career Achievement Award by the Pro Football Writers of America, and is a three-time winner of the New York State Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. President of the PFWA for the 2018-20 seasons, he is the author of “The Forgotten First” and “Guts and Genius.”
