With Graham Gano nursing injury, Giants sign kicker Randy Bullock to practice squad
Titans kicker Randy Bullock kicks off during an NFL game against the Jaguars on Jan. 7 in Jacksonville, Fla. Credit: AP
The Giants on Thursday signed kicker Randy Bullock to the practice squad, paving the way for him to take over as the team’s kicker.
Graham Gano kicked Sunday, against the Jets, with an injured left knee. He has said that his knee will require surgery.
On Thursday, the Giants tried out kickers, including Robbie Gould, Mason Crosby and Matthew Wright.
Bullock was the choice. By 5 p.m. Thursday, he was undergoing a physical. Presumably, he will be the Giants kicker beginning Sunday in Las Vegas.
There was another special teams development on Thursday.
The Giants believe the Jets should have been penalized on one of the last plays of Sunday’s game.
And the NFL rulebook indicates that the Giants are correct. It likely would have changed the outcome of Sunday’s game.
When Gano missed a 35-yard field goal wide left with 24 seconds to go in regulation, there should have been a penalty on the Jets for illegal formation.
Giants special teams coordinator Thomas McGaughey discussed the play Thursday with reporters. Giants coordinators are always available on Thursdays.
McGaughey said the play was illegal.
“You can’t cover the center,” McGaughey said. "He was covering the center. If you align within the framework of the center, that’s an illegal formation. Can’t do that. You have to be completely outside the framework of the center.”
The issue is not with McDonald jumping over the line of scrimmage in an attempt to block the kick, but with the fact that he was not fully outside of long snapper’s shoulders.
“A 6-foot-6, 260-pound dude jumping in front of you, that could affect the kick,” McGaughey said.
The miss allowed the Jets to rally and tie it 10-10 in the game’s final 24 seconds to force overtime.
The Giants had the first possession in the extra session, but a holding penalty and three incomplete passes forced a punt.
The Jets won it on their first possession of overtime, on a 46-yard drive that culminated in Greg Zuerlein’s 33-field goal.
Coach Brian Daboll was asked before practice if he had heard from the league about a missed call.
“I’ll keep that private,” Daboll said.
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.
