Josh Brown refrained from practicing FGs during one-game ban
Giants kicker Josh Brown speaks with reporters at training camp, Thursday, Aug. 18, 2016, in East Rutherford, N.J. Credit: AP / Tom Canavan
Randy Bullock, the Giants’ kicker in Week 1, did not attempt any field goals.
Neither, it turns out, did the player he was replacing on the roster.
While Josh Brown was serving a one-game suspension for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy, he worked on his own on kickoffs but stayed away from attempting any field goals by order of special teams coordinator Tom Quinn.
“It’s hard to do field goals when you don’t have a snap and the hold and the NFL field,” Quinn said, explaining the moratorium on practicing the essence of the position. “[You] kind of find when kickers go away, whether it’s from the spring to the summer, they come back off a little bit because of the fields and different things, so we just have them focus on kickoffs.”
Brown has declined to speak to reporters since he was reinstated on Monday. His suspension stemmed from a series of domestic abuse charges made by his now-former wife. Bullock, who was released this week, made two of three extra points for the Giants in their 20-19 win over the Cowboys.
Brown was with the team throughout the preseason so his time away was not exceptionally long.
“He came back focused, ready to do his job,” Quinn said. “I haven’t seen anything to make me feel otherwise.”
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
