The New York Giants have had little to crow about the past has-decade or so, but the one area in which they have prided themselves in is special teams.
Guided by coordinator Thomas McGaughey, the Giants’ special teams unit has been among the league’s best. But this summer, things have not been going as swimmingly as in years past.
On Sunday night against the Cincinnati Bengals in their second preseason game, the ‘teams’ had several uncharacteristic breakdowns.
They allowed a 73-yard kickoff return to running back Chris Evans, a play in which placekicker Graham Gano suffered a concussion attempting to tackle Evans.
Returner C.J. Board fumbled a kickoff return after taking a hard hit. The Bengals recovered and Board left the game with injured ribs.
There’s not much upside to the performance of the special teams but there were some encouraging signs. Punter Jamie Gillan filled in for Gano without a hitch, slamming a 31-yard field goal, an extra point and two of his three kickoffs for touchbacks,
Defensive back Julian Love continued to display his increasing versatility filling in for Gillan as the holder on kicks.
Alex Bachman not only was the star of the game on offense, he made a key tackle on a late fourth quarter kickoff and ran back a punt for 11 yards.
The inconsistency of the ‘teams’ is perhaps a result of all of the injuries the team has been experiencing this summer. As McGaughey has told us consistently over the years, he does not know from game to game who he will have available to work with. That has been increasing prevalent this summer. It is something that should improve once the team cuts it’s roster down to 53 players next week.
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