Giants’ PK Graham Gano defends team’s medical staff

Gano indicates that his season might not be over

New York Giants placekicker Graham Gano, headed to injured reserve due to a knee injury that has impacted his performance, on Friday defended the team’s medical staff from online criticism.

“We have one of the best medical staffs in the whole league. I saw some stuff online about them and questioning them, and I don’t swear often, but I think it’s (expletive), honestly, because they’re one of the best in the league,” Gano said. “I would trust my own children with them. I love those guys. They’ve done a great job with me. I think my knee probably would have been a lot worse had I not been in there getting it taken care of by those guys. I’m excited to get it fixed. Disappointed in how the season went, but I’m excited to get back to making field goals.”

Gano said he managed the pain in his knee as long as he could.

“It’s definitely disappointing. I think the first thing I said a few weeks ago when I popped up on the report was that if I could manage the pain and if I could play well and help the team win, then I’d keep doing it,” Gano said. “That was what the reports were saying then on my knee, and things just progressed for the worst. The pain, the swelling, instability just kind of increased and I wasn’t able to obviously do a good job on the field.

“We all made a decision to go ahead and get the surgery. I know it’s frustrating, but those guys in there do a fantastic job and it just got to the point, you could see it on the field and just physically, it wasn’t going to go well.”

Gano did not offer details on the nature of his injury. He did, however, hold out hope that his season might not be over.

“I think the big thing is I was given a few options as far as surgeries go, and I chose the one that gives me the best chance to get back on the field and help us win games,” he said. “I’m looking forward to that. It doesn’t make it any less frustrating, but I want to return to the form that I had the first three years here.”

Gano made 89 of 97 field goal attempts (91.8%) in his first three season, but only 11 of 17 (64.7%) this year.

Gano, 36, is looking forward to returning and showing the form he had in his first three seasons with the Giants.

“I think that’s one of the things that have helped me last long in this league, it’s not the first time I’ve had a game like that, that Sunday or a season like this,” he said. “I’ve bounced back and had Pro Bowl years afterwards, made a lot of field goals, hit 30 in a row two times or something like that, like it happens. And it’s how you respond, and I’ve always chosen to have a good attitude about everything and to look at things positively and even in a negative situation you can choose your attitude and response to things, and I just choose to be positive.”