Receivers: We’re Not Gonna Blame Gano

By Brian Tinsman

AP Image

Following yesterday’s disappointing loss to the Cowboys, it was easy to look to kicker Graham Gano as the culprit for the loss.

The media certainly did it.  Fans today have done it.  But how easy is it to kick two field goals from 49 and 52 yards, respectively?

It’s hard enough that the Redskins offensive players weren’t willing to heap the blame on him after the game.  Instead, they took the blame on themselves.

“We gave it away.  We gave it away,” receiver Jabar Gaffney told the CSNWashington crew.  “We can’t give away wins.  We gotta go get it done.  Don’t let them hang around and hope that [Gano] hits the kick or hope that they miss the kick.”

Tight end Fred Davis echoed those sentiments in his own interview:

“We just can’t leave it up to the kicker, sometimes,” he said.  “We’ve gotta finish some of these games offensively, and that’s what we were trying to do.  Gano can make that kick sometimes; sometimes he doesn’t.  I’m not gonna blame him.  I wish we could’ve did what we have did, and we’ll see when we watch the film, and see what other plays we could’ve made.”

See what else Freddy D. had to say after the game, below, courtesy of CSNWashington:

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0 thoughts on “Receivers: We’re Not Gonna Blame Gano”

  3. “Not going to blame the kicker” Hmmmm. Come on man. What if you performed at 68% efficiency and blew the big ones. How long would you be playing?

    Sure, everybody is a part of a win or a loss. There are plays throughout the game in which they can help decide a game. There are a lot of what ifs and there always will be. I read all of his excuses, but every kicker kicks in those circumstances at some point.

    Come on man…. 68%?

    Winners accept the blame, do not make excuses, and improve on what they learn by working harder and smarter, by getting help, and the main thing is:

    You can’t get better, if you don’t think there is a problem.

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  5. If the ‘SKINS continue on this won-loss trajectory, we should be around the sixth pick as both MIAMI and CAROLINA hold wins over us. A trade up a couple of slots would get us into the big-time QB sweeps. Come on guys, let’s lose out. We can do this. BARKLEY, BARKLEY, BARKLEY.

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  6. Gordon Lawrence:

    Not in this game. He made a 40 yard in the 3rd qtr. to put us up 7. He missed a 49 yard in the 3rd that would have given us a 2 score lead. He missed a 52 yard to WIN the game. 2 misses in a row…less than 67% for the year….less than 70% for his career.

    Of course, he is not our only problem. The coaches did a good job of putting us in a position to win and many players let us down including Gano. The reason I am stating this, is because he accepted no blame and made many excuses.

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  7. Graham Gano’s own words:

    “I think the wind was in play,” he explained. “If you look at Bailey’s winning kick, that’s a 39-yard kick and that almost blew out from there. On my 49-yarder – if you watch it on film – it’s going straight and then the ball just completely turns right.”

    “It’s pretty outrageous, but the wind is unpredictable,” he said. “You can’t really go by the flags that are on top of the uprights – those are meaningless. The flags at the top of the stadium are way too high, so you obviously can’t learn much from that. You’ve just got to go off what you feel and hit the ball well.”

    “It stinks missing the kicks,” he said. “But taking the blocks out of the totals, I’m 16-for-21 on the year. Four of the misses have been 49-plus yards, which aren’t easy to make. With the misses, all but the 50-yarder in Miami, I’ve only missed by a foot.”

    “Mentally, I feel pretty good about where I am, and I’m comfortable with the way I’m hitting the ball,” Gano said. “I’m just going into the Seahawks game like any other week. I go out there with the same mindset every time and just do my best.”

    The scary part of what he said is, “I’m comfortable with the way I am hitting the ball”.

    Wow!!!!!!!!!!!! Well, I am not.

    Here is a true and accurate statement from a smart coach:

    “Like everybody, you have to perform and you’re hoping that he performs at a high level,” Shanahan said. “If you don’t advantage of those opportunities, then you don’t kick in the National Football League very long.”

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    • @Doug McDaniel–

      Nice quotations–I happen to have written that story as well 🙂 What I didn’t include in that story is how he said after the game “I just missed it. No excuses, I missed it.” The story that was written wasn’t excuses, I simply asked him what he saw when he looked at it on film. He said the snap was good, he said the hold was good, and he said he struck it well, so what did he say when he went back and looked at it on film. He’s not deflecting responsibility, and a depressed kicker is never going to kick his way out of a slump. The point at the receivers were making is that they shouldn’t have put him in a situation where he had to try two 49-plus yard FG’s.

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  8. Brian,

    Thank you. It would have been nice to have seen that perspective in the article. He is human and a good man, but still kicking less than 68%

    DeAngelo Hall took responsibility and he should have. Others need to step up and turn this ship around quickly.

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  10. A true knowledgeable fan only blames the kicker for 10 seconds after they miss a lengthy and almost desperation field goal that results in a loss. Gano is a average and decent kicker on a very lackluster team.That game was lost by Deangelo Hall.

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  11. I never blamed the kicker. However, he is a contributor just like DeAngelo Hall and others.

    If the kicker and others don’t perform any better………….. we will get the same results.

    I am more worried about the future than the past, and it doesn’t look to good right now.

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  12. DOUG , That is a great point. our future is very bleak and although it may sound that I’m placing most or all of the blame on Dhall its that in professional football it is a business.They are not college kids playing for their universities.We are not feared by no other teams.Looking back at former Skins like Gary Clark, Joe Jacoby, Art Monk, Dave Butz and many others you would never think they were playing for money.But sadly the new school hot shots have one good season and think they are hall of famers and demand 55 million dollars and become complacent…..They have to know how proud and dedicated a Redskin is and we can’t tolerate seeing our highly esteemed organization becoming the second coming of the NEW ORLEANS “AINTS”

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  13. it’s the kickers fault. he has been missing field goals all year. he did it last year and he’s doing it this year. he had one blocked and a missed field goal in the first lost to dallas. he’s not no different then anybody else on the team. if he can’t get the job done, it’s time for him to go. they let robert henson go and he was a beast at mlb. they let stallworth go even though they called him back. when we need him to come through for us he don’t. i don’t care what the offense says. i don’t care about hall letting bryant make that catch. gano missed the kick and williams got hurt on the same play. if you’re going to get your best ol hurt at least make the dan kick

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  14. If ( what a BIG word now-a-days lol ) the O (barring the injured guys ) playeda better game plan there would be no need to BLAME the kicker for a miss of 49 yrds. plus. MAYBE td’s ( lol) or f/g’s of 20 or 30 yrds. Just a thought !!!!!!!!

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  15. Boo-yah, we’ve got a blog. Lot’s o’ chatta’. Cool.

    Doug, I hope you caught the sarcasm in my but….but….comment. earlier. I was just laughing to keep from crying.

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  16. I suggest that Kyle Shanahan start doing the kicking. It is obvious that he is not much of an offensive coordinator, maybe he can kick. Also, maybe his dad can be the holder.

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  17. Gordon: LOL I didn’t see that at first.

    Graham Gano quote:
    “But taking the blocks out of the totals, I’m 16-for-21 on the year.”

    Duh, Graham that is still a poultry 76%. Hardly anything to brag about.

    Kickers today must be in the 80%+ range.

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  20. Dear Santa,

    I would like a new offensive coordinator, a quarterback, a healthy offensive line and a new kicker for Christmas. If you could also throw in a dvd player for Bruce Allen. It is quite obvious that they forgot that Gano was a bum last year and maybe they can replay this season to remind them that he is a bum this year. (Fire him!).

    If you can’t find us a new quarterback then maybe a pair of glasses or a receiver GPS unit for Rex. It is obvious that he loves Christmas just as much as you since he has been giving presents away all year in the form of interceptions.

    I would also like you to stop in on the last game of the season on Christmas Eve. Oh that’s right the end of the season was when that jackass of a kicker lost the game twice to the Cowboys last weekend!

    Please help! We have been good fans and deserve something this year other than a bag of coal.

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  22. It’s been a long time since we have been on a slide like this one. I think if we left Gross in the whole year, we would have a couple of more wins. Doesn’t sound like much, but right now we are only out 3 games. Let’s start winning now! The Blow boys can’t play this good for long? They do have a easy way out, but anything can happen? We need to do something, kuz I’m sick of losing!!!
    Cowboy hater for life!!

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