It truly takes something spectacular for two former star quarterbacks with 33 years of combined NFL experience to be stunned by something they saw on a football field.
Peyton Manning, Eli Manning and even famous actor Danny DeVito reacted like most of America after watching Younghoe Koo’s botched field goal in the Giants’ disastrous 33-15 loss to the Patriots on “Monday Night Football.”
Koo somehow kicked the ground instead of the football during a second-quarter attempt, resulting in some wild reactions during ESPN’s “ManningCast.”
“The kicker tripped trying to kick the field goal, he tripped trying to kick the field goal,” Peyton said during a 17-7 game with a little more than six minutes remaining in the first half.
“I have not seen that … ever.”
DeVito replied: “I’ve never seen that. I’ve never seen that.”
Eli then joined the chorus with a pair of “Uh ohs” before they showed the replay of Koo actually driving his foot into the grass several inches from the ball, which left punter Jamie Gillan having to scramble to try to make something out of nothing before being tackled for a turnover.
“Eli, it’s like one of your fat nine-irons you hit,” Peyton said. “It’s all grass.”
Eli responded: “I’ve never seen that. I’ve never seen that.”
ESPN captured Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart rolling his eyes at the play, appearing to say, “Oh my God,” as he turned away from the Giants’ latest attempt to be the Bad News Bears.
DeVito also said, “Oh my God,” as they showed it, and Peyton quickly quipped: “That’s what Dart said, Danny. Dart said the same thing as you.”
The kicking debacle Monday added another chapter to what has been a season filled with errors for the Giants’ special teams unit.
Kicker Graham Gano has struggled to stay healthy and suffered an injury during pregame warmups for the second time in as many years in Week 3, backup kicker Jude McAtamney cost the team a potential win by missing kicks during the collapse in Denver and Koo now missed the ball entirely.
The Giants even allowed a 94-yard punt return to turn the night into even more of a debacle for the much-maligned special teams unit.
Between the kick, Abdul Carter being benched again, and the complete no-show from the Giants on a national stage, Monday proved to be an embarrassing night for the franchise.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
