Playing around with some of the numbers, I notice that Graham Gano has been helped by a sputtering offense the last two years, with the Giants producing a lot more field goals than touchdowns.
New York’s offense, in fact, is the only one that’s generated more field goal attempts than touchdowns in each of the last two years. In the two years under Joe Judge, the offense produced 65 field goal attempts versus only 48 touchdowns. Only one other offense over the last two seasons has more field goal attempts than touchdowns (the Raiders).
This has helped Gano score a little more than you would think. The Giants tied for 15th in kicker points in 2020 and 25th last year.
Most of Gano’s points have come on field goals. He kicked 12 more field goals than extra points last year, and 10 more the previous season. No other kicker in NFL history has had two such seasons back-to-back. (One other kicker has two such seasons – Justin Tucker – but they didn’t come in consecutive seasons.)
I’m not suggesting this makes Gano a kicker you should be targeting. The Giants have a new coaching staff, with a new offense and it’s a new season. It still seems like a lesser team (they’ve got the same huge question mark at quarterback) and I’m not sure that what happened the last two years will have much of an influence on what we’ll see in 2022.
But statistically interesting (modestly interesting, anyway).
Neil Rackers is the all-time king of this numbers category, with 40 field goals versus only 20 extra points in 2005.
| TEN MORE FIELD GOALS THAN EXTRA POINTS | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | XP-XPA | FG-FGA | Points | Diff |
| 2005 | Neil Rackers, Ariz. | 20-20 | 40-42 | 140 | 20 |
| 2019 | Josh Lambo, Jac. | 19-20 | 33-34 | 118 | 14 |
| 2016 | Nick Novak, Hou. | 22-25 | 35-41 | 127 | 13 |
| 1983 | Ali Haji-Sheikh, NYG | 22-23 | 35-42 | 127 | 13 |
| 2013 | • Justin Tucker, Balt. | 26-26 | 38-41 | 140 | 12 |
| 2008 | Phil Dawson, Clev. | 18-18 | 30-36 | 108 | 12 |
| 1999 | Olindo Mare, Mia. | 27-27 | 39-46 | 144 | 12 |
| 2021 | Graham Gano, NYG | 17-17 | 29-33 | 104 | 12 |
| 2008 | Josh Brown, St.L. | 19-19 | 31-36 | 112 | 12 |
| 1995 | Greg Davis, Ariz. | 19-19 | 30-39 | 109 | 11 |
| 2016 | • Justin Tucker, Balt. | 27-27 | 38-39 | 141 | 11 |
| 1993 | Doug Pelfrey, Cin. | 13-16 | 24-31 | 85 | 11 |
| 1997 | Cary Blanchard, Ind. | 21-21 | 32-41 | 117 | 11 |
| 1993 | Dean Biasucci, Ind. | 15-16 | 26-31 | 93 | 11 |
| 2012 | Ryan Succop, K.C. | 17-17 | 28-34 | 101 | 11 |
| 2017 | Robbie Gould, S.F. | 28-30 | 39-41 | 145 | 11 |
| 2000 | Joe Nedney, Car.-Den. | 24-24 | 34-38 | 126 | 10 |
| 1997 | Richie Cunningham, Dall. | 24-24 | 34-37 | 126 | 10 |
| 2017 | Harrison Butker, K.C. | 28-28 | 38-42 | 142 | 10 |
| 2021 | Daniel Carlson, L.V. | 30-33 | 40-43 | 150 | 10 |
| 2020 | Graham Gano, NYG | 21-23 | 31-32 | 114 | 10 |
| 2011 | David Akers, S.F. | 34-34 | 44-52 | 166 | 10 |
Statistics compiled using search tools at Pro-Football-Reference.com
—Ian Allan