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By Jordan Sigler
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Special teams were a disaster for the New York Giants in Thursday night's 24-21 loss to the Washington Commanders.
The three-point loss looms large for rookie kicker Dominic Zvada, who missed a 33-yard field goal attempt wide right in the first quarter. Zvada entered Week 10 having made 77.3% of his field goal attempts, which was tied for 26th in the league.
During his postgame news conference, Giants head coach John Harbaugh was asked how much confidence he had in Zvada after missing what turned out to be a crucial field goal in a loss to an NFC East rival on "Thursday Night Football.” The special-teams-minded head coach said he's not ready to fire the rookie, and believes Zvada can become a good kicker in the league.
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"We're confident," Harbaugh said, via SNY Giants. "You can't... as soon as a guy doesn't make a play start firing people left and right, especially your kicker, who's your rookie. So, I'm confident that he's going to become a good kicker. I mean, if at some point in time it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen.
"But I'm not going to panic halfway through the season when the guy has made a bunch of kicks if that's what you're inferring we should be doing. I mean, we're just not going to knee-jerk it like that. He's going to make kicks. He's going to make a lot of kicks. I believe in him. I think he's really good and really talented, and we're going to give him an opportunity to do it."
Zvada wasn't the only player on special teams that had trouble on Thursday night.
Punter Jordan Stout shanked a punt with under two minutes to play in the game. The punt only went 12 yards and set up the Commanders with decent field position at the Washington 29-yard line. Washington scored three plays later on a 32-yard touchdown pass from Jayden Daniels to Stefon Diggs to take the lead at 24-21.
On the ensuing kickoff return, Giants running back Greg Desrosiers Jr. fumbled the return, but New York linebacker Chandler Martin was able to recover the ball, giving quarterback J.J. McCarthy one more opportunity. Four plays later, McCarthy was picked off by Commanders cornerback Rasul Douglas.
With the loss, the Giants fell to 5-3-1 on the season. New York is still in first place in the NFC East over the 4-5 Dallas Cowboys.
For more on the Giants and the NFL, head to Newsweek Sports.
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