The Redskins Blog

Graham Gano Named NFC Special Teams Player Of The Week

As we approach the end of an up-and-down season in which fans have regularly questioned Graham Gano‘s job security and head coach Mike Shanahan has been uwavering in his support of the young kicker, Gano received a bit of pleasant news: he has been named NFC Special Teams Player Of The Week for his performance in Sunday’s game at Jacksonville.

I didn’t leave the game thinking that Gano had done anything particularly splashy — the last Redskin to receive this honor was punter Hunter Smith, and he had to throw a touchdown pass to get it — but if you review the statistics, he really did have quite the game.

• He hit the game-winner, of course, a 31-yarder. That’s Gano’s third game-winning overtime field goal, which ties the NFL record.
• He also hit a 48-yarder early on, despite wind gusting as high as 29 miles an hour, and made both of his extra points.
• Gano’s kickoffs were strong as well: following his five kickoffs, the Jaguars’ average starting field position was their own 23 yard line, 4.4 yards under their season average.

It’s a good performance, presumably the kind of performance Shanahan has been hoping to see as he’s stuck with Gano, and hopefully it will carry over into next season.