Giants’ Week 13 Special Teams Follies Catalyst for Loss to Patriots

Ugly. Just plain ugly.

We suppose we should have expected it, given how this New York Giants team has morphed into a disorganized and ineffective mess in the waning weeks of yet another season gone astray, but we’re talking about a special teams unit that, up until about a month ago, was actually the best of the three units.

No more.

There are numerous things you can point to in this one–and we’re going to get to them all in our player-by-player review. But the whopper had to be the aborted field goal attempt by Younghoe Koo, whose explanation for pulling up on the ball was as follows:

“The ball kind of slipped out at the bottom, so it was moving. I wasn’t able to kick through the ball. The ball was moving when I was driving to it, so I just pulled up on it.”

So his leg didn’t get stuck in the turf then, as he was approaching the kick?

“No. As I was driving to it, the bottom of the ball was slipping out, so I just pulled up on it,” he said. “The ball slipped out, and it actually, like, hit the ground. Jamie did a good job of, like, catching it and putting it back, but at that point, it was just too late for me to drive through it.”

You can see for yourself if the ball was moving that badly to warrant him pulling up on it in the video below.

"I just pulled up on it" pic.twitter.com/lfH4i3oRGi
— LPG - NYG (@LicensePlateGuy) December 2, 2025

That Koo pulled up without a hamstring injury is a miracle. That Jamie Gillan, the holder, didn’t throw the ball away and instead took a sack for a 13-yard loss that gave the Patriots the ball on their own 42-yard line, the ensuing drive turning into a 33-yard touchdown to make it 24-7, is sure to make the lowlight reel of what not to do on an aborted kick.

Let’s get into the rest of the (not-so) special teams disaster.

Younghoe Koo

We’re not sure we’ve ever seen a place kicker miss the kick point on a field goal and kick the turf instead of the ball. The resulting non-kick gifted the Pats with a short field goal and turned what should have been a competitive 17-10 game into a 24-7 impending blowout.

Give the team credit for hanging around, but Koo’s miss of a makeable 47-yard field goal was the back-breaking play of the night. This left Koo’s contribution for the night to a single extra point conversion, plus all of the kickoffs. It’s good work if you can find it.

Jamie Gillan

The disaster that is Gillan continued this week in routinely spectacular fashion. On his first punt of the night, punting from his own 40-yard line, a pooch punt was called for, especially since the Patriots' return man is routinely dangerous.

So what does Gillan do? He eschews direction and/or height for a deep middle 54-yard bomb that becomes one of those “he outkicked his coverage” punts. The result? A 94-yard punt return for a touchdown.

He was better off producing his punts in the dome from last week that were either shanks out of bounds or too-short end-over-ends bouncers. Not that we expect the punter to make tackles out there, but Gillan had a chance to push the returner out of bounds, but he failed at that as well.

Not to be outdone, what did he do on his second punt? A line drive middle that fortunately only resulted in a 17-yard return, though it looked equally dangerous. And another middle punt resulted in a 13-yard return.

Gillan’s numbers on the night: 49.8 gross, 18.8 net. Once again, the Giants were out-punted, and this came on a night where the other guy averaged 27.0 gross and net.

And of Koo’s field goal attempt that wasn’t? There may indeed be some blame for it due to Gillan’s wobbly hold. In short, this was a disaster from start to finish.

Casey Kreiter

On the missed field goal, Kreiter’s snap might have been slightly high, but it was acceptable in NFL circles.

Gunner Olszewski

Not getting a single punt to field (since the Pats only punted twice), Olszewski was having a decent night returning kickoffs until his third return, which occurred late in the second quarter.

Olszewski was knocked silly when Christian Elliss lowered his head and struck Olszewski in the helmet, effectively knocking him out and forcing a fumble that the Pats recovered.

The absence of a flag on this play was just the icing on the cake for the Giants’ special teams.

Leading with the helmet is an automatic call, but no official saw the infraction, though we suspect the league will see it in its review, not that it will help the Giants.

Deonte Banks

On the first two kickoff returns of the night, Banks failed to come up and lead Olszewski into the fray, instead trailing the play. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Banks failed the first time and then repeated his mistake. Where was the coaching to correct it the first time? We wish we knew.

On the Giants' third kickoff return of the night, Olszewski yielded the return to Banks and led him with a good block, which helped Banks get the ball out to the 38-yard line. This was the team’s best return of the night.

On the ill-fated Olszewski fumble return, Banks was ordered by the coaches to lead him up there, but Banks passed up any point of attack middle block for an inconsequential second-level “block.”

The coaches removed Banks from returns after this happened, leaving him back there to be the lead blocker – he did not throw a single block on five returns – and giving the two subsequent kickoff returns to Devin Singletary, the team’s lead running back for the night.

Nic Jones

Jones, the starting strongside gunner, was completely taken out of the play by a double team on the Pats’ big 94-yard punt return. Jones badly over-shot the point of attack and contributed zero containment on the play.

Jones did not get in on any punt coverage tackles.

Rico Payton

Playing the weakside gunner, Payton also did not get in on any of the punt coverage action.

Zaire Barnes

Besides leading the defense in tackles, Barnes also contributed with two more special teams tackles.

Barnes has been the team’s best special teams player since arriving on the scene six weeks ago.

Tomon Fox

Signed to the roster for tonight’s game, Fox whiffed on the opening kickoff coverage, handing New England the early field position advantage.

On the Gunner Olszewski injury, it was Fox’s man who lowered his helmet into the returner, Fox failing to properly get a piece of his man. Fox did get in on a kickoff coverage tackle later on.

Neville Hewitt

Hewitt finished off two heavy special teams tackles tonight, one on a punt and one on a kickoff coverage.

Dane Belton

The team’s most consistent special teams player was wiped out on the 94-yard punt return by friendly fire (Chauncey Golston). Belton was able to record a solo kickoff tackle.

Dalen Cambre

Playing just on kickoff coverage, Cambre was very disruptive but did not get in on any tackles.

We continue to be surprised why Cambre does not play on punt coverage. He seems to be a perfect fit for punt gunner, especially given the current gunners' lack of impact.

Eric Gray

After last week’s kickoff return adventures, the coaches removed Gray from his return role entirely and played him as an up blocker on kickoff returns.

On the double hit that Gunner Olszewski took on his ill-fated kickoff return, it was Gray who badly whiffed on his block, looking very much out of place in this role.

After Olszewski left the game for good, the coaches inserted Devin Singletary as the returner rather than the overmatched and ill-prepared Gray.

Chauncey Golston

On the 94-yard punt return, Golston was one of the failures, getting himself knocked not only out of his gap but also into Dane Belton’s path, taking both out of the play.

Golston did not look to be particularly involved on this play. He did contribute with a tackle on a later punt coverage.

Jevon Holland

Holland took over for Olszewski on punt returns and came up well on a fair catch given the short punt. We’d have preferred not to have seen the starting safety out there, but the Giants played it safe.

Holland also made a solo kickoff coverage tackle.

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