Second-year kicker Graham Gano continued to struggle Sunday, this time in the form of two blocked kicks. Despite four missed field goal attempts in the past three weeks, Redskins coach Mike Shanahan said Gano will keep his job.
“We’re going with Graham,” Shanahan said. “It really had nothing to do with Graham, with the missed field goal or the missed extra point. That was totally on our protection scheme.”
The first miss occurred with just over five minutes left in the second quarter. Six-foot-4 defensive end Red Bryant powered through rookie nose tackle Chris Neild and center Will Montgomery to stuff a 23-yard attempt that could have put the Redskins ahead 10-7. Shanahan blamed the miss, along with a blocked extra-point try in the second half, on “missed technique” from blockers.
Shanahan deflected blame from Gano while stressing his kicker’s need to improve.
“This game had nothing to do with Graham Gano,” Shanahan said. “The other two games did have something to do with Graham Gano. Hopefully, he takes advantage of those opportunities that are presented to him in the future, and if not, then obviously he won’t be with us.”
Injury updates
Redskins defensive end Stephen Bowen suffered a third-degree posterior cruciate ligament tear in his left knee against the Seahawks, Shanahan said Monday. While he described the injury as “not good,” Shanahan did not rule Bowen out for Sunday’s game against the New York Jets.
“Some people play without a PCL,” Shanahan said. “It’s not anything like surgery. We’ll just see how sore he is this week, and hopefully he’ll be able to play this weekend.”
• Shanahan was unable to provide an update for fullback Darrel Young, who suffered a concussion Sunday. “He’ll go through some tests in the next couple of days and we’ll see where he’s at,” Shanahan said.
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