Younghoe Koo missed field goal is the weirdest play of NFL Week 13

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Younghoe Koo’s 47-yard field goal try did not go according to plan, to say the least.

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The New York Giants did not have an enjoyable Monday Night Football experience. Playing in front of a national audience, they were thoroughly outclassed by the New England Patriots in a 33-15 loss that was not as close as the final score would indicate.

If there is one play to sum up the Giants’ issues, it is kicker Younghoe Koo’s futile attempt at making a 47-yard field goal midway through the second quarter — our choice for the weirdest play in the NFL in Week 13.

Koo’s shank, which officially went into the books as a run for a loss of 13 yards by holder Jamie Gillan, is one of the strangest plays you will ever see on a football field. Usually, after all, you don’t just see a professional kicker fail to execute the first step of kicking field goals: kick the ball.

Koo, who is the third player to attempt a kick for the Giants this season, failed at that task. The question, naturally, is what happened.

To his credit, Koo faced the music after the game and gave insight into the play.

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

Interim head coach Mike Kafka echoed his kicker’s words during his own postgame presser.

“I saw it live. The ball kind of slipped a little bit,” he said. “He wasn’t sure if it was going to get set. Jamie tried to reset it and by that time, it was kind of, he was already kind of out of his groove on it. So, it was just tough right there.“

That last sentence sums up not just Koo’s miss against the Patriots, but the entire effort put forward by the Giants this season and their special teams in particular on Monday. In addition to that play, they also surrendered a 94-yard punt return touchdown and lost a fumble on a kickoff return. It’s been that kind of a season for the G-Men.

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