Greg Joseph’s motto is that one kick doesn’t define him.
If it did, Joseph’s picture would appear next to the term “bad timing.”
After the Giants converted a fourth down on an 11-play drive, Joseph hooked wide left a potential game-tying 47-yard field goal Sunday for the first of his two fourth-quarter misses during a 17-7 loss to the Bengals at MetLife Stadium.
“It felt good [off my foot],” Joseph said. “I have to go look at the film, be hard on myself, reassess, see what I want to fix mechanically and mentally process-wise. And go from there.”
It looked like the field-goal operation with 10:27 remaining was smooth with long-time snapper Casey Kreiter delivering the ball to new holder Matt Haack, who replaced the injured Jamie Gillan as both the punter and holder.
“Every ball I put my foot to, it’s on me,” Joseph said. “I expect to make every kick.”
Haack was signed Saturday, so there was very little time for the three to get on the same page before gameday.
“We felt comfortable with him out there,” head coach Brian Daboll said. “We’re not going to make an excuse for that.”
The miss might have shaken Daboll’s faith in Joseph.
Instead of attempting another potential game-tying 54-yard field goal with 3:01 remaining, Daboll left the offense on the field on fourth-and-3 and Daniel Jones threw an incompletion.
“I thought it was right on the cusp [of his range],” Daboll said. “We felt like the best thing to do was to go for it on that fourth down there.”
Joseph is 17-for-29 from 50 yards or further during his career, including a 61-yarder to beat Daboll’s Giants on Christmas Eve 2022.
“Coach’s choice,” Joseph said. “When my number is called, I’m ready to go out there.”
Joseph eventually got a second chance with 51 seconds remaining — as the Giants tried to make it a one-score game and set up an onside kick. He missed again — wide left from 45 yards.
Joseph was in his fourth game since being signed after Graham Gano suffered a hamstring injury.
Gano is eligible to come off injured reserve this week — more bad timing for Joseph — but he has not yet had a heavy workload in practice.
It was only two weeks ago that Joseph made all five of his field goal attempts in his home debut for the Giants. It was an important rebound from the week before, when Jones missed a 48-yarder wide right and Daboll was lukewarm in his subsequent vote of confidence.
The Giants have rookie kicker Jude McAtamney on their practice squad, but he is seen as more of a kickoff specialist at this point.
