DENVER — Jude McAtamney was accurate only after his nightmare had ended.
In his Irish accent, McAtamney took the fall for the Giants’ shameful 33-32 loss to the Broncos.
He had missed a PAT following the second Giants touchdown, and the one that would have given them a 33-30 lead and an opportunity in overtime once Wil Lutz booted his game-ending 39-yard FG as time expired.
“It’s on me,” McAtamney said at his locker. “I missed vital points at vital times today. I’m not gonna shy away from that.
“The snap and the hold was good. It was my lack of execution on the kicks. I’m not gonna shy away from my mistakes and letting the team down.”
The killer miss was wide right.
“Honestly, when it came off the foot, I thought it was good,” he said. “I looked up, and it was wide right. I was as shocked as everyone else.”
This is the way a stand-up guy faces the music. Asked if there was anything with the turf, he said: “Not at all. I had a great week of practice. We practice on grass, I had a great warmup. It’s just one of those things, gotta make the kicks once the opportunity comes.”
The first missed PAT was wide left.
“Gotta make the kicks. Not gonna shy away from that. I’ll take full responsibility,” McAtamney said.
This was special teams coordinator Michael Ghobrial on Thursday: “I think at this point, having him kick a game last year and in the preseason, and now obviously kicking on our active roster here these past couple of games, we have confidence in him just like we have confidence in Graham to be able to be sent out there whenever his opportunity arises.”
Wide left and wide right.
When the operation isn’t smooth, the kicker suffers. McAtamney wasn’t buying any excuses.
“I’m a professional kicker, I gotta be able to make those,” he said.
The Giants had hoped to turn to Younghoe Koo after Graham Gano injured his groin during Week 3 pregame warmups, but settled for the inexperienced McAtamney, who had missed a PAT against the Eagles.
It wound up kicking Brian Daboll and the Giants in the butt.
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