LANDOVER, Md. (AP) — Graham Gano injured his right hamstring chasing down the Commanders' Austin Ekeler on the opening kickoff, and it ended up costing the New York Giants dearly.
Without Gano, and after punter Jamie Gillan missed an extra point try early, the Giants had to play touchdown-only football and left valuable points on the board. They failed on a couple of two-point conversions and went for it on fourth down rather than go for a chip shot field goal deep in Washington territory in the final minutes with the score tied, a combination of results that contributed to a 21-18 loss to the Commanders on Sunday.
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New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones (8) scrambles against the Washington Commanders during the first half of an NFL football game in Landover, Md., Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll reacts to a call during the first half of an NFL football game against the Washington Commanders in Landover, Md., Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
New York Giants wide receiver Malik Nabers (1) reacts after missing a pass on fourth down against the Washington Commanders late in the second half of an NFL football game in Landover, Md., Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
New York Giants place kicker Graham Gano (9) points after making a field goal during the first half of an NFL football game against the Minnesota Vikings, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024, in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)
“He missed the first one, and we thought our chances were better going for it or going for two as the game went on and how we were playing offensively,” coach Brian Daboll said. “I feel bad for Graham. I feel bad for us. No excuses. We had our opportunity.”
The Giants became the second team this century to score three touchdowns more than their opponent and lose, along with Houston in 2007, with the other 1,232 winning.
Gano popped up on the injury report Saturday with a sore right groin, but the team did not give him a game status or elevate Jude McAtamney from the practice squad as a precaution. The 37-year-old veteran, who is in his 15th NFL season and fifth with New York. said the injuries were not related and he never considered holding himself out before kickoff, when things went awry.
"The hamstring is just bad luck," Gano said. “There’s a difference between playing injured and playing hurt. I was playing hurt. This is the National Football League. There’s only one kicker. I feel a responsibility to be able to play. I’m always going to be smart about it. If I didn’t think I could play, I wouldn’t have played.”
Gano got injured while trying to make a tackle on Ekeler, whose return for a touchdown was negated by a holding penalty on the Commanders. Then he was forced to watch while Gillan missed that extra point and the Giants played the rest of the way like a high school team without a kicker.
"He’s a great kicker — he’s done a great job with it," Gano said of Gillan, who kicked in college at Arkansas-Pine Bluff, was an all-Southwestern Conference selection at the position in 2018 and made a field goal last season when Randy Bullock went down. “I’m just a player. I’m sure whatever decisions our staff makes are the right ones.”
Washington coincidentally won by getting all its offense from a kicker: Austin Seibert's 7-for-7 performance days after signing to replace Cade York, who missed each of his two field goal attempts in the season opener.
On defense, the Commanders were focused only on stopping the Giants and at least one player was unaware of the kicking situation.
"I was like, ‘they’re kind of close and they’re going on fourth down,'" cornerback Benjamin St-Juste said. “I didn’t even know that. I was wondering why they were not kicking.”
Daboll lamented the two-point conversion misses, and Malik Nabers not being able to catch Daniel Jones' pass on fourth and 33 from the 22-yard line late. Had the Giants gotten much closer, the coaching staff was considering letting Gillan get another chance, but that never materialized.
“We didn’t make the plays,” Daboll said. “We couldn’t finish it off.”
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New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones (8) scrambles against the Washington Commanders during the first half of an NFL football game in Landover, Md., Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll reacts to a call during the first half of an NFL football game against the Washington Commanders in Landover, Md., Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
New York Giants wide receiver Malik Nabers (1) reacts after missing a pass on fourth down against the Washington Commanders late in the second half of an NFL football game in Landover, Md., Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
New York Giants place kicker Graham Gano (9) points after making a field goal during the first half of an NFL football game against the Minnesota Vikings, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024, in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)
BERLIN (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday voiced readiness to drop his country’s bid to join NATO in exchange for Western security guarantees, but rejected the U.S. push for ceding territory to Russia as he arrived in Berlin for talks with U.S. envoys on ending the war.
Zelenskyy arrived at the Chancellery ahead of the expected talks with U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, part of a series of meetings in Berlin between Ukrainian, U.S. and European officials.
Responding to journalists’ questions in audio clips on a WhatsApp group chat before the talks, Zelenskyy said that since the U.S. and some European nations had rejected Ukraine’s push to join NATO, Kyiv expects the West to offer a set of guarantees similar to those offered to the alliance members.
“These security guarantees are an opportunity to prevent another wave of Russian aggression,” he said. “And this is already a compromise on our part.”
Zelenskyy emphasized that any security assurances would need to be legally binding and supported by the U.S. Congress, adding that he expected an update from his team following a meeting between Ukrainian and U.S. military officials in Stuttgart, Germany.
He said that he will meet separately with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and, possibly, other European leaders later in the evening.
Washington has tried for months to navigate the demands of each side as Trump presses for a swift end to Russia’s war and grows increasingly exasperated by delays. The search for possible compromises has run into major obstacles, including control of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, which is mostly occupied by Russian forces.
Russia's President Vladimir Putin wants Ukraine to withdraw its forces from the part of the Donetsk region still under its control among the key conditions for peace, a demand rejected by Kyiv.
Zelenskyy said that the U.S. had floated an idea for Ukraine to withdraw from the Donetsk and create a demilitarized free economic zone there, a proposal he rejected as unworkable.
“I do not consider this fair, because who will manage this economic zone?” he said. “If we are talking about some buffer zone along the line of contact, if we are talking about some economic zone and we believe that only a police mission should be there and troops should withdraw, then the question is very simple. If Ukrainian troops withdraw 5–10 kilometers, for example, then why do Russian troops not withdraw deeper into the occupied territories by the same distance?”
Zelenskyy described the issue as “very sensitive” and insisted on a freeze along the line of contact, saying that “today a fair possible option is we stand where we stand.”
Putin's foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov told the business daily Kommersant that Russian police and national guard would stay in parts of the Donetsk region even if they become a demilitarized zone under a prospective peace plan.
Ushakov warned that a search for compromise could take a long time, noting that the U.S. proposals that took into account Russian demands had been “worsened” by alterations proposed by Ukraine and its European allies.
Speaking to Russian state TV in remarks broadcast Sunday, Ushakov said that “the contribution of Ukrainians and Europeans to these documents is unlikely to be constructive," warning that Moscow will “have very strong objections.”
Ushakov added that the territorial issue was actively discussed in Moscow when Witkoff and Kushner met with Putin earlier this month. “The Americans know and understand our position," he said.
Merz, who has spearheaded European efforts to support Ukraine alongside French President Emmanuel Macron and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, said Saturday that “the decades of the ‘Pax Americana’ are largely over for us in Europe and for us in Germany as well.”
He warned that Putin's aim is “a fundamental change to the borders in Europe, the restoration of the old Soviet Union within its borders.”
“If Ukraine falls, he won’t stop,” Merz warned on Saturday during a party conference in Munich.
Putin has denied plans to restore the Soviet Union or attack any European allies.
Ukraine’s air force said that Russia overnight launched ballistic missiles and 138 attack drones at Ukraine. The air force said 110 had been intercepted or downed, but missile and drone hits were recorded at six locations.
Zelenskyy said Sunday that hundreds of thousands of families were still without power in the south, east and northeast regions and work was continuing to restore electricity, heat and water to multiple regions following a large-scale attack the previous night.
The Ukrainian president said that in the past week, Russia had launched over 1,500 strike drones, nearly 900 guided aerial bombs and 46 missiles of various types at Ukraine.
“Ukraine needs peace on decent terms, and we are ready to work as constructively as possible. These days will be filled with diplomacy. It’s very important that it brings results,” Zelenskyy said.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said that air defenses downed 235 Ukrainian drones late Saturday and early Sunday.
In the Belgorod region, a drone injured a man and set his house ablaze in the village of Yasnye Zori, regional Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said.
Ukrainian drones struck an oil depot in Uryupinsk in the Volgograd region, triggering a fire, according to regional Gov. Andrei Bocharov.
In the Krasnodar region, the Ukrainian drones attacked the town of Afipsky, where an oil refinery is located. Authorities said that explosions shattered windows in residential buildings, but didn’t report any damage to the refinery.
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Ciobanu reported from Warsaw, Poland.
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Günter Sautter, left, foreign and security policy advisor to the Federal Chancellor, and former Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umjerow arrive for talks between representatives of the U.S. and Ukraine, at the Hotel Adlon, in Berlin, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (Kay Nietfeld/dpa via AP)
Jared Kushner, entrepreneur and former chief advisor to President Donald Trump, arrives for talks between representatives of the U.S. and Ukraine at the Hotel Adlon, in Berlin, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (Kay Nietfeld/dpa via AP)
Ukraine's Secretary of National Security Rustem Umerov, right, and Günter Sautter, Foreign and Security Policy Advisor to Chancellor Merz meet in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
Steve Witkoff, special envoy of the United States, arrives for talks between representatives of the U.S. and Ukraine, at the Hotel Adlon, in Berlin, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (Kay Nietfeld/dpa via AP)
In this grab from a video provided by the Press Service Of The President Of Ukraine on Friday, Dec 12, 2025, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy records a video at the road entering of Kupiansk, Ukraine. (Press Service Of The President Of Ukraine via AP)
