The Giants were devastated by Kicker's disaster in a last-second lopsided loss to the Commanders

Landover, Md. — It's not a kick to the head.

The Giants somehow found a way to lose a game they had no business losing, mainly because they had no kicker and the Commanders did.

For a franchise that should go down as a low moment that an entire team of them recently experienced, the Giants came out on the wrong end of a 21-18 loss at Northwestern Stadium on Sunday that was illogical and embarrassing.

Austin Seibert, signed this week, nailed his seventh field goal of the day, from 30 yards out as time expired.

Cue coach Brian Double, who ripped his headset from his head and threw it to the ground.

The Giants didn't give up a touchdown to rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels, but they couldn't put the Commanders on the field all day.

The Giants became the first team in NFL history to score three touchdowns, allow no touchdowns and lose in regulation.

The Giants were denied a field goal attempt because they lost kicker Graham Gano to a hamstring injury.

Gano came into the game with a groin strain, and the Giants still couldn't promote Judd McAtamney from the practice squad.

“I'm confident that whatever decision our staff makes is the right one,” Gano said. “I'm sure if we could do it over again, we'd do the exact same thing.”

Um, well, probably not.

“We thought Graham would be OK,” Double said. “Injured in the chase. It was a hamstring. He didn't hurt his groin. He has a hamstring injury.”

The entire tenor of the game was thrown on the opening kickoff, when Gano sent the ball to the 2-yard line and Austin Eckeler returned it 98 yards for a touchdown.

Gano chases the sideline and pulls up, apparently hurting his right hamstring.

Gano, 37, did not know that a yellow penalty flag had been thrown far up the field and the return would not stand.

Gano emphasized that the new hamstring injury is in no way related to the groin problem.

“It was just tough luck,” Gano said. “It wasn't something that was bothering me at all until I guess I was running too fast for my body.”

That decision proved fatal as the Giants fell to 0-2.

They wasted five points (two failed two-point conversions, one missed extra point) because they didn't have a backup kicker capable of actually kicking.

After Devin Singletary scored on a 7-yard run to give the Giants a 6-3 lead late in the first quarter, the double called punter Jamie Gillan for the extra point — the first of his four-year NFL career.

Gillan's line drive kick sailed right and it must have scared the double.

When Jones hit rookie Malik Nabers on a 4-yard touchdown strike with eight seconds left in the first half, the Giants led 12-9 and called for a double two-point conversion attempt.

It failed when Daniel Jones' pass to Darius Slayton failed to connect.

It got really absurd early in the fourth quarter, when Jones hit Won'Dale Robinson on a 7-yard scoring pass play to put the Giants up 18-15.

Double again called for a two-point attempt, and this time Jones' throw deflected off Slayton's hands.

“He missed the first one and we thought our chances were better going for it or going for two,” Double said.

It got really, really even more absurd at the last minute.

It was 18-18 and Jones was cooking, hitting crosses to Slayton 13 yards and Nabbers 29 to the Washington 28 — already within range of a game-winning field goal.

On fourth-and-4 from the Washington 22, Double again didn't trust Gillan, who made a 40-yard field goal against the Saints last season.

Jones rolled to his right and drilled the ball to Nabers, who made sure his foot was on the right side.

The Giants had a first down but Nabers slid and dropped the ball.

He pounded the turf in disgust with 2:04 left in regulation.

“I'm disappointed,” Nabers said. “No matter how well you play, the last game came to me. I feel bad that I let those veterans down. That's the basic model in my head – don't let my team down. And I let my team down.”

Nabers finished with 10 catches (on 18 targets) for 127 yards.

In a loss to the Vikings, Jones capped off his poor opening day by completing 16 of 28 passes for 178 yards, two touchdowns for a 100.00 passer rating.

Once again, the defense let the Giants down after Nabers was dropped.

Rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels hit Noah Brown wide open for 34 yards and later scrambled 14 yards, setting up Seibert for the game-winner.

“When we get somebody by the throat as a defense, we snap their necks and don't let them off the hook,” defensive end Brian Burns said of a defensive unit that scrambled for 215 rushing yards.

The chances were plentiful and the Giants failed to cash in.

They came out in the third quarter and were on the march, as effective Singletary (16-95) ripped off a 15-yard run to the Washington 32, but cornerback Benjamin Saint-Just punched the ball out, which safety Jeremy Chin recovered. Fumbles and drives are cooked.

“It can't be,” Singletary said.

There was plenty of that around.