John Harbaugh is standing firm with Dominic Zvada, even as the Giants kicker’s recent stretch has turned ugly fast.
A few months ago, Zvada looked like the answer to New York’s field-goal issues. The undrafted rookie’s right foot had become one of the most important weapons in the Giants’ building, and for a while it seemed like he had finally solved a problem that had lingered for more than a year.
That feeling has vanished in a hurry. Zvada has missed five field goals over the last three games, including an 0-for-2 outing that nearly wrecked the Giants’ Week 7 upset of the Houston Texans. His misses have become a real issue, but Harbaugh isn’t backing away.
When asked about Zvada this week, Harbaugh kept the praise coming.
""We believe in who he is. We believe in his talent, his work ethic, and his head. We really think he’s made of the right stuff.""
Harbaugh’s confidence carries some weight. He knows what to look for in a kicker, having started out as a special teams coordinator for the Philadelphia Eagles and spent the last two decades coaching some of the league’s most reliable specialists. So when he says Zvada is "made of the right stuff," it’s not empty talk.
Still, the misses have put the Giants in difficult spots. In Week 5 against the Washington Commanders, New York would have won if Zvada had made all three of his field-goal attempts.
Instead, that game ended in an overtime tie. The struggles showed up again in Houston, where missed kicks helped drag the game into overtime before Cam Skattebo and Devin Singletary ran the Giants across the finish line.
Harbaugh’s support may be unwavering, but it can’t last forever if the production doesn’t change. Zvada has to start cashing in on that trust.
Week 9 against the Eagles gives him a chance to do exactly that. The bye week gave him time to reset, and the matchup could put him right back in the spotlight.
Philadelphia’s defense is one of the better units in the league and could make life difficult for J.J. McCarthy and the Giants, especially if Cam Skattebo is out with his hamstring.
That could leave Zvada with a heavy workload in a game New York needs to win. A clean performance on the road would quiet plenty of the noise. Anything less, and the questions about his job security will only get louder, with Harbaugh’s faith in him under even more pressure.
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