Kickoff return touchdown earns Smith-Marsette the honor
New York Giants return man Ihmir Smith-Marsette has been named NFC Special Teams Player of the Week after his 100-yard kickoff return touchdown in Sunday’s 45-33 victory by the Giants over the Indianapolis Colts.
Smith-Marsette scored the seventh kickoff return touchdown in the NFL in 2024, the first season of the new “dynamic” kickoff rules.
Smith-Marsette opened the second half Sunday with the Giants’ first kickoff return touchdown since Oct. 25, 2015, when Dwayne Harris ran a kickoff back 100 yards against the Dallas Cowboys. The Giants played 155 regular-season games between kickoff returns, which was the NFL’s fourth-longest active streak when Smith-Marsette ended it.
Smith-Marsette is the second Giants player selected special teams player of the week this season. Isaiah Simmons received the award after he blocked Jason Myers’ potential game-tying 47-yard field goal attempt in Seattle on Oct. 6. Bryce Ford-Wheaton recovered the ball and returned it 60 yards for the clinching touchdown in the Giants’ 29-20 victory.
The Giants signed Smith-Marsette, in his fourth NFL season, as a free agent in early September when Gunner Olszewski was placed on IR with a groin injury. Smith-Marsette has averaged 34.6 yards on 11 kickoff returns and 7.5 yards on 27 punt returns.