November 10, 2024

Giants Miscues Lead to Ugly Overtime Loss to Panthers

By Ashley Moynahan
New York Giants , NFL

Another week of football in the NFL and another loss for the New York Giants, as they drop their fifth straight game of the season to fall to 2-8. The Giants, who were favored for the first time in 24 weeks, were misfiring on all cylinders in Sunday’s loss to the Carolina Panthers.

While the Giants gave it a good fight overseas in Munich, Germany it just wasn’t enough to come out on top. With the loss the Giants now move to 3-1 in the international game series, snapping their undefeated record.

The Giants who now hold the second pick in the 2025 NFL draft have a lot of work to do as they enter their bye week with only seven games remaining in the regular season.

Takeaways – The Positives

On the bright side for New York RB Tyrone Tracy Jr. continued to shine as he racked up 103 yards and one touchdown off 18 carries. The Giants RB2 Devin Singletary also had a nice day on the ground with 40 yards on only eight carries.

OT Evan Neal made his return to the starting lineup at right tackle after being benched in the offseason. Neal had the highest PFF grade among any Giants linemen in Sunday’s matchup and allowed only one pressure off 41 pass block snaps per Next Gen Stats.

The wide receiver room for the Giants was well balanced as three players had over thirty yards and a few crucial catches. Wan’Dale Robinson went for 51 yards off five receptions, while Malik Nabers brought in 50 yards off six receptions and Jalin Hyatt recorded 39 yards off four catches. Hyatt seemed to fill in for WR Darius Slayton’s role as he remained sidelined Sunday for a concussion.

The Giants today did really well in the penalty department on Sunday as they only drew three calls against them. A significant improvement as they have been struggling this season to stay composed.

Takeaways – The Negatives

QB Daniel Jones was not seeing the field well at all as he missed wide open receivers several times, tried to hit options that were completely covered and was throwing behind targets. Despite Jones having a decent day with his legs in designed runs, when it came to scrambling Jones seemed hesitant and non-confident, resulting in him throwing the ball away or taking a sack. On the day Jones went 22/37, 190 yards and two interceptions in the air and 26 yards and one touchdown on the ground. Overall, it was a tough day for number eight in blue and the question of if he will be the Giants go-to guy at quarterback is back up in the air.

Kicker Graham Gano hit one of his two field goal attempts and went two-for-two on extra points. The missed 43-yarder was very unlike Gano, as before the hamstring injury he was extremely consistent and considered one of the better kickers in the league. Although the Giants’ kicking game hasn’t been great with the absence of Gano, it raises the question of if they would have been better off waiting on Gano’s return.

The Giants’ defense was being ran over by Carolina and single handedly by RB Chuba Hubbard who had a career day with 153 yards, one touchdown off 28 carries. As a team the Giants let up 188 rushing yards and 126 passing yards against one of the worst offenses in the NFL.

The Giants offense continued to not be able to capitalize in enemy territory as they had two interceptions and one missed field goal. The Giants were able to cash in two touchdowns and a field goal, but could have easily added on if they weren’t constantly shooting themselves in the foot.

Giants vs Panthers Recap

First Quarter

The Giants looked promising in the beginning of the matchup as LB Brian Burns hit home and sacked Panthers QB Bryce Young on the second play of the game. The Giants then quickly forced the Panthers offense out and the Giants offense took over.

On the G’Men’s first possession, Jones loaded up to Jalen Hyatt and didn’t connect, but were able to draw a huge defensive pass interference call to quickly move the Giants down the field. After that the Giants stalled on their drive and came up empty handed.

The Panthers then took over and marched their way down the field after two significant yardage pickups from Hubbard. Carolina ended the drive with their first score of the game off of a passing touchdown from Young to Ja’Tavion Sanders.

New York gets their second possession of the day, but once again can’t get anything rolling as Carolina’s defense is dominating. The Panthers then put together a nice 10-play drive and end up tacking on more points to the board with a 56-yard field goal right at the beginning of the second quarter to go up 10-0 on the Giants.

Second Quarter

In response to the score the Giants got some momentum, courtesy of a giant catch by Hyatt, who hasn’t seen much action this season. However, the Giants got stalled in Panther territory and had to attempt a 43-yarder. Gano who made his first appearance since September 15th pulled the kick right to leave the Giants empty handed.

The Giants and Panthers then traded punts (two for Carolina, one for New York), until just under two minutes before the half when the Giants seemed to be moments away from scoring. However, Jones with pressure in his face tried to hit Theo Johnson, but instead the ball was tipped into the air and intercepted by the Panthers killing what should have been a great opportunity for New York.

Thankfully for the Giants the Panthers didn’t get anything rolling and had to punt the ball away to end the half.

Third Quarter

The Giants clearly made some adjustments at halftime as they strung together a great 10-play drive right out the gate. Finally, the G-Men got themselves on the board after a phenomenal 32-yard rush by Tracy into the end zone for six.

The Panthers wasted no time to respond, as they put together a nice 10-play drive themself resulting in a rushing touchdown by Hubbard who had been burning the Giants defense all day.

To end the quarter the Giants and Panthers traded punts as they both went three and out.

Fourth Quarter

Down 17-7 the Giants made some crucial plays to get themselves back in the scoring column, including some clutch catches by WRs Wan’Dale Robinson and Malik Nabers to move the Giants down the field. When the drive seemed to be going to the dumps on third down, Carolina blitzed and almost got home to Jones, but somehow the QB1 was able to scramble and pick up the first down. The scoring drive ended in a QB keeper, as Jones ran his way to the left side of the end zone to cut the Panthers lead to just a field goal.

On the Panthers response drive the football Gods were with the Giants as Hubbard fumbled the ball for the Panthers on the Carolina 22-yard line and the G-Men recovered it. However, it didn’t take long for the Giants to give it right back as four plays later Daniel Jones made a giant mistake and threw the ball behind Tracy, allowing Tracy’s defender to get his hands on it and ultimately intercept it. What would have been at least hopefully three points on the board to tie for the lead turned into a huge momentum buster.

The two teams continued to trade possessions as the Panthers punted twice and the Giants once. An overthrown pass by Young on third down, allowed the Giants to have some time left on the board to tie the game up. The Giants did just that as the G-Men marched down the field where Gano drilled a 42-yarder right down the pipes to force overtime.

Overtime

After winning the coin toss all the momentum seemed to be with the Giants, but that could not have been farther from the truth as on the first play of overtime, Tracy got the ball punched out which resulted in a fumble recovered by the Panthers.

The Panthers then kicked their way to victory with a 36-yard field goal to win 20-17.

Up Next for the Giants

The Giants have a much-needed bye week next week, and after that in Week 12 the Giants will return back home to MetLife Stadium where they will take on the Tamp Bay Bucs (4-6).

About the Author

Ashley Moynahan
Ashley Moynahan. SHU Men's and Women's Golf Media Day held at the Guest House, Sacred Heart University's West Campus. Wednesday, August 21, 2024. Photo by: Mark F. Conrad
Ashley Moynahan
Staff Writer

Ashley is a writer for ONNJ. Ashley produces content primarily on the New York Giants and Yankees 

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