Giants win over the Panthers 19-16

"The Giants got off to a great start last week, winning over the Tennessee Titans, and the fans at the Meadowlands were eager to see them deliver another win today firsthand. Things started off with a thrill. On the opening play of the game, special teams forced the Carolina kickoff returner to fumble, and the Giants recovered the ball. The Giants offense was suddenly on the field at the Carolina 22-yard line. I was hoping to see more from them, but after a field goal, the Giants had an early 3-0 lead.
After the kickoff, the Panthers ran a few plays before the Giants forced another fumble, this time at the Carolina 40-yard line. The Giants got down to the 2-yard line, but after a lost yardage play, followed by a sack on Jones, Graham Gano came in and kicked another short field goal. It sure would have been nice to see 14 points on the board after those two Carolina turnovers. The Giants offense had been given great field position to work with both times.
Lacking that kind of assistance, the Giants weren't able to move the ball past their own 34-yard line before the half ended. The fans weren't happy and they booed as the Giants headed to the locker room with timeouts in their pocket, letting the clock run out at the end of the half. Meanwhile, the Giants defense was bringing it, holding the Panthers to just six points on two field goals, and the game was tied 6-6.
The Giants third quarter start didn't inspire confidence, as they went three-and-out, and the Panthers followed that up with three big plays by Baker Mayfield. Mayfield threw a deep pass for 29 yards, scrambled for 17 yards, and finished up by throwing a 16 yard touchdown pass to give his team a 13-6 lead. Things weren't looking good, but on the Giants next drive, Jones woke up. He connected with two first down passes to Richie James, one to Tanner Hudson, and finished with a touchdown pass to Daniel Bellinger. Barkley also got the fans going when he had a 16 yard run on one of their eight plays.
The score was tied and the Panthers punted on the next possession, but during it, Leonard Williams went down. The trainers came in to help him get up and walk off the field. After both teams punted a few times, the Giants got their act together again. From the 9-yard line, Barkley got things off with a 15 yard run, and Jones big play was a 24 yard pass to David Sills. This time Gano was put to the test with a long 51-yard field goal attempt which he made, to give the Giants a 16-13 lead.
Of course the Panthers came right back with a big 49-yard run by running back Christian McCaffrey. That got his team down to the Giants 26-yard line, but the Giants defense got over that misque, and they held the Panthers to a field goal. Once again we had a tie score. We were in the fourth quarter when the Giants put together a drive that lasted over 7 minutes, and ended with Gano kicking a 56-yard field goal.
The Giants had a slim three point lead with three and a half minutes left in the game. The Panthers got close to midfield, and on a 3rd-and-6, Mayfield was sacked for a 9 yard loss by safety Julian Love. The Giants next had the ball back with just over two minutes to play, and this is where they would usually go three-and-out, and give the opposing team another shot.
After a few plays, the two minute warning had stopped the clock, and the Panthers had used their first timeout. Then it was exciting to see Jones, on a third-and-6, scramble for 11 yards and a first down. The Panthers immediately called a timeout, but that Giants first down had put the game out of reach. It's rare to see the Giants take kneel downs to end a game, and the fans loved it. The Giants are 2-0 for the first time in a long while, and look to be ready to welcome the Cowboys to the stadium next Monday night."

"Last week the Giants were looking to open the season with better pass protection for Daniel Jones. By the end of the first half, Jones was sacked 4 times, including a sack fumble that led to a Titans field goal to give them a 13-0 lead. Over the course of the game, Jones was sacked 5 times on 21 pass attempts.
Another objective was to see more production from running back Saquon Barkley, and Barkley delivered on that big time last week. Barkley led all the players in the league with 164 rushing yards, and 194 yards from scrimmage, and they named him the NFC Offensive Player of the Week.
Today the Panthers focused on stopping Barkley, and by the end of the first half, Barkley had just 5 rushes for 3 yards. With Barkley in their sights, you would have thought that Jones could accomplish more with his passing attack. During that time, Jones had completed 12 of his 17 passes for 67 yards.
Special teams and the defense had done their jobs. Each unit had one fumble recovery, and Graham Gano's two field goals had the Giants tied with Carolina at 6-6 at the half. Both teams had 5 possessions, with the Giants having 5 first downs and the Panthers had 9. They also led the Giants in total plays, passing yards, and rushing yards.
The offense needed to get something going in the second half, and the defense needed to keep at it, once again working without edge rushers Kayvon Thibodeaux and Azeez Ojulari. They were also missing cornerback Aaron Robinson this game, and it takes a lot to contain running back Christian McCaffery, and wide receiver D.J. Moore.
The Panthers hit that point home on their first possession of the third quarter. Their three-play one minute drive included two long completions from Baker Mayfield to Moore, including the touchdown catch. The defensive task became more daunting when Leonard Williams had to leave the game on the Panthers next possession.
Right before that though, the Giants showed that they too could score. Jones had to overcome a 3rd-and-9 from his own 26-yard line, and he did it with a 15 yard completion to Richie James. Barkley's 16-yard run right after that got them another first down. They finished with four of them on this drive that ended with a touchdown completion to Daniel Bellinger.
It was a tie score until Gano put the Giants ahead in the fourth quarter 16-13. The defense held the Panthers to a field goal right after that, and Gano put the Giants ahead 19-16 on their next turn. That became the final score, thanks to the defense hanging tough, allowing the Panthers just 3 first downs for the rest of the game. Their biggest blemish was a 49-yard run by McCaffrey that helped set up Carolina's last field goal.
Overall, they held McCaffrey to 102 yards rushing, thanks to that one long run, on 15 carries, and Mayfield to only 145 passing yards and 1 touchdown, while completing 14 of his 29 passes. Graham Gano scored most of the points for the Giants, going 4-for-4 on field goals from 36, 33, 51, and 56 yards. Obviously, the Giants offense needs to do much more if they want to build on their 2-0 record. They'll be able to show a big audience what they can do next week on Monday Night Football when the Cowboys come to town".

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