Giants lose to the Panthers 20-17

"The Giants had a good 3-0 record playing overseas, and they were favored to win this one playing in Germany against the Carolina Panthers. The Panthers got the ball first, and it looked like the Giants defense was setting the tone for the game, sacking quarterback Bryce Young two plays in. Then on the Giants turn, it was encouraging to see Daniel Jones throw a real deep pass to Jalin Hyatt. The result was a pass interference call that put the Giants at the Carolina 40-yard line. They gained only two more yards, and looked to be going for it on fourth down until they drew a delay of game penalty. The Giants punted leaving Carolina stuck at their own 10-yard line.
The Giants defense didn't look as good the second time out, and they gave up a few big 20 yard plus plays that led to the Panthers scoring a touchdown. The Giants were again stopped after making just one first down and this punt had Carolina starting from their own 9-yard line. With the Giants continuing to miss tackles, the Panthers were able to move the ball, but this time they were held to a field goal for a 10-0 lead.
On Jones next turn, he ran for a first down and threw a deep pass to Hyatt for another, but didn't get much further. They were in position for Graham Gano to kick a 43-yard field goal. It was very disappointing to see it go wide right. The Giants defense held tight on three Carolina possessions, and the offense looked good on one of theirs, but that one ended with Jones throwing an interception near the end of the half.
The Giants started off the third quarter with Tyrone Tracy running the ball, and the drive ended with Tracy breaking out with a 32-yard touchdown run. That cut into the score, but the Panthers got that back right away with a touchdown of their own, giving them a 17-7 lead.
In the fourth quarter the Giants got their act together with Jones throwing ten-plus-yard first down passes to Theo Johnson, Wan'Dale Robinson, and Malik Nabers. Devin Singletary, Jones and Tracy contributed, running for first downs. Jones finished things off with a 2-yard touchdown run to cut the Panthers lead to three points.
That drive had started at the Giants 4-yard line, and it took up the first seven minutes of the fourth quarter. Two plays later when Giants defensive tackle D.J. Davidson recovered a fumble at the Carolina 22-yard line, it sure looked like this game was about to turn around. Then it turned the wrong way, when Jones threw a pass from Carolina's 8-yard line to Tracy, and it was grabbed from his arms for an interception.
After both teams went three-and-out there were three and a half minutes left. The Panthers were trying to run out the clock on their next drive, and the Giants had to use all three timeouts. Their next drive had Jones throwing on every play. Jones got in two quick ones to Nabers for a first down right before the two minute warning. Nine passes later, including one spike to stop the clock, Jones had managed to get the team 55-yards downfield with 5 seconds left for Gano to try a 42 yard field goal. Gano's second field goal attempt, from about the same range, worked this time and we were headed into overtime.
Things had been going well this quarter with the Giants scoring twice, coming back to tie the score. It seemed like things were going all their way when they won the coin toss to get the ball first in overtime. Forget how things were going, as it suddenly came crashing down on the Giants first play. Tracy fumbled the ball, and the Panthers recovered at the Giants 23-yard line. A few plays later, Carolina kicked a field goal to win this maddening game, 20-17. It was a very disappointing ending to another Giants game that could easily have gone the other way. The Giants are on a bye next week before they play again. After watching all this go down today, I selfishly feel I need extra time off more than them."

"The Giants string of games they've lost that they could have won, continued on today. Even with the Giants struggling to improve on their poor scoring average, you wouldn't have expected to see them score none at all in the first half. They were playing against a team that was giving up over 32 points on average per game, the worst in the NFL. In the second half the Giants scored 17 points. That increased their league low average from 15.4 to 15.6 points a game. The Giants always seem to blow opportunities to score points whenever possible. In his comeback after seven weeks on IR, reliable kicker Graham Gano missed his first field-goal, a 43-yard attempt.
Brian Daboll did trust him enough on the extra point kick after their first touchdown instead of going for two. That option hasn't worked for the Giants all year, but you never know what Daboll is thinking. Gano also later made a 42-yard field goal at the end of regulation to tie the game. It may have turned out to be the winning one if the earlier kick had been good.
Daboll did for some reason, call for a flea flicker play when the Giants had a third-and-one at midfield. It didn't go well, and Jones was sacked with an 8-yard loss. Even if Daboll wanted to go on fourth down from that field position, that option was now off the table. So after their first four drives, the Giants had missed a field goal and were up to their third punt of the game. It also didn't seem to make sense to try a trick play when you had just switched your left and right tackle position players.
Evan Neal did very well starting at right tackle for the first time this season. Jermaine Eluemunor was moved to the left side, as the best option for that spot. Eluemunor was adjusting, and he couldn't handle that trick play and Jones was sacked. Jones could maybe have avoided the sack and lost yardage as there was an open receiver available. The next drive was even worse when Jones threw an interception from the Panthers 21-yard line. At the end of the half the Giants had no points to show for their efforts.
On the defensive side, linebacker Brian Burns was seeing action for the first time against his former team. Burns came up with a sack on Bryce Young for an eight yard loss on Carolina’s second play of the game. Things did not go as well for the Giants the next time the Panthers had the ball. They started off with a 23-yard pass completion, followed by a 26-yard run by Chuba Hubbard. A few plays later, a third-and-one play turned into another 26-yard run by Hubbard. Three plays later the Panthers had a 7-0 lead. On their next drive, a 24-yard pass and a 15 yard run, led to Carolina adding three more points with a 53 yard field goal.
The Giants defense shut the Panthers down on their next three possessions, and in the third and fourth quarters held them to one touchdown. On that drive the Giants gave up two 24-plus running plays. The run defense lived up to its reputation of being the worst in the league. Poor tackling throughout the game led to big running plays. Hubbard ended up with a career high 153 yards on 28 carries, an average of 5.5 yards per carry. Young ran with the ball twice and picked up 30 yards, the most he's had this year. On the plus side, the defense came up with 1 sack and 1 fumble recovery.
The Giants offense did better in their second half comeback, starting off with a 32-yard touchdown run by Tyrone Tracy. Later their longest drive of the game ended with a two-yard touchdown run by Jones, to cut the Panthers lead to three points. They blew an opportunity when a fumble recovery by the defense gave them the ball in easy field goal range. Jones threw a pass that was intercepted when the ball was pulled from Tracy's arms. Jones soon made up for that, getting the Giants 55 yards downfield in quick fashion on their final drive. That led to Gano getting them into overtime with a 42-yard field goal.
Things didn't work out when Tracy fumbled the ball on the first overtime play, and the Panthers kicked a field goal for a 20-17 win. It was tough to take, especially for Tracy, who carried the ball 18 times for 103 yards, including his long 32-yard touchdown run. Devin Singletary had 8 carries for 40 yards, and Jones ran with the ball 8 times for 40 yards, and had one rushing touchdown. Jones completed 22 of his 37 passes for 190 yards, with no touchdowns, and threw 2 interceptions. The Giants have a bye week before they host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and need to come up with a way to avoid giving games away."

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