Three Reasons Why Giants Should Beat Carolina

The Giants and Panthers are both struggling franchises, but there are a few reasons why New York needs to win their matchup in Week 10.

Nov 7, 2024; Munich, Germany; A display featuring images of Carolina Panthers defensive end Derrick Brown (95) and New York Giants linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux (5) at the Sport Galeria store. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Most times when one asks a NFL head coach or player about the importance of their next game, they rarely like to define it as a “must win”, but there is no better way to summarize the New York Giants upcoming game in Germany against the Carolina Panthers  

Despite falling to 2-7 with the loss to Washington last Sunday, the Giants season is far from over with eight games left on the schedule, starting with their early morning international duel with the Panthers this weekend that’s set to feature two franchises each headed for another lost campaign.

Their postseason prospects might be finished given they have yet to win a contest within their own division and have started with their current record in six of the last eight years, but there is still too much time left to throw in the towel and questions left to be discerned about various parts of the organization and the roster. 

While the Giants haven’t been named the favorites in most of their matchups dating back to the 2022 season, they finally have a solid chance to nix that and start finding the answers they’re looking for against a woeful Carolina Panthers team that’s also got its eyes on drastic change come the offseason. 

The main focus will continue to be the direction the team takes at the quarterback position where Daniel Jones has lost his luster in the eyes of the fanbase due to his inconsistent performance. On the other side of that picture is trying to build a solid group within the locker room that will carry into 2025 no matter what the talent looks like in that amount of time.

Sure, it’s set to be a game of pride for whichever team pulls away as the victor, but the Giants figure to have much more to prove than their opponent on their other side. If things continue to go south in Europe, it could lead to a much different team than the one that the organization expects to have in terms of leadership next fall. 

The Giants need to have a well-rounded game when they square off with Carolina on Sunday morning and here the three biggest reasons why. 

Nov 3, 2024; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones (8) throws the ball as Washington Commanders linebacker Frankie Luvu (4) defends during the second half at MetLife Stadium. / Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

Needing A Spark 

Among the many issues facing the Giants this season, one of them has been their energy or lack thereof when it comes to starting football games. 

Getting out to a hot start has been a problem particularly on the offensive side of the ball. The Giants have seven games in 2024 where they’ve scored less than 10 points in the first half and six with less than a touchdown on the board in the first frame of play. 

Many factors typically cause these slow starts for New York, from their poor protection up front leading to a limited run game or the drops in the receiving corps that prevent the ball from moving downfield quicker. Other times it is simply that the Giants look like they’ve come out flat in certain games and not being prepared to execute on every play that’s in front of them.

No better example to back this up came against the Pittsburgh Steelers two weeks ago when the Giants attempted a two-point conversion in the fourth quarter to cut the score below a touchdown. 

Daniel Jones had a few of his offensive linemen out wide to block for Malik Nabers but nobody looked on  the same page for the snap to be called and it led to the screen pass that was instantly blown up by linebacker Alex Highsmith. 

The Giants are on a four game losing streak and are in desperate need of a win with eight games still remaining on their schedule. If they don’t get one soon and the defeats keep stacking till the end of the season, there is a big risk that it starts to hang on the spirit of the locker room and a lack of competitiveness and pride will fall back on the heads of the team’s leadership. 

This Sunday’s matchup with the Carolina Panthers presents the perfect opportunity for the Giants to execute on getting a spark back in their season. The Panthers are one of the few franchises in the league that are struggling more than them and don’t boast better overall talent than New York’s roster.

In their nine games, Carolina is also a team that has been slow to get themselves on the scoreboard, averaging just 16.3 points per game which is closely aligned with the Giants 15.4. They have started six of their games with under 10 points in the first 30 minutes and all of them with under a touchdown in the first quarter. 

When the Giants play on the road, especially in their two wins against Cleveland and Seattle, they’ve scored 40 points in the first two frames and amassed upwards of 420 yards of total offense. If they resurrect this level of production in Germany on Sunday, it can help them win against a team with a more inexperienced offense that is light years behind them in their own rebuild. 

The contest also marks the Giants’ lone chance to be a favorite in a game this season. Head coach Brian Daboll needs to get his team juiced up to play, even in an unfamiliar environment, and with the right spark the Giants should leave Europe with a win. 

Carolina’s Deficiencies 

When you compare the two rosters and how they are producing on the field this season, there is no reason to doubt that the Giants’ group is far beyond that of the Carolina Panthers who boast deficiencies in all phases of the game. 

Besides their advantage in the points per game realm, the Giants have a leg up on the Panthers’ in almost every offensive and defensive category. Both sides have allowed New York to stay competitive despite their losing ways with seven of their affairs ending with a difference of 10 points or less while Carolina has only had two of those same games. 

The talent on the Panthers doesn’t feature as many capable playmakers and hasn’t had a consistent answer at the quarterback position as they switched between Bryce Young and veteran Andy Dalton all season. That has resulted in an overall operation that has been collectively outscored by 146 points and sits at the rock bottom of the NFL in any category you want to name. 

In the passing game, the Panthers have yet to scratch 1,000 yards passing with either of their two gunslingers through nine games. Dalton leads the team with 66.3 percent of his throws for 989 yards, seven touchdowns and 6 interceptions, the latter of which Carolina has given up 12 this season which is good for 29th in the NFL. 

When attempting to pass, the Panthers have taken the 15th most attempts per game, but struggle to get it connected with their array of wide receivers. They rank 30th in passing yards and 27th with an average catch of 5.2 yards and not one of their players has crossed 400 yards of offense, the active leader being tight end Ja’Tavion Sanders at 24 catches for 245 yards. 

Switching over to the ground, Carolina’s numbers only look slightly better. They rank 26th in team rushing attempts and average just over 100 yards per game through their running back committee of Chuba Hubbard and Miles Sanders. The pair help them average 4.4 yards per carry that is 16th best in the league but only have seven scores combined. 

The Panthers are also among the game’s least impressive teams when it comes to executing on third and fourth downs to extend drives, currently converting less than 35 percent of their third down plays and 28 percent of their fourth down gambles. 

All these weaknesses should play right into the cards of the Giants defense that is currently standing 15th and 18th in total opponent production allowed in 2024. They might not be forcing a lot of turnovers, but have taken away the passing element from many of their foes and made it more difficult to punish them up the trenches. 

Shane Bowen’s defense enters Week 10 ranked in the top-10 for three major passing metrics, including ninth in yards and touchdowns allowed, and his scheme has made it tough for teams to excel on third downs while allowing just 11 red zone scores which is good for fifth in the league this year.

Playing against the run, the Giants have succumbed just 247 carries for an average of 142.5 yards per contest which seems large but is still 28th in football. Aside from the crazy game that Saquon Barkley had in Week 7 for 176 yards and a touchdown, they’ve kept ball carriers quiet for just seven scores and three 100-yard outings. 

Once you flip it all to the other side, the Giants mediocre offense should have little excuse not to put points on the board against the Panthers defensive front. Their woes go just as deep in the doldrums including 32nd in total production allowed and 159.3 yards or greater in both the passing and rushing elements. 

The Panthers have given up an average of 32.6 yards per game and have allowed opponents to score between 34 and 47 points in six of their affairs this season, both statistics that the Giants have yet to touch and now can against one of the youngest teams on their schedule. 

New York started to find an offensive groove against the Commanders at home last Sunday when Daniel Jones scored three total touchdowns, one coming on the ground, and threw for 174 yards to a multitude of different targets. If the offense can play soundly and keep him upright, all that can continue into Germany and provide them some momentum to compete down the rest of the stretch. 

The Giants arguably have it all in this matchup—the pieces, the schemes and the production—and that is reason enough why they need to erupt against Carolina and not splatter more egg on their faces.

Nov 3, 2024; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young (9) rolls out in the third quarter at Bank of America Stadium. / Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

Bryce Young vs. Pressure 

The Bryce Young experiment hasn’t panned out how the Carolina Panthers envisioned it when they took him No. 1 overall in 2023. After sitting on the sidelines for two of the last four games, they are throwing him back into the wolves against one defensive element he tends to struggle with. 

The former Alabama star’s rookie campaign was a modest one for a player with No. 1 pick expectations. In 16 games played, he held a 59.5% completion percentage for 2,877 yards, 11 touchdowns and 10 interceptions which finished the 2023 season ranked 20th among quarterbacks and second among rookies. 

However, it’s been quite a different story in 2024 with Young getting benched just two games into the Panthers season as a result of poor play. His statline enters Germany reading 77 completions for 694 yards and three touchdowns in six starts, including six interceptions which is tied for the fourth most turnovers in the position. 

Young was sidelined for his counterpart in Andy Dalton who leads the Panthers in aerial production, but after the veteran’s recent injury from a car crash, the team has been forced to turn back to their younger quarterback who will run straight into a Giants defense that’s going to bring the pressure that has been his kryptonite as a pro. 

The Giants’ unit isn’t as pressure heavy as they were under Wink Martindale, but has been among the league’s behemoths at getting a strong pass rush at the quarterback. They had their first game without a sack last Sunday against Washington, but have still amassed 35 total sacks and a pressure-to-sack ratio in the NFL’s top-5 thanks to their elite defensive front.

Their key players figure to be Dexter Lawrence and Brian Burns, the former stacking onto a record-setting campaign with 10 sacks and the latter looking to punish his former squad’s huddle. The duo lead the team in total pressures with 65 forced and 15 sacks combined and will certainly bring immense trouble for a Panthers offense front that lets almost everything in pass blocking snaps. 

On the other side, New York will battle a Panthers offensive front that ranks 27th in the league in team pass block win rate taking just north of 50 percent of the pressures against them. They’ve been fairly healthy at the starting five but have had their quarterbacks running ragged all year with each linemen holding at least six pressures in at least 156 pass blocking reps. 

With the matchup that should take place on Sunday, Young will be thrown into a pressure-packed predicament he doesn’t fare well with and that could bode well for the Giants. Rarely does he get a clean pocket, but when he does, he completes 67.7 percent of his passes for 470 yards and two touchdowns and has been a fairly decent sharpshooter. 

Take away the comforts of that clean pocket by sending blitzes his way and that success drops dramatically. Per PFF, Young has been pressured on 31.1 percent of his dropbacks this season and it has resulted in a completion rating below 37.5 that is among the worst numbers in football. His time to throw and turnovers comes up and down with his ability to scramble out of the pocket, but it usually results in little to negative production or a pressure-to-sack ratio as high as 21.7 percent. 

If the Giants wanted any opportunity to turn up the heat to its max on defense, now is their biggest chance against the Panthers offense that hasn’t been ready for it all year. Shane Bowen has kept it more conservative with his efforts up front, but he has the opponent to create something from the second and third levels and force the Carolina gunslinger to thread the pigskin into tricky spots. 

It’s uncertain what version of the Giants offense will show up on Sunday as well even though they are facing their weakest opponent. Thus, having that element of constant pressure and an afternoon of shutdowns could bode well for taming a Panthers group that has started to mesh but still falls into mistaken ways given their youth. 

Expect New York to challenge Young from the jump and test his composure with the pressure swallowing up his air space and if it works, it’ll be a big key as to why they win.

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