Top 5 Giants Players To Watch vs. Carolina Panthers

Keep an eye on these five Giants players and/or position groups in this weekend's game against the Carolina Panthers.

The New York Giants pulled off a 21-20 miracle win against the Tennessee Titans in a thrilling Week 1 showdown. In Week 2, the Giants will take on the Carolina Panthers for their first home game of the regular season, with kickoff set for 1 PM ET.

As the Giants wrap up preparations for their game matchup against the Panthers, these are the Top 5 Giants players to watch in Week 2.

RB Saquon Barkley

Appearing on our list for the Giants’ Week 1 game against the Titans, Barkley rushed for 164 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries, producing a big breakout performance that included a 68-yard run in the third quarter. Barkley also reeled in six receptions on seven targets for 30 yards and caught what ended up being the game-winning 2-point conversion in the fourth quarter.

With Barkley now fully under the microscope after having such a huge game, the pressure to maintain this kind of success and produce a similar outcome again in Week 2 is quite high.

Following a 2021-22 season where the Panthers defense was 18th against the run (113.8 rushing yards allowed per game), they managed to fall to 31st in the league after a Week 1 ground-and-pound from the Cleveland Browns where they conceded 217 rushing yards (141 of which came from running back Nick Chubb) in their 26-24 loss.

Last Sunday, Barkley illustrated that his healthy self is back, producing an impressive four forced missed tackles while posting a total of 123 yards after contact. Granted, he only faced a stacked box on 5.4 percent of his rushing attempts, but should Barkley be able to replicate his performance from last week, we could be looking at back-to-back 100+ yard performances from Barkley for the first time since Weeks 15 and 16 of 2019.

CB Darnay Holmes

Darnay Holmes, the Giants' slot cornerback, finished last week, allowing four of seven pass targets to be complete for 53 yards and seven yards after the catch, with a decent 81.3 coverage rating. When lined up in the slot, he allowed three of six pass targets to be completed for 33 yards, five after the catch, a 66.7 coverage rating.

Overall, Holmes also didn’t account for a single pass breakup over all 40 defensive snaps played (29 in the slot, 16 of which he was in coverage), and he had two defensive holding penalties called against him.

This Sunday, Holmes is tasked with keeping Panthers wide receiver Shi Smith in check. Smith is a shifty wideout who brings solid agility and speed with his route running. Though Smith is coming off a quiet outing last week in which he caught one of his three targets for 12 yards and was held to no touchdowns, he can give a cornerback fits.

Holmes has improved from the summer, but he's still not playing a clean enough game. Can he take steps toward that this week?

Inside Linebackers Tae Crowder and Austin Calitro

The inside linebackers will again have their hands full with a dynamic running back that can penetrate the second level as a runner and receiver, Carolina's Christian McCaffrey.

The Panthers running back isn’t coming off a great week, posting just 33 rushing yards on ten attempts with a touchdown. That said, McCaffrey managed to generate an impact as a receiver, reeling in four of his five targets for 24 yards.

"It’s a huge challenge, and we got to continue to work on it," said defensive coordinator Wink Martindale.

Crowder and Calitro combined for seven tackles against the run, which contained Henry to 82 yards and no touchdowns on 21 attempts last Sunday. But it's their pass coverage that was most alarming.

Titans running back Dontrell Hilliard had two receiving touchdowns, both coming against each linebacker in coverage. They also allowed a combined seven receptions on eight targets for a hefty 102 receiving yards. They had the highest NFL coverage ratings--158.3 for Crowder and 142.4 for Calitro--of the Giants linebackers.

With McCaffrey being particularly gifted with moving the chains using his receiving talent, this matchup could be a concerning one for the Giants.

Offensive Tackles: Andrew Thomas & Evan Neal

The Panthers were ninth in the league last season with their sack percentage per pass attempt (7.57 percent). Brian Burns recorded nine sacks, Yetur Gross-Matos had 3.5, and Shaq Thompson had two. Though the Panthers no longer have their sack leader, Haason Reddick, from a year ago, they can still give Giants offensive tackles Andrew Thomas and Evan Neal fits.

Luckily for the Giants, Thomas and Neal got off to a solid start in the pass-blocking department, combining to allow three pressures in 31 pass-block snaps. Overall, the Giants pass blocking wasn't as sharp as the run-blocking, but certainly, if the two young tackles can hold up on the edges, that will give the passing offense a fighting chance.

Edge Rushers: Jihad Ward & Oshane Ximines

As of this writing, it's unknown whether the Giants will have one or both of Azeez Ojulari and Kayvon Thibodeaux available for this weekend's game. If they don't, Jihad Ward and Oshae Ximines will likely get the start and the bulk of the action on the edges this week.

According to defensive coordinator Wink Martindale, Ward was the unanimous choice for Defensive Player of the Game, posting a 7.7 percent pass-rush win percentage. Ximines was even better, with a 12.5 percent rate.

However, neither player managed to record a sack against a Titans offensive line that had a rookie at tackle, Nicholas Petit-Frere. This week, though, they'll go against a Panthers offensive line that last week gave up a total of ten pressures and allowed four sacks, as led by rookie left tackle Ikem Ekwonu 94 pressures, two sacks).

Getting pressure is nice, but ideally, Martindale would like to see some payoff, with these pressures turning into sacks. 

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