Inside the Numbers: Panthers at Giants Game Preview

Setting the stage for Carolina's Week 2 game against New York.

A week ago, it was Baker Mayfield that got an opportunity to square off against his former team. This week, Panthers offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo gets that chance against the New York Giants.

McAdoo was the offensive play-caller in New York for two seasons (2014-15) under Tom Coughlin before taking over as the head coach in 2016. His stint as the man in charge lasted just short of two full seasons. After an 11-5 record in 2016, things quickly spiraled out of control as the Giants started the following year 2-10, leading to his dismissal.

Although it was a short experience, it was one that McAdoo doesn't take for granted.

"Having an experience is a lot greater than having an opinion. You really get a chance to find out what's important to you," McAdoo said. "I had a chance to learn from a lot of great people. You go in and you apply things that you think you really believe in and you figure out what you believe in. It's a baptism by fire in your first chance to be a head coach in this league. There's nothing that really prepares you for it.

Reunions always create good storylines and for those involved, it can be a trip down memory lane as they have an opportunity to catch up with people they spent a lot of time with. As far as McAdoo is concerned, it's just another game.

"[I] love New York. Got a lot of great memories there. A lot of great people there in that organization. Love the city. Love North [New] Jersey. But right now it's about getting ready to play a football game. For me to spend any time thinking about that would be selfish and not very smart. Played them twice last year when I was in Dallas and it really didn't factor into anything. Playing them again this year, and so far there's nothing to it. Just getting ready to play a ball game."

So, about that ball game, who has the edge? Let's break it all down.

Carolina's offense had a hell of a time moving the football in the first half of last week's game against Cleveland. The first five possessions of the game? Punt, punt, punt, interception, punt. Three of those four drives that resulted in a punt were three and outs. 

One thing that prohibit the Panthers from finding a rhythm offensively was the number of botched exchanges between center Pat Elflein and quarterback Baker Mayfield. There were four of them to be exact.

"Yeah, I'm not in favor of it," said McAdoo. "We've got to handle the ball better. That's not the way we want it to look. There's no excuse for it, so we've got to spend more time working it. We got to make sure it's not one of those things where we walk around and say, 'oh, we got that.' The first game of the year, the ball hit the ground way too many times. For us to walk around saying the ball is king and to allow that to happen is not good. We've got to fix it and we're taking all of the steps to fix it."

For whatever reason, the Panthers continued to bang their head against the wall by throwing the football when it wasn't working. Christian McCaffrey was essentially a non-factor early on as he ran the ball a total of three times for nine yards in the first half to go along with two receptions for a measly two yards. Head coach Matt Rhule pointed to playing behind the chains early and often as to why McCaffrey wasn't as involved in the game plan early on. Ben McAdoo had a slightly different explanation.

"Yeah, I mean every week you want to get your guys the ball and certainly Christian the ball. We have confidence in everyone and Christian is a big part of that. We only played 50 plays. We need to get more attempts at the plate. When you get more attempts at the plate you can give peoplee more opportunities. Christian is a unique player, a special player, and we do have to get the ball in his hands."

Cleveland's front presents more challenges than New York's, but you have to give credit where it is due. Last week, the Giants held Derrick Henry to just 82 yards rushing (3.9 yards per carry). If the Giants repeat that performance in Week 2, it's going to put a lot of pressure on DJ Moore and Robbie Anderson to create plays on the perimeter which they're very capable of doing. McAdoo may get wide-eyed when he sees those matchups against New York's corners but he must still find ways to get the ball in McCaffrey's hands.

The Panthers are likely to add another weapon to Mayfield's arsenal this week in wide receiver Laviska Shenault, who was acquired in a trade with the Jacksonville Jaguars in late August. He was inactive for the season opener, but with another week of learning the offense under his belt, he should be ready to go even if it's in a limited role.

"Laviska is healthy," Matt Rhule said earlier in the week. "I just told him as soon as he knows what he's doing at a high enough level that we would get him ready to go. I told him last week you'll probably be inactive [versus Cleveland] unless something happens but I'd love to try to get you ready for New York. So, get yourself ahead for this week. So if he has a good week of practice, we'd love to play him."

Flipping over to the other side of the ball, the Panthers walked away from Week 1 unsatisfied. It wasn't a lack of effort but more so technique and getting away from the basic fundamentals. As a unit, the defense racked up 18 missed tackles in the game which equated to roughly 190 yards after contact. Nick Chubb is a phenomenal running back but guess what? Saquon Barkley is just as dangerous, so the Panthers must make it a quick fix.

"I think everybody looked at the tape and said, we were in a lot of good positions but we didn't tackle very well in the game," defensive coordinator Phil Snow said. "We just got to get back to basics which we have this week and reset. We have our hands full with Barkley. Barkley, the thing that's scary about him is he can make 60 and 70-yard plays. You've really got to be detailed and demanding about what we do."

Good, clean defense came in spurts last week against Cleveland. For the Panthers to get things fixed, it all starts with consistency and not allowing a big gain on 3rd and 9 after playing two downs well. 

"I think the thing that was most disappointing, on most of the big runs that hurt us, we just were not lined up right inside," Rhule said. "I think some young guys got in there with maybe a little bit of jitters, but when we lined up well, we lined up properly, we played a lot of things well."

The Browns converted eight third downs against Carolina with several of them coming in third and long situations. Fortunately for Snow and company, the Giants were miserable on third downs a week ago converting just two of ten attempts. 

The key for Carolina against New York in creating those third and longs will be to load the box to compensate for the lack of push from the interior and force Daniel Jones to beat you with his arm. You have to like your chances if Jones has to air it out 35-40 times against a secondary that consists of Donte Jackson, Jaycee Horn, CJ Henderson, Jeremy Chinn, and Xavier Woods. 

"Their pin pulls a little bit different than Cleveland, how they run it. It's more downhill and Cleveland was a little bit more outside," Snow explained. "The run game is real similar and the backs are really good. They're hard to stop. The Titans play good defense and they ran for 238 yards. The thing you can't do is let them control the game with it. But they're going to make some yards running. They're really good at what they do."

When New York does throw the ball around, Kenny Golladay and Sterling Shepard will be the go-to guys for Jones. The wild card is what kind of production they get out of their slot and from whom. Last week, former first round pick Kadarius Toney only appeared in seven snaps against Tennessee.

Giants Country publisher, Patricia Traina, offered her thoughts on the situation.

"Great question. Toney missed a large chunk of training camp after missing the entire spring with various medical issues. He might know the playbook, but knowing it and actually being able to execute are two very different things. Head coach Brian Daboll said this week that the receiver room is very competitive and that guys need to earn their snaps.

"Now what wasn’t said—and this just came to my attention today—is that Toney appeared to have an issue with his hamstring at one point during the game. A fan sitting behind the Giants bench filmed a trainer working on Toney’s hamstring—when that video was taken, I don’t know. But it sure would add another angle to the story if his hamstring was an issue.

"As for whether he’ll be a factor in Week 2, stay tuned. I would think if Wan’Dale Robinson, who has a knee injury, is limited in any way, Toney would be the next man up if he shows the coaches he can get the job done in practice."

Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. EST and will be televised on FOX. 

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