The Giants fought back after trailing for most of Sunday’s game, but it will be a long flight home from Germany as the Carolina Pathers won 20-17 on a 36-yard field goal from Eddy Piñeiro during overtime.
The Giants trailed 10-0 at halftime Bryce Young‘s five-yard touchdown pass to rookie tight end Ja’Tavion Sanders and a Piñeiro field goal. However, they struck back on their first drive of the second half Tyrone Tracy‘s 32-yard run to make it 10-7.
Carolina restored their 10-point lead with an 80-yard drive that was finished on a one-yard pass Chuba Hubbard touchdown run. Hubbard ran through tacklers all game while rushing for a career-high 153 yards.
In the fourth quarter, the Giants cut Carolina’s lead to 17-14 on a two-yard run Daniel Jones with 8:33 left and then got the ball back DJ Davidson discovered a Hubbard fumble. However, Josey Jewel intercepted Jones inside the 10-yard line to preserve the lead with less than six minutes remaining.
New York got the ball back with two and a half minutes left and Jones completed five passes in a row to put them in range. Graham Gano‘s tying 42-yard field goal with five seconds left to send the game into overtime.
The Giants won the toss and got the ball first in the extra session, but Tracy lost a fumble on the first play to set up the winning kick.
Here are the key takeaways…
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Things didn’t start out as bad for the Giants as the former Panther Brian Brands had a sack on Carolina’s first offensive series, forcing a 3-and-out. Then, on their first offensive snap, New York picked up 43 yards then Jalin Hyatt received a pass interference penalty for a long pass. Everything fell apart after that, though, as Jones got off to another slow start as he went just 1-for-5 for three yards in the first quarter.
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The Panthers are notoriously slow starters, but that wasn’t the case in this game. Young completed seven of his first eight passes and Hubbard rushed for 84 yards in the first quarter alone.
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Carolina got some good contributions from their rookies in the passing game in the first half as Sanders, Jalen Coker And Xavier Legette combined to catch six passes for 75 yards and a score. That’s the kind of thing a struggling team would want to see in a game like this, but aside from Tracy, the Giants’ rookies hadn’t made much of an impact before halftime with Malik Nabers limited to just two short catches. Nabers, who was dealing with a hamstring problem, made a nice catch in the fourth quarter and finished with six catches for 50 yards.
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Jones had just 54 passing yards in the first half, although the Giants had three drives where they moved into Panthers territory. Those drives ended with a missed field goal, a punt and a turnover. The turnover came on a play where Jones rolled out and tipped his pass in the air and picked it off. New York also had a drive that stalled when Jones was sacked on a third-and-short flea flicker because he hesitated to pull the trigger even though two players were wide open.
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There was one important bright spot Evan Nealwho made his first start of the season at right tackle. He showed excellent strength and power as a run blocker and didn’t give up any pressure in the first half. Neal continued his good work in the second half as he had a solid block on Tracy’s touchdown run. While it previously seemed like this regime would be willing to give up the former top-10 pick, Neal’s performance suggests he may still have a chance to fulfill his potential.
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Neal wasn’t the only struggling youngster who was given an opportunity and made the most of it in this match. Hyatt, who entered the game with just one catch for six yards, had three of his four catches on the final regular drive in addition to drawing the early penalty.
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Tracy had another big game on the ground, finishing with 105 yards, but it was his botched catch on third down that led to Jewell’s interception in the red zone and his fumble on the first play of overtime was clearly costly . Clearly, Tracy needs to develop his all-round skills now that he has earned a starting workload.
Upcoming schedule
The Giants now head into their bye week, but will face two games in five days when they return, starting with a home game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday, November 24 at 1:00 PM ET.
