Daniel Jones and the New York Giants (2-5) handed the Carolina Panthers (3-4) their fourth straight loss, 25-3, Sunday afternoon at Met Life Stadium.
The Panthers looked good on their opening drive of the game. Former Jet QB Sam Darnold drove them 46 yards on 13 plays before settling for a 45-yard field goal by Zane Gonzalez that hit the upright but went through. That was basically it for the Panthers.
Signal caller Daniel Jones, carrying an injured offense on his shoulders, with wide receivers Kenny Golladay (knee), Kadarius Toney (ankle) and Sterling Shepard (hamstring) and running back Saquon Barkley (ankle) all inactive, finally managed to take the game over in the third quarter.
With the Giants leading 5-3, Jones took them methodically down the field on an 11-play, 75-yard drive, to give the Giants a 12-3 advantage with :59 left in the third quarter. The highlight of the drive was a spectacular, one-handed catch by Jones off a pass by Donte Pettis. Jones finished the drive with a 5-yard touchdown pass to Pettis. Jones also had passes of 15 yards to Darius Slayton and 16 yards to Pettis on the drive, to go along with a 7-yard run.
The Giants extended the lead with fourth quarter field goals of 53 and 44 yards by former Panther Graham Gano and a 19-yard Devontae Booker touchdown rush.
New York’s defense turned in its best performance of the season. As stated previously, the Giants gave up a 45-yard Zane Gonzalez field goal on Carolina’s first possession and that was the end of the scoring for the Panthers. James Bradberry, another former Panther, had an interception and the Giants five combined sacks of Darnold and P.J. Walker. Rookie edge rusher Azeez Ojulari had 2.5 sacks. Carolina was an abysmal 2 of 15 on third down conversions.
The three points and 173 total yards are team lows in the Matt Rhule regime.
Darnold was benched at the 12:41 mark in the fourth quarter in favor of P.J. Washington. Darnold finished the game 16 of 25 through the air for 111 yards and an interception with no touchdowns.
Panthers’ running back Chubba Hubbard had 12 carries for 28 yards and 4 receptions for 28 yards. D.J. Moore had 6 receptions for 73 yards. Jeremy Chin had 4 tackles and 4 assists and A.J. Bouye had 2 tackles
There were a number of injuries in the game.
Giants: Starting S/PR Jabrill Peppers hurt his right ankle on a third-quarter punt return. Starting OLB Lorenzo Carter hurt his left ankle but returned. T Matt Peart hurt a finger but returned quickly.
Panthers: C.J. Henderson (shoulder) and G John Miller (ankle) left in the second half with injuries. Miller did not return.
The Giants go to Kansas City to take on the Chiefs for a Monday night game. The Panthers travel to Atlanta to face the Falcons next Sunday.
