Giants-Panthers ‘Kudos and Wet Willies’: Daniel Jones and the Giants just weren’t good enough

Who deserves praise, who deserves criticism after Sunday’s loss to Carolina?

We are breaking tradition here at Big Blue View. ‘Kudos and Wet Willies’, which usually runs the morning after New York Giants, is here early. It may stay that way going forward, we’ll see.

Anyway, let’s get to our unique review of the Giants’ gut-wrenching 20-17 overtime loss to the Carolina Panthers on Sunday.

Kudos to …

Brian Burns — The excellent edge defender promised to be “extra-motivated” Sunday against his former team. Burns was. He had a sack on Carolina’s second offensive play, and was a force all morning in Munich. Burns ended up with nine tackles (two for loss) and a quarterback hit.

Burns had a career-high seven pressures, creating pressure on 28% of his rush attempts.

In his sixth NFL season, Burns has never played on a team with a winning record. He deserves better than that.

Jalin Hyatt — With Darius Slayton (concussion) out, Hyatt got off the bench and delivered a good performance. He had four receptions on four targets for 39 yards, three of those on the Giants’ game-tying final drive of regulation. Hyatt also drew a 43-yard defensive pass interference penalty on the first play of the game.

Evan Neal — In his first real action of 2024 (two snaps in nine games doesn’t really count), the third-year right tackle acquitted himself well.

Neal not only was not a problem for the Giants’ offense. He was an asset.

Per NextGenStats, Neal allowed just one pressure on 41 pass block snaps (2.4%), setting a career-low in pressure rate allowed (minimum 10 pass blocks). He also appeared to move Carolina defenders in the run game.

Wet Willies to …

Daniel Jones — Jones’ final numbers (22 of 37 for 194 yards with two interceptions) don’t tell the story of how poor a performance this was by the quarterback. And going 7 of 10 for 55 yards on a game-tying drive at the end of regulation wasn’t enough to rescue the performance, or the Giants.

Jones was just 6 of 14 for 54 yards and an interception in a pitiful first half that saw the Giants get shut out, going to the locker room trailing, 10-0.

To be honest, I expected head coach Brian Daboll to pull Jones in favor of Drew Lock at halftime. I had even written a ‘Lock takes over for Jones’ post during halftime to be ready for that.

• Jones airmailed a wide open Malik Nabers on third-and-8 from the Carolina 38-yard line, killing a scoring opportunity and forcing a punt.
• The Giants tried a flea flicker on a third-and-1 in the second quarter. Maybe not a great idea, but after watching the Giants quarterback sneak that play several times this year I won’t kill the effort for a big play. With two receivers open down field for big plays, a slow to see the play Jones took a sack and forced a punt.
• Jones’ ball placement was off all day, and it was interesting having Kurt Warner on the call for NFL Network to discuss the times and ways that hurt the Giants. One was on the fourth quarter red zone interception when Tyrone Tracy couldn’t handle a pass slightly behind him and it bounced into the hands of Carolina’s Josey Jewell. I think the ball was catchable, but Jones’ ball placement made it a difficult play.

To his credit, Jones went 16 of 23 for 136 yards in the second half. He helped the Giants score 17 points. He played with his usual toughness, and ran for 26 yards.

His limitations, and the ways in which they can hold back the Giants, though, were clear. The Giants have a bye before a Week 12 game at MetLife Stadium against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I have to think there is a strong possibility Lock, not Jones, is the quarterback.

Brian Daboll — You know the drill with me. I hate putting the head coach or his coordinators in the ‘K&WWs’. How can I not today with Daboll, though?

The Giants are 2-8 for the second season in a row. They are 8-19 since they won a playoff game in Daboll’s first season as head coach.

They just lost a game to the Carolina Panthers, a team considered so bad that the Giants had actually been installed as 6.5-point favorites by FanDuel Sportsbook prior to the game.

Daboll’s Giants now own the title of Worst Team in Football. Before the afternoon slate of games concludes, the Giants have the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.

Photo by Sven Hoppe/picture alliance via Getty Images

It isn’t necessarily Daboll’s fault that Jones can’t put the ball where he needs to put it. It’s not Daboll’s fault Jones doesn’t always see the field well. It isn’t the coach’s fault that the Giants committed three turnovers or that Graham Gano missed a 43-yard field field goal that ultimately cost the Giants the game.

Daboll admitted he would like the flea flicker play call back, but there were receivers open and the play should have worked.

Daboll is right, though, that “the results aren’t there” in a results-oriented business.

Talent-wise, the Giants should not be a 2-8 football team. But, they are.

This is what co-owner John Mara said a few weeks ago about the job status of Daboll and GM Joe Schoen:

“We are not making any changes this season and I do not anticipate making any changes in the offseason either.”

There was a point in time in 2019 when Mara didn’t anticipate firing Pat Shurmur, and a point in time in 2021 where Joe Judge seemed safe, too.

Giants’ run defense — The Giants entered the game giving up a league-worst 5.2 yards per rushing attempt. We should have known what was coming.

Panthers’ running back Chuba Hubbard celebrated the four-year, $33.2 million contract extension he signed a few days ago with a career day. Hubbard had a career-high 153 yards on 28 carries, 5.3 yards per carry. Hubbard two runs of 26 yards, a 25-yard run, and a 15-yard run. Carolina quarterback Bryce Young also had a 24-yard scramble.

In all, Carolina rushed for 188 yards on 32 carries, 5.9 yards per rushing attempt.

Kwillies to …

Graham Gano — Gano missed his first field-goal attempt after seven weeks on IR, pushing a 43-yard effort wide right in the second quarter. That wasted a 10-play drive by the Giants and, of course, turned out to be points lost that would have allowed the Giants to win in regulation. Gano did make the game-tying 42-yard field goal at the end of regulation. Without his earlier miss, though, that is a game-winning effort.

Tyrone Tracy — I feel terrible for the rookie running back. He had another excellent day running the ball, carrying 18 times for 103 yards (5.7 yards per carry) and a 32-yard touchdown run. Tracy, though, had the game-deciding mistake as former Giant A’Shawn Robinson stripped him of the ball on the first play of overtime, setting up Carolina’s winning points. Tracy also could not haul in a Jones pass in the fourth quarter, resulting in an interception at the Carolina 9-yard line and more lost points for the Giants.