The Carolina Panthers are set to travel to MetLife Stadium to take on the New York Giants in a week two matchup. Carolina is coming into the game after a loss to the Cleveland Browns while the Giants took a win last week against the Tennessee Titans. Both teams will likely not be contending for a postseason spot, so it should be a pretty close matchup.
Carolina Panthers Look to Bounce Back After Week One Loss
The Panthers took a narrow 26-24 defeat against the Cleveland Browns last week. This would have been a golden opportunity for the Panthers to start the Baker Mayfield era off on the right foot with the young quarterback’s first start with the Panthers coming against the team that traded him to Carolina. Although they were unable to win the game, there were still a lot of positive takeaways for the Panthers. They will have an easier matchup this week against the Giants, and this should be a good chance for Mayfield and the offense to continue building upon what they started in the second half of their game against Cleveland.
On the defensive side of things, the Panthers did a good job of containing the Browns’ offense. They kept Nick Chubb out of the endzone, and along with this, did not allow too many yards in the passing game. They will be facing off against a better quarterback this week in Daniel Jones. Along with this, Saquon Barkley is coming off of a monster opening week in which he appears to still be an elite running back when healthy.
This is a winnable game for the Panthers and an opportunity that they must take advantage of. If it takes too long for the team to secure their first win with Baker Mayfield under center, the team may begin to start looking elsewhere for their starting quarterback. While it has only been one game, the Panthers are not a team that will easily win too many games this year and every winnable game counts for them this season.
New York Giants Hope to Keep Undefeated Season Alive against Carolina Panthers
On the flip side of things, the Giants pulled off a 21-20 point upset against the Tennessee Titans. New York did an incredible job of keeping Derrick Henry contained. He finished the game with only 82 yards on 21 carries. While this was Henry’s first game back since his season-ending injury last season, keeping arguably the best back in football under 100 yards on 20+ carries is an impressive feat. As a result of most of the defensive effort and game planning going into stopping the run, the Giants did not fare too well against the passing game of the Titans.
On the offensive side of the ball, Barkley played a pivotal role in the offense. On the ground, he had 164 yards and a touchdown on only 18 carries, and through the air, he had six receptions for 30 yards. Along with this, quarterback Daniel Jones had a very solid season opener. He threw for 188 yards two touchdowns and one interception. If the Giants offense can continue to play this efficiently, they may be able to contend for second place in their division this season and make a solid regular season run.
