Kudos & Wet Willies review for Giants-Panthers: Team effort makes Giants 2-0

The New York Giants 2-0! So, it’s a happy Monday for the Giants fans as they enjoy being number one in the NFC East after Sunday’s 19-16 win over Carolina Panthers. As we always do, let’s review our unique “Kudos & Wet Willies” style.

Glory to…

Graham Gano – The guy has been great since coming to the Giants in 2020, and that continued on Sunday. Game winner from 56 yards, another field goal from 51 yards, plus 33 and 36 yards. Jano has been rock solid for over seasons now.

Ritchie James – For the second week in a row, James was a big part of Attack on Titan. Hold five passes for 51 yards. Two of those catches, 15 yards and 12 yards, came in positions 3 and 10 that made a first touchdown to keep the Giants’ only landing drive alive.

Daniel Parhizkaran / NorthJersey.com / USA Today Network

Oshane Ximines – The Ximines secured their first position since 2019, and seized the opportunity when Panthers midfielder Baker Mayfield was sent out of his pocket by Leonard Williams. He had a quarterback, a defensive pass and a pair of tackles.

This is Ximines cascading effect games. No one has benefited more from the clean slate provided by the new coaching staff than the 2019 third-round pick.

“It feels great,” Ximines told me after the match. “Anytime you can help the team win which is a big deal. I love this game. I am happy that I can help.”

Daboll praised Ximines in his post-match press conference.

“I don’t know where he was last year. I only know where he is this year,” Daboll said. “His mind is right. He was a huge part of our football team. He has energy. I think he has talent. I think Wink is getting talent out of it. He is a confident player.”

Wink Martindale – No Kayvon Thibodeaux? No Aziz Ogolari? No Aaron Robinson? Does Leonard Williams down a stretch on Sunday? Not a problem.

Martindale, the highly aggressive defensive coordinator, continued to demand creative pressing packages. Nothing, of course, is more significant than the 3rd and 5th District’s blitzkrieg that led to Julian Love’s sack and Carolina Barges as the Giants, 19-16, advanced right before the two-minute warning.

Safeties Xavier McKinney and Julian Love have often aligned close to the scrimmage line as a false-back, with rookie Dane Belton playing with high security.

Julian Love – Made the biggest defensive tackle in the game, sacking the aforementioned third-placed Mayfield and allowing the Giants to reclaim the ball and exhaust the clock. Love ended with seven tackles (two for a loss), a sack and a knockout quarterback while constantly buzzing around the line of scrimmage. Love, a captain, looks like a player benefiting from the first starting role in his four-year career.

Giants Defense – Martindale, Love, and Ximines have been praised individually. The Carolina Giants finished with 2 out of 12 (16.7 percent) in third place. They got a big stopping point at the end of the game. Other than one quick three-game, 67-yard run in the third quarter, the Giants kept the Carolinas out of the finish zone. Dexter Lawrence, McKinney, Adore Jackson and even safety rookie Dean Bilton were influential enough perhaps to merit individual “glory”. All in all, a great effort.

special teams Jano was hardly the only bright spot for the special teams. In the opener, Dane Belton reclaimed a Chopa Hubbard stumble caused by Carter Coughlin to give the Giants the ball into the Panthers’ 22-yard line. This is Jano’s first field goal. Potter Jimmy Gillan averaged 50.6 yards on five rounds, with a net average of 43.6 yards.

Giants fans – It’s been a long time since Giants fans read Hope, and that can be felt at MetLife Stadium on Sunday. The stadium was lively from the start, and while there was some booing at the faltering attack during the middle of the match, this crowd was lively and lively and waving towels. That made the players buzz.

Wet Willis to…

offensive line The offensive line struggled with the Carolina Front Seven all day. Midfielder Daniel Jones has been sacked three times and is constantly under duress. While they finished 103 rushing yards, the Giants had a zero in that class in the first half.

Evan Neal and Andrew Thomas were full of Carolina defender Brian Burns, who finished two sacks and four quarterbacks.

When the Giants reached the Carolina line 29 yards and tied the score, 16-16, quarterback John Feliciano missed a block that led to a 4-yard loss by Matt Breda, then committed a penalty. Gano’s kick from 56 yards saved him, but Feliciano cost the Giants 14 critical yards.

Rookie Josh Ezeudu had two parts (only one was accepted) and was a day up and down the left guard while continuing his NFL education.

Coyles for…

Daniel Jones – Many will look back at Jones’ 176-yard day, in the fact that the Giants only had 265 yards of total attack, in the fact that they only scored one goal and assume the quarterback deserves a Whit Willy.

I will beg to differ.

Jones, as I said above, was constantly beaten and harassed by the Carolina Bass Rush. However, he never flipped the ball.

Jones made the two big throws to James, one of them after he was kicked out of the jeep, which I talked about above. There was a 24-yard fourth-quarter arrow to David Sills in third and tenth from the Giants’ 35-yard streak with the score knot at 13-13 that helped set up Gano’s 51-yard field goal.

Finally, there were the Giants putting the game into Jones’ hands in third and sixth from the 40-yard streak while maintaining a 19-16 lead with 1:50 to play, Jones making the right decision, throwing the ball away and running for 11 yards to take the win instead of trying to force I will be barkley on throwing the ball.

Barkley said Jones “made a whole bunch of big plays during this game.”

Daboll was delighted to play the quarterback.

“I thought he played a good game. I thought he made great decisions with the ball in his hands. He took care of it. He led the team down again to finish a campaign to win the match. So, that’s two good weeks I would say to Daniel.” Make the right decision, take care of the ball. When there was pressure on him, he threw it away if he needed to throw it away, then sprinted on the last naked there to take the first down. He could do a lot of different things, and made the right decision under pressure in an awkward situation. He has taken steps and I’m happy for him.”

Obviously, winning games while throwing less than 200 yards is not sustainable. However, Jones made Sunday plays that helped his team win. This is, after all, what it is supposed to do.

Cor’Dale Flott – The third-round rookie pick matched well with DJ Moore’s 1,000-yard receiver three times during the first half of Sunday, making him a one-yard pick-up for -2 yards on three goals.

But in the second half, Moore and the Panthers attacked Flute. Carolina’s opening game in the third quarter was a 29-yard pass to Moore with a trailing flute. That started on a touchdown run that ended with Moore’s 16-yard win over Flute, and saw Flute head off to the bench in favor of veteran linebacker Fabian Moreau.