Dominance.
There isn’t any other word to describe last night’s game between the Carolina Panthers and the New York Giants. A game which was anticipated with some excitement, after the Panthers impressive home win over New Orleans. However things quickly descended into a damp squib as the Giants got their foot on the Panthers' throat early and simply never let them up off the ground.
The Panthers had an air of danger around them–with players like Cam Newton, Steve Smith and DeAngelo Williams it’s difficult not to–but they were only able to finish one drive, as the Giants made key plays to halt them on seemingly every attempt. Combined with a defense that was porous, to be generous, Carolina was simply never in the running. They are now faced with the challenge of bouncing back from a disappointing loss for the second time already this season.
Meanwhile, the Giants will crown this game as the culmination of six quarters of football that have seen them return to their best, after a very shaky start to the season. The work that was begun on Sunday by Eli Manning and Hakeem Nicks was picked up by Ramses Barden, Andre Brown and the Giants' defense to emphatically put New York at 2-1, and officially declare them over that Week 1 loss in the season curtain raiser.
New York – Three Performances of Note
The 2009 Draft Class Makes Itself Known
This Thursday night in Carolina was the official coming-out party for the Giants’ 2009 mid-round draft picks. Both Ramses Barden (+2.8) and Andre Brown (+2.0 rushing) put in career nights in front of a nationally televised audience to illustrate the talent the Giants have languishing on their depth chart. As a backup, you don’t get many chances to prove yourself and with starters at running back and receiver out for this game both Barden and Brown, on this night the “Killer B’s”, grasped their opportunity with both hands. Brown looked powerful carrying the football while collecting a 100-yard game and a pair of touchdown. He did let himself down though with a poor pass block that led to Manning being sacked for the first time in a fortnight. Meanwhile out wide, Barden exploited the Panthers' inability to cover the middle of the field and collected seven of his nine receptions between the numbers for 114 of his 138 receiving yards. Performances like this will only make it more difficult for the Giants’ first two picks from this year’s draft to see more of the field.
Beatty States His Case
The Giants depth chart at offensive tackle has long puzzled us at Pro Football Focus. Well, with David Diehl absent through injury the Giants were last night forced to shuffle the pack. In his absence Sean Locklear (+1.3), and in particular William Beatty (+5.4) put forth the perfect example of why they should be the Giants’ starting tackles for the rest of the season. Locklear had one extremely shaky play in pass protection that yielded a hit to Charles Johnson early in the first quarter and allowed a couple of stops in the run game. At left tackle Beatty was nearly faultless in one of the best performances of his career. He allowed a couple of pressures in pass protection, but his run blocking was dominant. He had the key block on each of Andre Brown’s 1-yard touchdown carries.
One-Man Wrecking Crew
While the rest of the Giants’ defensive front is laboring through a fairly slow start to the 2012 regular season, Jason Pierre-Paul (+3.2) has made a fast start. In fact, it's the sort of fast start that marks him out as one of the best and most consistent defenders in the league. His sack in this game was somewhat fortuitous, as Cam Newton was forced into him by the blitz of Michael Boley. Pierre-Paul's game in run defense and rushing the passer was the kind of consummate all-around performance that we have come to expect from him. He batted two passes and nearly intercepted one of them. He also provided another hit and two hurries as a pass rusher, and was a big factor in run defense. The Panthers were running the option off the Giants’ ends and, unlike Osi Umenyiora who looked lost at times, Pierre-Paul ensured that he wouldn’t become passive against the rushing attack. He took advantage of his matchups with Greg Olsen to make a plays against the run, and also stole a stop from Jordan Gross in the third quarter after having stood him up at the line of scrimmage. It’s nothing new, but you can’t help but be impressed by the quality and consistency of the ‘Haitian Sensation'.
Carolina – Three Performances of Note
Lack of Impact at Linebacker
The talent the Panthers have at linebacker, with four potential quality starters, should lead to them having one of the strongest corps in the entire league. However, to this point in the season, and encapsulated by last night’s display against the Giants, that simply hasn’t been the case. “Can’t miss” rookie prospect Luke Kuechly has had a very poor start to the season (-9.1 after three games). He has really struggled to shed blocks efficiently or make plays close to the line of scrimmage, and can look entirely lost in coverage at times. Meanwhile his veteran colleagues, Jon Beason and James Anderson, have missed a combined seven tackles through the first four weeks of the season. The Panthers are ensuring that their best group of defenders get plenty of snaps–Kuechly’s tally of 51 snaps was the lowest among the trio last night–but simply put, they aren’t leading this defense right now in the manner they should be.
Olsen Leads the Way
He still can't run block (-2.4 run block), but there is no doubt Greg Olsen (+2.0 receiving) is a dangerous receiving tight end and last night we finally got to see Panthers’ offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski make full use of him. The spread nature of the Carolina attack makes Olsen the perfect fit for this offense, and, now that he's not vying for attention and targets on the same depth chart as Jeremy Shockey, he was expected to flourish. Last night could, and should, mark his coming-out party. He collected 11 targets against five different defenders, all of whom he caught passes against. Whether he was picked-up by linebackers, safety or corners he was able to get open and make catches, and he shone as the Panthers’ best receiver on the night. However, the Panthers may need to calm it down a little as by the end of the night the Giants were zeroing in on Olsen, which culminated in the awful interception Cam Newton threw to Michael Boley early in the fourth quarter.
Coverage Concerns
There were precious few positive plays to cling to for the Panthers’ secondary last night. They were methodically beaten by a Giants passing game that was without its number one wide receiver, Hakeem Nicks. Carolina weren’t put to the sword by Victor Cruz, but they were caught unawares by the fine display of Ramses Barden. Only a trio of pass defenses lurk in last night’s game as a positive for the Panthers. While slot corner Captain Munnerlyn had another solid game, his cohorts outside and behind him were sloppy. On the first drive Charles Godfrey (-4.2) got the Panthers off to an appalling start with what could loosely be described as the “coverage” he provided on the touchdown pass to Martellus Bennett, and it didn’t get any better from there. For once the Panthers’ problem was not missed tackles. Their defensive backs only missed three tackles this week after missing 15 in the first two games combined. Their coverage simply wasn’t up to scratch. On passes targeted more than 10 yards downfield the Panthers allowed the Giants to complete 10 of 14 for 147 yards. Brutal efficiency from the Giants, but just plain brutal from the Panthers.
Game Notes
– After mentioning his lack of pressure in both of our Giants’ Re-Focused articles so far this year, it’s only fair to mention that Justin Tuck recorded his first two pressures of the regular season in this game. He still graded negatively though (-1.6), with only 2 hurries on 29 pass rushes.
– The 11 targets for Greg Olsen were the most he's had since Week 11 of the 2009 season, when Jay Cutler looked for him 12 times at home to the Philadelphia Eagles.
– Outside of their specialists, the only New York Giant not to play at least four snaps of either offense or defense was Keith Rivers who left the game with a reported hamstring injury during the second quarter.
PFF Game Ball
The Giants were limited to only four active wide receivers in this game, but Ramses Barden ensured they didn’t miss Hakeem Nicks. The former Cal- Poly Mustang took advantage of some generous Panthers coverage for a career day, and outshone Victor Cruz and the rest of the Giants offense.
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