Sports

/

ArcaMax

Grading Panthers' overtime win against the Giants: A new home-field advantage in Munich

Mike Kaye, The Charlotte Observer on

Published in Football

MUNICH, Germany — The Carolina Panthers have a new home-field advantage, and it’s more than 4,500 miles from Charlotte.

On Sunday in Munich, Germany, the Panthers put together their most memorable outing of the Dave Canales era, overcoming the New York Giants in a 20-17 overtime win at Allianz Arena.

The Panthers, who arrived in Munich on Friday, showed little sign of jet leg as they wiped the grass — yes, grass — with a Daniel Jones-led squad throughout the first half to take a 10-0 lead to halftime. Conversely, second-year QB Bryce Young and running back Chuba Hubbard led the Carolina offense with notable heroics throughout much of the matchup.

The home of FC Bayern Munich saw Hubbard, the team’s top offensive player, go off for a career-high 153 rushing yards and a touchdown against a defense that featured former Panthers outside linebacker Brian Burns. Young, who anchored his second consecutive win as the team’s starting quarterback, was accurate, creative and elusive with the ball. Young didn’t try to do too much, but he looked confident and comfortable behind a line that gave him plenty of time against the league’s best pass-rushing front.

The defense, a typical target for dismay, came up with three huge turnovers on foreign soil, as linebacker Josey Jewell came up big with two total takeaways in the fourth quarter and overtime. Ejiro Evero’s unit came away up with the biggest play of the game in overtime, as defensive end A’Shawn Robinson forced a fumble on a Tyrone Tracy run. Jewell recovered the ball that led to a 36-yard, game-winning field goal by Eddy Piñeiro.

The Panthers have now won two consecutive games for the first time since Dec. 11, 2022. Carolina has as many wins in Europe as it does in Charlotte in 2024, but for the first time in a long time, the Panthers looked like a competent all-around operation for a second week in a row.

Heading into the Week 11 bye, Canales, general manager Dan Morgan and Panthers owner David Tepper have to feel like the tide is starting to turn a bit, especially after several of Morgan’s offseason additions stepped up big time in an international setting in Process Blue jerseys and black satin helmets.

Here is how each unit graded out in the win in Munich:

Bryce Young, Panthers’ pass offense vs. Giants

While the Panthers’ opening drive offered little more than a whimper — unless you count former Panthers pass rusher Burns’ second-play sack as something to celebrate — Young and Carolina’s offense woke up on the second series with quite a few big plays.

During the second drive, Young led an eight-play, 90-yard touchdown scoring drive by contributing 43 passing yards and a touchdown. Young hit rookie Xavier Legette for a pair of big gains, including a 23-yard strike to start the series. He later connected with rookie tight end Ja’Tavion Sanders for a 5-yard touchdown pass. Sanders’ scoring completion was his first touchdown as an NFL player.

Young kept going into the air on the next series, completing a pair of early tosses to rookie wideout Jalen Coker for 32 combined yards. That push up the field eventually led to a successful 53-yard field goal make by Piñeiro.

Young completed 10 of 16 passes for 94 yards and a touchdown in the first half. He had a 99.5 passer rating at halftime. He was only sacked once in the first half.

With Hubbard running wild, Young was able to lean on the rushing attack on the opening series of the first half. While he connected with wideout David Moore for a would-be touchdown completion, an illegal formation penalty wiped out the play. Then a false start by right guard Robert Hunt pushed the offense back even further. Young made up for the lost yardage by going back to Moore and Sanders in back-to-back plays. Those completions eventually led to a Hubbard rushing TD.

Despite Hubbard’s hot start, a brutal mistake in the fourth quarter tampered with his special day. Young targeted Hubbard in the flat, but the running back fumbled the way the ball with Carolina within its own 30-yard line. The Giants recovered in the red zone and were set up with excellent field position. Luckily for the Panthers, the defense got the ball back on a clutch pick by linebacker Jewell.

Young was asked to come up big on third-and-8 with less than three minutes left in the game, and he delivered one of the biggest throws of his career. He hit Legette toward the sideline with a perfect pass for a 12-yard gain and a new set of downs. The play forced the Giants to burn all of their remaining timeouts with 2:34 left in the contest. Unfortunately, Young also airmailed a pass to the flat for Hubbard that bounced off the running back’s hands on third-and-10 with 2:30 left.

Young finished with a 60% completion percentage and 126 passing yards. He also threw for a touchdown and had a 86.4 passer rating. He was sacked just once.

Grade: B-

Chuba Hubbard, Carolina’s run offense vs. New York

Hubbard, who signed a four-year, $33.2 million contract extension on Thursday, got off to a locomotive-like start on Sunday. The Canadian-born-and-raised running back made the most of his international game debut with a pair of 26-yard pickups on the second series of the game. He surpassed 60 rushing yards before the 8-minute mark in the first quarter.

Hubbard quickly added to his total on the next drive with 22 yards on his first four carries of the series.

Hubbard finished the first half with 93 rushing yards on 12 carries, averaging 7.8 yards per carry. Miles Sanders, who left the game in the second quarter and didn’t return with ankle and foot injuries, had 5 rushing yards on two carries before exiting.

The Panthers’ well-paid top running back continued to churn up the field in the second half, picking up a third gain of 25 yards or more in the first three quarters. On third-and-1, Hubbard broke open for a 25-yard trot to give Carolina momentum after a Giants TD score on ground. With the run, Hubbard reached 127 yards on his first 15 carries with roughly 23 minutes left in the game.

Hubbard made running against the Giants look so fruitful that Young took off for a big gain off his own on the next play, picking up 24 yards on a scramble. The run was 2 yards shy of Young’s career high tote. Hubbard eventually capped the same drive with a 1-yard touchdown score. Hubbard had a new career high of 138 yards after crossing pay dirt.

Despite having a fumble lost on a catch, Hubbard still had a nearly pristine performance. He ran for 153 rushing yards and a touchdown on 28 carries and averaged 5.5 yards per carry in his first game after inking his life-changing contract extension.

Grade: A

Jaycee Horn, Panthers’ pass defense vs. Giants

The Panthers’ pass defense got off to a rough start with a free-play, pass-interference penalty on cornerback Mike Jackson, who was one of the team’s captains before the game, as he was born in Germany. The penalty sent the Giants into Panthers territory with a 43-yard gain. Luckily for the Panthers, the unit immediately settled down and forced the Giants off the field three plays later without points.

Jackson then bounced back on the next drive with a big pass breakup on a five-play failed drive.

Cornerback Jaycee Horn later had an impressive pass breakup on wide receiver Jalin Hyatt, following a 19-yard completion to the speedy receiver, which took the Giants into field-goal range, luckily former Panthers kicker Graham Gano missed the 41-yard attempt.

 

Returning pass rusher DJ Wonnum was particularly impressive with forcing pressure on the first two drives of the game. Wonnum also had a drive killing sack on QB Jones, who attempted a flea-flicker throw on the third series of the game. Wonnum came around from Jones’ blindside and clocked Jones, a Charlotte native, from behind.

Pass rusher Jadeveon Clowney made a huge play in the red zone with the Giants starting to gain moment. He batted a Jones pass in the air, and safety Xavier Wood collected the ball for an interception. It was the Panthers’ first interception since Week 4 when Woods collected his first of the season against the Cincinnati Bengals.

Jones was held to 54 passing yards and an interception on a 42.8% completion percentage in the first half. He was sacked once in the first two quarters and had 24.1 passer rating.

Jones was able to lean on the running attack for most of the second half, as he led back-to-back, touchdown-scoring drives. But he did turn around his completion ratio around, adding 70 total passing yards on the two series. That brought up his passer rating to 55.9 with 8:33 left in the game.

Following a fumble recovery by the Giants in the red zone, Jewell, a veteran linebacker, made an incredible diving interception of a Jones pass toward the sideline. The play wiped away any potential points for the Giants, who were in position to tie or take the lead in the game.

Jones got another chance with 2:30 left in the game. He targeted rookie wideout Malik Nabers on back-to-back completions for 14 yards. Following the two-minute warning, Jones went back to the air, targeting Nabers down the field. While the initial call was a catch, a challenge by the Panthers showed it was a clear incompletion. Jones kept going back to his wideouts and completed a big one to Hyatt, before getting to Nabors for another set of downs at the 27-yard line. Jones completed eight of 11 passes with 10 seconds left in the game. That success set up a 43-yard field goal for Gano, who made it to send the game to overtime.

Jones completed 22 of 37 passes for 190 yards and two interceptions. He had a 50.5 passer rating and was sacked twice.

Grade: B

Trevin Wallace, Carolina’s run defense vs. Carolina

The Giants rushed just five times for 21 yards on their first two drives of the game, with Jones, the quarterback, making up most of the yardage with a 10-yard trot. But on the third series, rookie running back Tracy, started to heat up with a pair of runs for 16 total yards.

He exploded for a 19-yard run into the red zone ahead of the two-minute warning. The big play, which featured an impressive spin move in space, put the Giants at the 19-yard line.

Tracy rushed for 40 yards on eight carries in the first half.

Tracy kept on churning in the second half. He got the Giants back in the game by rushing for 32 yards, straight through the heart of defense, for a touchdown on the first series of the third quarter. He ran right past the outreached arm of Clowney on his way to paydirt. The Panthers had played relatively well against the run to that point with gang tackles and surges up the field.

Jones started to get a bit more active on the ground in the second half, complementing Tracy in the running game. After tossing a couple of big throws to get into the red zone, Jones picked up a rushing touchdown on the second scoring series of the game for New York.

The Giants finished the game with 167 rushing yards, two rushing touchdowns and a fumble loss. Tracy produced 130 rushing yards, a score and a turnover on 18 carries, while Jones added 26 yards and a TD on seven totes.

Grade:C

Johnny Hekker, Panthers’ special teams vs. Giants

The special teams group had a bit of mixed bag to start the game. Raheem Blackshear muffed a punt return and just barely saved the team from a turnover near its goal line. But that drive ended up leading to another scoring drive for the offense.

Piñeiro made his longest field-goal attempt of the season at 53 yards on the second scoring series to start the second quarter. He then immediately failed to launch a ball into the landing zone on the kickoff, which led to a penalty for the Panthers, which gave the Giants better field position.

The Panthers’ field-goal blocking unit was also on the field for a 41-yard miss by Gano that seemed to be impacted by rust following a long injury absence.

Penalties were an issue in the first half. Tight end Feleipe Franks and former Panthers returner Ihmir Smith-Marsette got into following a return attempt in the second quarter, which created offsetting penalties. Special teams captain Sam Franklin was called for a holding penalty on a punt return.

Punter Johnny Hekker launched seven punts in the game. He averaged 48.1 yards per punt, with three downed within the 20. Piñeiro made both of his field-goal attempts, including a new-season high make with the 53-yarder and the 36-yard game-winner. He also made both of his extra-point attempts.

Grade: B+

Carolina’s overall grade vs. New York

The Panthers won the turnover battle and outrushed the Giants on the ground. Hubbard, outside of his one blip, was phenomenal and set the tone like the best player on the Panthers’ offense that he is. Wonnum, making his debut for Carolina, played an outstanding game, with his first-half output setting the tone for the defense.

It was a complementary football game for Canales’ squad. While it wasn’t perfect and went to overtime, the Panthers gave the traveling fans hope for a better future with him at the helm.

Carolina is on a two-game winning streak and the ride home should be a fun one. Forget Victory Monday, the Panthers just scored a Victory Week Off.

Overall grade: B


©2024 The Charlotte Observer. Visit at charlotteobserver.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

 

Comments

blog comments powered by Disqus