Uneven results from Giants in pre-season opener vs. Carolina

PANTHERS 20
GIANTS 10

After three weeks of turmoil during which time the Giants did virtually nothing to improve their ball club in the blitzkrieg off-season, Big Blue took to the field for the first time this year and looked pretty pedestrian against a very young Carolina Panthers team.

The Giants allowed the likes of Jimmy Clausen and Cam Newton to rip them to shreds through the air; Big Blue didn't get much pressure at all on the young quarterbacks, thus stressing the need to have Osi Umenyiora back on this football team.

Newton, who was the number one overall pick in April's draft, looked the part, as he zipped passes all over the field, making the Giants secondary look foolish. Newton threw for 134 yards on 8-of-19 passing. Clausen was also sharp for Carolina, 4-of-7 for 69 yards including an 18 yard touchdown to former Bear Greg Olsen.

Overall it was not a good night for the Giants. After Michael Boley's interception return for a touchdown, the G-Men allowed Clausen to drive the Panthers right down the field for the tying score.

As for the Giants offense, you didn't get to see a lot from the first team to make a sound judgement from their performance; however, all of the hand-wringing over the loss of Steve Smith may be for naught if Dominick Hixon continues to progress from his return from a knee injury. Hixon had three catches for 58 yards and might be the Giants answer for number three receiver.

The Giants could have had a better shot to win this game, but shaky kicker Lawrence Tynes missed two field goals that kept Big Blue from taking at least a 16-13 halftime lead.

So where are these Giants after one game? It's hard to tell; it's pre-season, but this is a team that is not as bad as people have feared, but it is far from being a really good football team. The Giants have a lots of work to do in the next week before they play the Bears on August 22.