PANTHERS 7
No Hakeem Nicks? No Ahmad Bradshaw? No David Dhiel? No problem.
Three days after their dramatic come-from-behind victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Giants destroyed the Carolina Panthers 36-7 on Thursday night, as back-ups Ramses Barden and Andre Brown led the way for Big Blue.
It didn't take long for the Giants to find the end zone in this one, as quarterback Eli Manning picked up right where he left off against Tampa Bay. Manning hit Victor Cruz for 12 on the first play of the game, then connected with Barden for eight more yards. Two plays later, Brown found a crease and dashed up the middle for 31 yards to move the ball to the Carolina 22.
Three plays later, Manning found tight end Martellous Bennett in the end zone for the score. It was the third straight game in which Bennett recorded a touchdown.The Giants offensive onslaught continued, as Manning completed five of six passes on Big Blue's next series, before Lawrence Tynes connected on a 47-yard field to make it 10-0 Giants.
With the Panthers completly discombobulated on two offensive series, the Giants took full advantage, and put the game away early in the second quarter, when Brown scored on a 1-yard plunge to make it 17-0. The Giants scored on their first four possessions, extending their lead to 20-0 right before the half.
Defensively, the Giants confused last year's Rookie of the Year Cam Newton all night. Using several different blitz packages, the Giants got to Newton, sacking him twice, hurrying him all night, and forcing him to throw three interceptions. Even though Newton threw for 242 yards, it was a soft 242, as the Giants D never broke against the Panthers vaunted offense.
As for the stars of the show. Andre Brown was incredible. Last week he burst onto the scene rushing for 71 yards, this week he may have taken Ahmad Bradshaw's job with this performance. Brown ran for 113 yards and two scores. He has a head of steam that has been lacking in the Giants ground game for a few years.
As for Barden, his efforts showed how deep the Giants receiving corps truly is. Barden had a career day, hauling in nine catches for 138 yards, as the Panthers double-covered Victor Cruz all night. With Barden's superlative effort on Thursday, the Giants can rest assure that they have a guy who can step in if Hakeem Nicks should miss any more time.
The Giants looked mighty impressive on Thursday; for the first time this year, it looked like the club that won a Super Bowl last season. Now Big Blue gets 10 days off before a monster clash with the Philadelphia Eagles in week 4.
No comments:
Post a Comment