Week 10 brings a change of scenery for the (2-7) New York Giants, as they travel across the pond to Germany to take on the (2-7) Carolina Panthers.
Both teams are trying to prove that they are not the worst team in the league. There’s another thing on the line; both teams are undefeated when playing internationally, with the Giants at 4-0 and the Panthers at 1-0. The winner of this game gets to keep that streak going.
The Giants have lost four in a row though, even if some of those games were close loses. Can the Giants reverse their fortune in a winnable game and keep their undefeated international record intact? Here are the key players for them to do so.
Key Players for the Giants
Carolina’s defense can be beat both through the air and on the ground; they have a bottom-8 defense in both categories and are dead last in rushing defense. With that in mind, both Malik Nabers and Tyrone Tracy Jr. are key players in this offense run by Daniel Jones.
Nabers has 84 targets and we’re about halfway through the season, so he obviously commands the ball in his direction a lot through the air. It’s worth noting he has cooled a bit since his hot start in the beginning of the year though, and sometimes seems out of sync with Jones. Regardless, he’s still an elite player that will get plenty of opportunities this game.
Unfortunately it looks like Darius Slayton will miss the game with a concussion as he’s not flying to Germany with the team. In two of the last five games, Slayton had gained over 100 yards – and will be missed in this offense.
In his absence, the Giants will need to turn to Wan’Dale Robinson and Jalin Hyatt as the WR2 and WR3. Robinson will be involved as the underneath receiver and will be used near the line of scrimmage, with Hyatt being used sporadically as their deep threat.
As for the rushing attack, Tracy has averaged an elite five yards per carry this season, and has hit over 100 yards on the ground twice in the last five weeks. Not to mention, Tracy also has pass-catching skills that can be utilized to move the ball downfield. Devin Singletary has been relegated to backup RB status, but will still get some work in this game and has the chance to make an impact against a bottom tier defense.
The defense has taken a bit of a step back, as injuries have racked up and offenses have been able to take advantage of some roster weaknesses more effectively. They do still lead the league in sacks, however, and have a dominant pass rush led by Dexter Lawrence and Brian Burns with Azeez Ojulari filling in nicely for Kayvon Thibodeaux at the moment. Luckily for them, the Giants face the underachieving Panthers offense and we expect them to get some sacks in this game.
The Giants passing defense has been surprisingly good this year, ranking ninth in yards allowed per game, and facing the Panthers pass catchers won’t hurt their numbers. The New York secondary have been having some personnel issues that hopefully won’t hinder them in this game (Deonte Banks got benched for poor effort and performance), but we’ll need to keep an eye out. They have had some solid play from the new players like Tyler Nubin and Dru Phillips, and hopefully they continue to develop. Even their UDFA find Elijah Chatman has been playing well, and is fifth in rookie pressure leaders.
The Giants defense is susceptible to the run, however, and we expect the Panthers to lean into the rushing attack. New York needs to work on stopping the run and forcing their error-prone QB to scramble and throw on his heels.
Key Players for the Panthers
The key takeaways from the Panthers’ win against the Saints last week is that their team isn’t the worst in the league anymore; and Bryce Young isn’t looking as bad as he did in the beginning of the year.
The Panthers have gone through some changes over the course of the season. Carolina started with Young who played poorly, then switched to Andy Dalton, and then went back to Young at the helm. They traded away Diontae Johnson, their offseason acquisition, and are turning to rookies for the most part. In essence, the team has a lot up in the air.
The key player in this matchup will be Bryce Young. Their No. 1 overall pick a year ago has struggled this season, although he’s looked somewhat better after starting again. He’s still not lighting the world on fire, especially since he doesn’t have any superstar players to throw the ball to. Instead, he’s got rookies Xavier Legette, Jalen Coker, and TE Ja’Tavion Sanders. Let’s see how well Young can utilize the young talent on the team.
Another top key player in this matchup will be Chuba Hubbard. Hubbard is the best player on their offense most likely, and just got signed to a four-year extension. On top of that, the Giants defense is prone to the run, so we expect Hubbard to get a lot of work in this game.
The only unknown would be the involvement of Jonathon Brooks, their rookie RB coming off an ACL tear. We’d expect him to be worked in slowly if he’s cleared to play at all, especially with an effective starter who just got paid sitting in front of him on the depth chart.
The Carolina defense has been really bad this year, so there’s not much to highlight from that side of the ball. The best player they probably have is cornerback Jaycee Horn, but given how poor the team is at stopping the pass, he’s probably not much of a factor in this game.
Keys for a Giants Victory
This is probably the easiest game on paper for the Giants the whole season. The keys for this game are simple – put points on the board since the Panthers have a bottom tier defense, and force Young to win the game for the Panthers.
Daniel Jones has struggled this season at times, but he’s also shown flashes of good play. This should be a game where he shows his upside. He has a top tier receiver in Malik Nabers to throw to, and Nabers should have no problem carving up this defense. Unfortunately, Darius Slayton is out for this game. However, Wan’Dale Robinson should have no problem being the short yardage receiver to balance out the passing attack.
Not only can the team take advantage of the Panthers weak passing defense, but also their weak rushing defense. Tyrone Tracy Jr. should have no problem carving up the defense on the ground, given that he’s done it to much better defenses this year already. Devin Singletary should also get some work in this game and the opportunity to make an impact.
Given that the Giants project to be able to run and pass the ball effectively, they should have no problem putting up points. On top of that, the defense that leads the league in sacks should be able to take advantage of a bottom tier offense as well.
Brian Burns, who was traded to the Giants from the Panthers, gets to face his old team for the first time and should get plenty of pressures and maybe a sack. Dexter Lawrence and Azeez Ojulari should also be able to make Young’s job hard on Sunday.
The Giants main weakness is against the run, which happens to be the Panthers’ main strength. If the Giants can keep the running backs out of the endzone and force Young to put the team on his back, they have a good shot at winning the game.
Will the Giants finally break their losing streak? We’ll find out this Sunday morning.
Evan Solomon
Evan is originally from Queens, NY and grew up on Long Island, and grew to love The New York Giants being surrounded by Giants fans. He's a social media marketer and content creator by day, which is what led him to joining The League Winners creating content about something he loves - football. Keep an eye out for his fantasy content and NFL team breakdowns.