Daniel Jones and the New York Giants have a long journey back from Germany and a bye week to mull over what’s going wrong in a 2-8 season.
There’s a lot to consider.
“I’m not sure [that] it’s one thing consistently,” Jones said after a visit to Munich ended in the Giants’ first loss in an international regular-season game. “I think several things, and we’ve got to every game be dialed in on all those critical things that determine winning and losing.”
A slow start cost the Giants, who didn’t score until the third quarter of a 20-17 overtime loss to the Carolina Panthers on Sunday. Jones was sacked twice and threw two interceptions in his team’s fifth consecutive loss.
Trailing 17-7, Jones ran for a 2-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter to cap a 13-play, 96-yard drive that took almost seven minutes. He led a 12-play drive that tied the game on Graham Gano’s 42-yard field goal with five seconds left that forced overtime.
“It’s very frustrating,” Jones said. “Came up short, obviously hurt ourselves a lot. Turnovers were a critical factor in the game. Very frustrating.”
When Giants edge rusher — and former Panther — Brian Burns sacked the Panthers’ Bryce Young on the first drive of the game, it seemed as if it could be another long day for Carolina.
Instead, the Panthers led 10-0 at the half after Young’s 5-yard pass to Ja’Tavion Sanders and Eddy Pineiro’s 53-yard field goal. The Giants came into the game with a league-low 139 points, and didn’t add to that total until running back Tyrone Tracy Jr.’s 32-yard touchdown in the third quarter.
“We’ve got to get off to a faster start and stay on the field, sustain drives in the first half,” Jones said.
Tracy fumbled on the Giants first play from scrimmage in overtime. Josey Jewell recovered at the 23-yard line for the Panthers, and Pineiro’s 36-yard field goal clinched the win for Carolina.
Coach Brian Daboll said he hadn’t considered benching Jones at halftime. “I thought we could get something going, which we did,” he said.
Ahead of playing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Nov. 24, the Giants have two weeks to regroup.
“Obviously, we’re not where we want to be,” Daboll said. “We’ll evaluate things in bye week, do the things we need to do.”
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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