Grading the Giants in NFL Week 7 vs. Carolina Panthers

OFFENSE: C

The 20 points in the second half made it easy to forget the offense looked terrible in the first half. They had first-and-goal at the 2-yard line and didn’t score any points, and committed some ghastly penalties that skunked drives. All was forgiven when Daniel Jones caught the pass from Dante Pettis to kickstart the unit. Jones played one of the cleanest games of his career, precise and smart with the ball while distributing it to seven different receivers. Their 302 net yards was their second-lowest total of the season, just slightly better than the 261 they posted last week against the Rams. Jones was the first Giants player to complete a pass, catch a pass and run the ball since Kerry Collins at Denver on Sept. 10, 2001. Unlike Jones, Collins did it when his pass was batted back to him and he caught it. No Giants quarterback had caught a pass since then.

DEFENSE: A

Where has this been? After allowing 82 points the previous two weeks they dominated the Panthers, holding them to 173 yards, which were the fewest since they limited the Bengals to 155 last November. They sacked quarterbacks Sam Darnold and P.J. Walker six times; their previous high this season was three in a game against the Falcons. There is one thing they have been consistent with all year: James Bradberry’s interception gave the Giants at least one takeaway in each of their first seven games for the first time since 2011. (That team had one in each of its first 10.)

SPECIAL TEAMS: C

Graham Gano served his revenge against the Panthers with a trio of field goals, connecting from 49, 53 and 44 yards. His five field goals of 50 or more yards this season tie the franchise single-season record, which Gano set last year, and helped him break the career record in that category which was held by Joe Danelo. But the rest of the special teams were far less consistent, with bad penalties that negated decent returns and some less-than-stellar punt coverage that resulted in a touchback.

COACHING: B

The Giants were without most of their playmakers but recognized they had at least one around whom to build the game plan: Daniel Jones. Everything they did ran through him, whether it was a college-style option run or the wide-receiver pass. They also kept him on the move to help him avoid the pressure behind a duct-taped offensive line. Defensively, the Giants were able to generate pressure on an opposing QB for the first time in a while, albeit against a team with an equally banged up offensive line. The Giants worked in a few gimmicks and outside-the-box plays — like the lack of a returner on the first punt — that flashed creativity.

By Tom Rock

tom.rock@newsday.com@TomRock_Newsday

Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.