The Giants (1-0) were an intriguing pick to cover last week as 5.5-point underdogs, and not only did they make that happen, they won outright. Baker Mayfield’s first game —
against his former team, the Cleveland Browns — is behind him. The end result: 16-for-27 passing, 235 yards, two touchdowns (one rushing), one pick and one loss to Jacoby Brissett.
The Panthers ended 2021 on a seven-game losing streak. That skid is now eight after Sunday’s loss to the Browns. Carolina is 10-24 under coach Matt Rhule’s reign. The recent history isn’t pretty in Charlotte, but in reality, it’s the kind of streak we expect to be broken sooner rather than later.
Mayfield led the Panthers back from a nine-point deficit with 6:13 to go, helped by a 75-yard touchdown pass to Robbie Anderson. They’d have won the game if not for Cleveland’s 58-yard
field goal conversion in the dying seconds. The two-point loss was far closer than any of their first seven losses of this stretch, four of which came by double digits.
The Giants can still be hurt through the air, and three cornerbacks are on the injury report as of Wednesday, along with pass-rushers Azeez Ojulari and rookie Kayvon
Thibodeaux. We’d also venture to say that Mayfield is more talented at this stage of his career than Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill, who fared well in Week 1.
These teams don’t present a huge mismatch on paper, and if Sunday’s game is remotely close, we’ll play the law of averages and take Mayfield and the Panthers to finish the job this time.
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Meanwhile, there are undoubtedly positives to take away from New York’s win, one of them being the run defense. The Giants held Derrick Henry under four yards per carry (21 for 82 yards) and limited the Titans to 93 rushing yards overall.
Now the Giants go from one star running back coming off an injury to another. McCaffrey totaled an underwhelming 57 yards from scrimmage on 10 carries and four receptions. Carolina only gained 54 yards rushing on 2.8 per carry.
Add it all up, and the 43.5-point over/under line feels generous. Giants-Titans failed to hit the over last week, also set at 43.5 points. We’ll lean under this time.
