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Game Recap: Giants showcase potential of passing attack

GIANTS-WIN

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – The Giants aired it out Friday night and used their passing attack to defeat the Carolina Panthers, 21-19, in a preseason game in MetLife Stadium.

Quarterbacks Daniel Jones, Tyrod Taylor and Tommy DeVito combined to complete 26 of 33 passes (78.8%) for 247 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. Thirteen different receivers caught at least one pass, led by rookie Jalin Hyatt's four receptions, including a 33-yard touchdown. Taylor absorbed the only two sacks as the Giants allowed three fewer sacks than they did in their loss to Detroit last week.

Most importantly, Jones and the first-team offense, sans Saquon Barkley, was almost perfect in its only series. After receiving the opening kickoff, Jones completed eight of nine passes – the only incompletion was a ball that Darren Waller dropped after a big hit – on a 10-play 75-yard drive that ended with a four-yard touchdown pass to tight end Daniel Bellinger. Waller contributed three catches for 30 yards in his only action of the night.

"It was a good series," coach Brian Daboll said. "Darren had a few catches, efficient. It was one series. Execution was good."

"I thought we did some good things," said Jones, who also gained six yards on a scramble on the Giants' lone run on that opening possession. "I thought we executed pretty well. A couple plays, could sharpen up a few things there, we'll look to do that. But overall, I thought we executed well."

The Giants were not flawless. They led at halftime, 21-3, but were outscored in the second half, 16-0. Without the 29 yards gained by the quarterbacks, the Giants rushed for 31 yards on 16 carries. Taylor led the team with 31 yards on three attempts. Rookie Eric Gray topped the running backs with 16 yards on five carries, including a nine-yard touchdown. The Giants committed 10 penalties for 82 yards, totals that could sabotage the team in the regular season.

"Not good," Daboll said of the calls against the defense. "Penalties usually continue drives."

"Those pre-snap and post-snap ones are the ones you want to try to avoid," he continued. "You're going to have penalties in this game. You're going to have physical penalties where things happen with a hold or something like that. But any pre-snap stuff where you can control it or post-snap stuff, those are the ones you try to fix. I think we had quite a bit of penalties today. Usually that's what it is early on, but you still certainly don't want them."

But the NFL is a passing league and the Giants demonstrated, as they have throughout training camp, that they can move the ball through the air.

View photos from the home preseason opener between the Giants and Panthers at MetLife Stadium.