What in the world has happened to the New York Giants?
Tom Coughlin's team didn't even show up on Sunday, suffering an embarrassing 38-0 loss at the hands of the Carolina Panthers. The 38-point loss is the worst of the Tom Coughlin era. At 0-3, the Giants' playoff hopes are on life support in the third week of September.
The Giants got wiped out in all phases, but the play of the offensive line was especially grisly. Eli Manning was brought down for seven sacks and hit 10 additional times. Six of those sacks came before the second quarter was two minutes old. Manning never has missed a game in his NFL career, but he won't survive many more beatings like that.
The O-line was awful, but this was a total team failure. There's too much talent on this roster for the Giants to look this bad.
Here's what else we learned:
- This easily was the Panthers' most complete game in the Ron Rivera era. The offense ran for nearly 200 yards and Cam Newton threw three touchdown passes. The Panthers' defensive line continues to look like one of the best in football. Rivera doesn't have to worry about sitting on the hot seat during Carolina's bye week.
- Offensive coordinator Mike Shula wisely opened up the playbook for Newton. The dynamic quarterback finished with 45 rushing yards and a touchdown on seven carries, including some designed rushes out of the option. His touchdown run was classic Ace Boogie, as he dragged defenders into the end zone with him.
- What happened to the Giants' once fearsome pass rush? One sack and one QB hit. Jason Pierre-Paul is not the same guy right now.
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