Carolina Panthers 38 – New York Giants 0

Eli Manning Sacked Seven Times – © USA TODAY Sports Images

No Pride and No Fight – Carolina Panthers Annihilate New York Giants 38-0: The Carolina Panthers embarrassed the New York Giants 38-0 on Sunday afternoon at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina. With the loss, the Giants fell to 0-3, their worst start since 1996. The 38-point margin of defeat was the most one-sided loss by the Giants in the Tom Coughlin era. The Giants are now 3-8 in their last 11 regular-season games and 1-5 in their last six regular-season games, including three uncompetitive blowout losses.

“We never gave ourselves a chance, competitively, to be in the game,” said Head Coach Tom Coughlin after the game. “I expect everybody in that room to fight with the same passion I have. And I’ll be looking hard for those who are not.”

For all intents and purposes, the game was over at halftime as the Giants were trounced by an injury-riddled, undermanned, and win-less Carolina team. More disheartening than the score was the lack of fight showed by what should have been a desperate and angry New York team.

The Panthers led 17-0 at halftime as Carolina out-gained New York 13 to 2 in first downs, 163 to 18 in total net yards, 66 to 17 in net yards rushing, and 97 to 1 net yards passing. QB Eli Manning was sacked six times before intermission, with LT Will Beatty giving up three sacks.

“That is not by any means, New York Giants football. I’m embarrassed,” said OC David Baas. “We take a lot of pride in keeping Eli clean. That was definitely not the case today.”

“The NFL season doesn’t wait for anybody,” said OG Kevin Boothe. “Whatever it is we have to fix it. For some reason we’re not playing at a very high level at all.”

After that first-half drubbing, the Giants decided to lay down like dogs and take simply accept another beat down with QB Cam Newton firing three second-half touchdown passes. By the end of the game, the Giants were out-gained 402 to 150 total net yards. The Giants were held to 60 rushing yards (14 by Manning) while the Panthers rushed for 194 yards.

Ex-New York Giants’ linebacker Chase Blackburn said he helped his new team decipher the Giants’ offense.

“I had an idea of what they run and what they like to do in situations,” Blackburn said. “We had a great game plan going in. I’ve been sharing all the information all week. Guys, all of us, linebackers were out there knowing what to do; (defensive backs) knew what kind of routes they were going to get off the route combinations. It makes for a big difference when you can play the game at that speed. We were able to play fast because we were aware of what they were going to do.”

The Panthers’ secondary was riddled with injuries, but Carolina was able to exert tremendous pressure on Manning with just their down four defensive linemen.

“Obviously they didn’t put their secondary out there on an island much and were able to get great pressure with just bringing four guys,” Manning said. “When you can drop seven guys and rush four and get pressure, it’s going to make it hard for any offense to have a successful passing game.”

“Words aren’t going to fix anything,” said Manning. “It’s about us having great practices and going out there and playing better on game day.”

“There’s something missing right now,” said DE Justin Tuck. “Guys need to look at themselves in the mirror, because if it isn’t ugly now, it can get uglier from here.”

Video lowlights are available at Giants.com.

Injury Report: FB Henry Hynoski fractured his left shoulder in the game. “I never had a significant shoulder injury, I don’t even know myself the extent of this,” said Hynoski after the game. “We’re going to find out tomorrow, we’re getting more tests done and we’ll go from there. Like I approached my last injury, I’m just going to try and get back at the earliest convenience to be there for my team.”

S Cooper Taylor also injured his shoulder in the game. He needed help getting dressed after the game; there is no word yet on the severity of the injury.

Post-Game Press Conferences: Video highlights from the post-game press conferences with Head Coach Tom Coughlin, QB Eli Manning, and DE Justin Tuck are available at Giants.com.

Post-Game Notes: Inactive for the Giants were QB Ryan Nassib (foot), RB Michael Cox, TE Adrien Robinson (foot), OT David Diehl (thumb), OG Brandon Mosley (back), DT Johnathan Hankins, and CB Corey Webster (hip).