Turnovers cost Giants in first international loss

Winning has been increasingly hard for the Giants of late. The loss was their fifth in a row and dropped their record to 2-8. They lost their first ever game in Germany and for the first time in the NFL’s International Games Series after three victories.

For most of the game, Tracy was arguably the Giants’ best player. The rookie running back had 18 carries for 103 yards, the third 100-yard game of his young career. His 32-yard touchdown run on the first series of the third quarter got the Giants on the scoreboard after they were shut out in the first half and was the team’s longest play of the game.

But Tracy was the primary Giants figure in the final two turnovers, and they are plays he will lament for awhile.

The Giants trailed 17-14 when D.J. Davidson’s recovery of a Chuba Hubbard fumble that was forced by Dru Phillips gave them possession at the Carolina 22-yard line with eight minutes left. A touchdown would give the Giants their first lead, while a tying field goal was a second positive option.

But Daniel Jones’ third-down throw to the left side was behind Tracy. As the running back struggled to secure the ball, linebacker Josey Jewell ripped it from him for an interception that left the Giants with an empty red zone trip.

“He just made a good play,” Tracy said. “He made a good play on the ball.”

“Threw hot off the blitzer,” Jones said. “Probably need to put the ball in front more.”

The defense twice forced Carolina to punt in the final five minutes and after the second one, the Giants took possession at their 21-yard line with 2:23 remaining and no timeouts. Jones completed five consecutive passes to help advance the offense to the Panthers’ 24, enabling Gano to tie the score and send the game to a fifth period.

The Giants won the overtime coin toss and took the ball. From the 26, Tracy took a handoff from Jones, lost two yards, and had the ball punched from his arm by defensive tackle A’Shawn Robinson, who played for the Giants in 2023. It was recovered by Jewell within easy striking distance for Pineiro, who had earlier kicked a 53-yard field goal.

“I just didn’t hold the ball correctly,” Tracy said. “I was trying to make a move, so I got in a hole. Got to get the ball up. That’s on me. I’ve got to live with it.”

As the Panthers advanced toward the game-winning kick, Tracy sat on the Giants’ bench with his head in his hands as several teammates tried to console him.

“It was hard,” Tracy said. “I put a lot into this game, blood, sweat and tears, the same way everybody says, but I play with passion. I feel like you can see that on the field. I have a lot of energy, and I hold myself to a high standard. When things like that happen with the game on the line in overtime, we come all the way back, that’s the last thing on your mind that you want to happen. I feel like for me, like I said I hold myself to a high standard, so whenever that happens, all of my emotions kind of came out of me at that moment.”

The Giants couldn’t get much going in the first half, when their first five possessions ended punt, punt, missed field goal, punt, interception.

In the second quarter, Jones called for a flea-flicker on third-and-one. Wan’Dale Robinson and Malik Nabers each appeared to be open enough to catch-and-score, but Jones never threw the ball as he was sacked by D.J. Wonnum.

“When you look at it, you can see that we were open, but there’s many things that’s going on in Daniel’s face that us receivers don’t see,” Nabers said. “We’re just out there running our route. We see that we’re open. But there’s a lot of things going on in the backfield that you don’t know. You give the ball to the running back, defense collides down, so they’re all blitzing, you’re flicking it back and it’s just us in coverage. But there’s a lot of things going on back there with Daniel.”

Asked about the play, Daboll said, “I wish I had it back. Didn’t work.”

Reminded that receivers were open, Daboll said, “Yeah. I wish I had it back. Bad coaching.”

The Giants had another scoring chance late in the quarter after advancing to the Carolina 18-yard line before Tracy lost three yards. On the next play, Jones’ pass for tight end Theo Johnson hit linebacker Jadeveon Clowney in the helmet, caromed high in the air, and was intercepted by Xavier Wood.

In the fourth quarter, Jones’ second 2-yard touchdown run in as many weeks lifted the Giants to within 17-14.

In addition to Pineiro’s two field goals, Carolina scored on Bryce Young’s 5-yard touchdown pass to Miles Sanders and Hubbard’s one-yard run. Hubbard rushed for a career-high 153 yards on 28 carries. The Panthers averaged 5.9 yards an attempt.

The Giants head into their bye week fielding questions about potential personnel changes.

“Obviously we’re not where we want to be,” Daboll said. “We’ll go back. We’ll have our bye week. We’ll evaluate things in the bye week, do the things we need to do. We’ll practice a couple days and evaluate everything.”

“I think (we must) evaluate what we haven’t done well enough, what’s holding us back, see where I need to be better and where I can help the team,” Jones said. “I think that’s the mindset we all need to take going into this second half of the season.”