Game 9: Panthers 24, Giants 21

Announcing the game for the Giants are Chris Carlin and Carl Banks. Carlin is the epitome of every bald white guy living in New York right now.

Eli Manning's season gets off to a flying start as he badly overthrows Michael Jennings on 3rd down. That throw was so off, I hope Jennings was running the wrong pattern.

William Joseph slides out to DE while Michael Strahan plays hooky from training camp while pretending he's contemplating retirement. Kiwanuka at OLB as per their offseason plans.

Look out now, but here come the Carolina Panthers, who have just put together the best drive I've seen all preseason, 81 yards in 7 minutes. They have changed their offensive coordinator and blocking scheme to finally get their running game going, and their moves are working great so far. DeShaun Foster is positively lethal with cutbacks, chalking up runs of 7, 9 and 15 on the drive. When they pull him out for a blow, Nick Goings cuts back and rumbles for 21 down to the 4. Jake Delhomme finishes it off with a TD pass to Steve Smith, and if Carolina runs this well this season, Jake's going to be a lot more comfortable passer than he has been lately. I'm not real enthused at this point about the Rams drawing Carolina as the opponent for their home opener.

Well, there's a big chink in the Carolina armor - Derrick Ward returns the ensuing kickoff 67 yards. Eli immediately gets into trouble by getting sacked by Stanley McClover, but on 3rd-and-3 from the Panther 7, he steps up nicely in the pocket and squeezes a TD pass in to Jeremy Shockey. We're tied at 7.

Foster continues to gallop up fantasy football boards around the world, with a 9-yard screen and a 31-yard run around right tackle (with a nice block by Steve Smith). The one thing about him, which he's always done, is that he carries the ball like the proverbial loaf of bread. Something OJ Atogwe, for instance, may want to have in mind Opening Day.

Ushering in the 2nd quarter is new Panther QB David Carr. His first drive ends just across midfield when Will Demps sacks him off a blitz. Well, if there's anybody who's used to that, it's David Carr.

The Hefty Lefty, Jared Lorenzen, replaces Eli. Reuben Droughns enters the game at tailback. Lorenzen shows off his big arm on a long incompletion for Steve Smith, but gets the first down with a 14-yard scramble. Carolina breaks up another attempt to Smith to force a punt that Jeff Feagles shanks.

Yes, both teams have wide receivers named Steve Smith. The Panthers have the one who kicked Jason Sehorn's ass (figuratively) and knocked the Rams out of the 2003 playoffs. The Giants have the one who kicked Dominque Byrd's ass at USC a couple of years ago. (literally)

DeAngelo Williams must be out - Goings is in as the #2 RB. A long DPI gets the Panthers across midfield. 9- and 11-yard runs by Goings help get them down to the Giant 6, but the G-men stiffen, stuff Goings twice, and pressure Carr into a throwaway. Jon Kasay puts the Panthers up 10-7 with a chippie.

36 yard kick return by Ahmad Bradshaw, and we have officially found a weakness in the Panthers. Giants put together a nice drive after that. Lorenzen hits Tyree on 3rd-and-5. After the 2:00 warning, they go for it on 4th-and-5 from the Panther 38, and convert it with a nice call: a downfield screen pass Droughns takes all the way down to the 6. Derrick Ward scores on a draw on 3rd-and-goal from the 5 and New York goes up 14-10.

Well, I hope nobody left early for a snack. Carr drove the Panthers 73 yards in 0:47 to give Carolina the halftime lead. A roughing penalty on Craig Dahl moved Carolina across midfield. Ryne Robinson got his second big catch of the half, a 24 yarder down to the 23. After a timeout, Dahl (not his best drive) and Corey Webster let Taye Biddle run free down the sideline, and Carr hit him for an easy TD. The Giants kneel out the clock and trail 17-14 at halftime.

Carolina's TV crew, Gary Williams and Steve Beuerlein, certainly lead the league in hair styling product.

I hope Dante Hall is everything he's cracked up to be, because Ryne Robinson looks capable of bringing what Hall does/did to special teams and of filling a #3/#4 role at wide receiver.

Brett Basanez in at QB, and he delivers immediately, throwing a rocket to Taye Biddle for an 85-yard catch-and-run TD. Kevin Dockery makes an awful play, trying to leap for the pass instead of staying with his man, leaving, yep, Chris Dahl to try to cover Biddle, and he takes a poor angle and gets to run 10 yards behind Biddle all the way downfield. 24-14 Carolina.

The Giants cross midfield on a nice second-effort 19-yard run by Ward, but Kevin Boss can't come up with a diving catch on first down, and D-FREAKING-LEW blows up a screen pass on 3rd down to force a punt.

3-and-out for Basanez and the Panthers, as he misses connections with Chris Horn on 2nd down and can't find anyone open on the rollout on 3rd down. This earns the Giant defense a large Bronx, make that Jersey, cheer/jeer from their home crowd.

Nice TD pass from Lorenzen to Anthony Mix to make it close again. Very similar play to Biddle's first TD for Carolina. A Ryan Grant 20-yard run and a 20-yard DPI got the Giants in position. 24-21.

Three Giants swamp Basanez on third down for a sack to force a 3-and-out and a punt.

Anthony Wright is the new Giants QB. Chad Lavalais sacks him on his first pass attempt. 3-and-out and punt for the Giants as we head to the 4th quarter.

Zach DeOssie sacks Basanez - perfect defensive call, Basanez had no chance to do anything but get tackled - and Corey Webster makes a nice play to tip a deep corner route to force our third straight 3-and-out.

Bartender! Another 3-and-out down here, please. The Giant o-line lets two blitzers in untouched on Wright, who has to throw it away on 2nd down, and Christian Morton breaks up a pass to Brandon London on 3rd down that would have been well short anyway. Viva preseason!

3-and-out for Carolina after an initial completion. Looked like Michael Gaines dropped the pass to him on 3rd down. Panthers down the punt at the 3.

Giants get out to midfield before this drive bogs down. Ahmad Bradshaw has a nice 15-yard run with multiple cutbacks, Wright rolls and hits Marco (That Girl) Thomas for 19, then scrambles for 11. Morton puts a lick on Mix to break up a 2nd-down pass, and Wright gets stopped short on a 3rd-down scramble to end the drive.

Carolina 3-and-outs on 3 runs and punts it back.

Wright has had to field some terrible snaps from Matthew Lentz this quarter, and this one turns into a sack. Remembering Leroy Harris' struggles last night, kids, if you want to play in the NFL, work on your shotgun snap. Plenty of teams can use a backup with that skill. Wright gets sacked again on 3rd-and-9 by Otis Grigsby, whose name has gotten called a lot tonight.

Not a typo: Carolina 3-and-outs on 3 runs and punts it back.

While previewing the Rams late in the game, Beuerlein calls Randy McMichael "Ryan McNeil", then corrects himself: "Ryan McKnight".

One last chance for the Giants with 0:42 left, but Grigsby nearly sacks Wright again, and Bradshaw fumbles after taking off with the shovel pass Wright does get off. Carolina wins 24-21.

It'd be easy to say the Giants are in big trouble on defense, and it does look like they miss Strahan's presence. Their secondary is a disaster, but they're also fighting some injuries back there. They had big problems defending the run as well. I'm fairly impressed with Hefty Lefty Lorenzen; I think he could be more than a novelty act.

But I think the bigger news is how good Carolina looks. Their starters looked like an offensive machine, and they could be on their way to a complete turnaround in their running game, assuming Foster stays healthy and hangs on to the ball. Taye Biddle emerged as this year's version of Keary Colbert, and DE Otis Grigsby seems certain to end up somewhere in the unlikely event he hits the Carolina waiver wire.

9 down, 56 to go. Right around the corner: Packers @ Steelers.