4 key observations from Christian McCaffrey’s performance at Giants in Week 2

Christian McCaffrey kept the Giants’ defense honest

It was a tough slog for Christian McCaffrey early in the game. The New York Giants set their stall out to restrict the All-Pro as expected, which resulted in some decent gains but never quite breaking one off for significant yardage.

McCaffrey had a lot of four-to-five-yard efforts throughout the first half. This put the Carolina Panthers in some manageable third-down situations, but poor efficiency in converting these opportunities played a big role in their eventual downfall.

This has got to be incredibly frustrating for McCaffrey, even though he’d never admit it publicly. There is just something amiss with the Panthers offensively right now, with the Giants holding them to one touchdown despite missing several influential figures on the defensive front and within their secondary.

In fairness to McCaffrey, his work ethic and elusiveness kept New York’s defense honest, if nothing else. And when one examines the wreckage of another poor loss, he was far from the biggest problem for a team that cannot buy a win right now.

McCaffrey also came through the game unscathed and seems to be in solid form. But the sooner other areas step up, the better considering how difficult things look over the next five weeks.