5 major takeaways from the Giants preseason win over the Panthers

Live football back at MetLife Stadium? Thank the Football Gods, as the NY Giants were in action on Friday night at home against the Carolina Panthers. The action on offense could not have gone much better to start, as Brian Daboll sent out the studs to get things going with a bang.

Fans are thrilled about how the playmakers looked, but it was also made quite clear that there are still some things to work on. In this piece, we have our five main takeaways from the second preseason game of the summer, with a superstar pass-catcher of course being on the list.

5. Darren Waller was brilliant in his NY Giants debut

He may have only been on the field for the opening series of the night, but Darren Waller looked fantastic in his debut for the G-Men. With the Giants going 75 yards to open the night, Waller was responsible for 30 of those yards, with three receptions. Waller hauled in the first two passes of the night from Daniel Jones.

He had another knocked away, but a 12-yard reception, his third of the contest, came on a key third down. It extended the drive and opened the door for Jones to find Daniel Bellinger soon after for a four-yard touchdown. Things were as close to perfect as they could have been for NY and Coach Dabes to get this one going.

With Waller, he's been the talk of the town all summer, so it was amazing to see him make such an impact for the squad right away. He and Danny Dimes clearly have a ton of chemistry with one another and things are only going to get better for the two as we inch closer to the start of the regular season. We'll go ahead and give Waller a 10 out of 10 for his showing in this one.

4. Evan Neal continues to give us hope for a bounce-back campaign

Things weren't perfect for second-year right tackle Evan Neal, but he looked strong in pass protection against the Panthers. A lot of people are going to be talking about the sack he gave up late in the first half, as he was seen chasing a pass-rusher and it was way too late to prevent Tyrod Taylor from hitting the turf.

Last season, Neal recorded so many bone-headed mistakes that people grew quite furious with him. However, in his preseason debut, Neal looked much stronger in the extensive action that he received. Moving forward, we still need to see the former Alabama standout take more steps forward, but this felt like a solid performance overall for him.

The offensive line as a whole was awful against the Lions last week, but we saw some improvements vs. the Panthers. This is all a process, as Bobby Johnson wants his offensive line group to gel more and more as the season progresses. It goes without saying, but Neal will be one of the most important NY players this fall and winter. If he can keep improving, it'll be huge for Jones.

3. The Giants defense needs to clean up the mental mistakes

The beauty of the preseason is that now is the time to make silly errors and make sure it's not going to be a problem once Week 1 gets here. With that said, both Daboll and defensive coordinator Wink Martindale can't be too happy with how the defense looked against the Panthers, especially in the first quarter.

In the first 15 minutes of this battle, the Giants were flagged four times for 30 yards. Seriously? There were three offsides calls and one roughing the passer. We hate to single anyone out, but hey Dexter Lawrence, come on man! Sexy Dexy was responsible for two of those flags, getting called for offsides and roughing the passer on Bryce Young.

While that was a bit of a rough start for Lawrence, let's not forget he's one of the best defensive tackles in the game. There's no doubt in our minds that he'll sharpen everything up moving forward. At the end of the day, there are still plenty of unanswered questions for the Big Blue D, but the mental mistakes need to come to a stop as soon as possible.

2. Daniel Jones silenced plenty of critics

Okay, as great as Waller was, one of the biggest takeaways was how confident Danny Dimes was with the ball in his hands. He was only on the field for one series, but goodness me, Jones made it count. He was 8-of-9 for 69 yards and his TD pass to Bellinger. The only incompletion was a ball that Waller really should have come away with.

All week, people were waiting to see if Jones would end up starting this one or not. When it was announced that he was going to get the nod, fans were ready to see which Jones would show up. Well, we all witnessed a guy who is hoping to live up to the hype of the monster four-year, $160 million extension he received in March.

With the Panthers full starting defense not out there, we're not going to go out of our way and say that Jones looked like an MVP-caliber quarterback or anything. However, you can't deny that Jones was slinging the ball around and doing so with some swagger. This is the version of Jones we want to see from start to finish in '23.

1. The new weapons for the NY offense made a statement

Waller sure was special, but he wasn't the only fresh face to impress against the Panthers. On that first drive, Parris Campbell hauled in two passes for 18 yards. On the night, the first-year Giant had three receptions and 23 yards to his name. For Waller and Campbell to combine for five receptions from Jones sure is telling.

Elsewhere, how about rookie third-round pick Jalin Hyatt? People were a bit disappointed with him in the first half when he dropped a ball from Taylor. However, all was forgotten soon after when the speedster brought in a 33-yard touchdown. This was a great toss from Taylor and a special route/catch from the rookie:

On offense, these three newcombers turned plenty of heads. However, we can't forget about late-round pick Jordon Riley, as he has been looking pretty darn good in recent weeks too. In the win over Carolina, the big-bodied DT stuffed the middle on a 4th-down play to get the Giants the ball back. When it comes to seventh-rounders, Riley is looking like a steal for Joe Schoen.

READ MORE: NY Giants fans loved what they saw out of Darren Waller vs. the Panthers