MUNICH — Jermaine Eluemunor certainly didn’t sound thrilled about the offensive line switch.
After starting the first nine games at right tackle and performing admirably, Eluemunor was moved to left tackle and replaced at right tackle by Evan Neal for the team’s 20-17 loss to the Panthers on Sunday at Allianz Arena.
It marked the first start of the season for Neal, whom the team drafted with the No. 7 pick in the 2022 draft and who has so far looked like a complete bust.
Eluemunor, who signed with the Giants as a free agent this past offseason, had been adamant that he preferred to stay at right tackle instead of switching to left tackle when Andrew Thomas suffered his season-ending foot injury.
And the Giants had stressed that they only view Neal as a right tackle.
So for both Eluemunor and Neal to start, something had to give.
“It was something that just happened,” Eluemunor said. “It’s hard to switch sides like that. It’s not the most comfortable thing. I tell people it’s like you’ve been writing with your right hand for a long time and out of nowhere they tell you, you gotta write an essay with your left hand and it’s due on Saturday and you have three days to freaking learn how to write with your left hand.”
Eluemunor was beaten badly in the second quarter, resulting in Daniel Jones being sacked on a failed flea-flicker.
But if there’s any positive to take away from Sunday’s loss, it’s what resulted from the change.
Neal allowed just one pressure on 41 pass-blocking snaps, according to Next Gen Stats — a career-low pressure rate.
“It felt good to get back out there and play again after a year,” Neal said. “I’m just grateful. Not every play was perfect. I didn’t play a perfect game. I’m sure there’s going to be things I’m going to back on tape and see and correct. But I think it was a solid overall outing for my first outing.”
Dexter Lawrence curiously did not play the first five plays of the Panthers’ first drive of the second half and was instead on the sidelines.
Both he and head coach Brian Daboll were coy about why and did not offer an explanation, with Daboll saying, “I’m not going to elaborate on that.”
Brian Burns said earlier in the week he had extra motivation going against Carolina, where he spent the first five years of his career. But his old side had the last laugh.
“It hurt,” Burns said. “Losing like that and losing to a team I spent an extended amount of time with hurt, and seeing all those faces that were in the building was a little tough.”
Malik Nabers, who missed two games earlier in the season for a concussion, was evaluated for another concussion in the fourth quarter after hitting his head on the ground while being tackled, but he was quickly cleared and returned to the game.
