Giants’ Munich game vs. Panthers feels a whole lot different than their previous European trips

MUNICH — Giants , Panthers, and NFL flags lined the middle of Neuhauser Strasse here Thursday, as this ancient German city's pedestrian walkway toward Old Town welcomed new visitors.

Fans clad in Giants and Panthers blue streamed toward the Marienplatz — Munich's main square — just before 11 a.m.

Just off the plaza, large decals affixed to a wall provided another reminder of the NFL's second regular season game here — and first since Seahawks-Buccaneers in 2022, which was the league's initial non-exhibition game in Germany. The decals featured the Giants' Kayvon Thibodeaux and Panthers' Derrick Brown. But back in the plaza, fans looked up at something much older.

And for a moment — about 15 minutes, actually — they forgot that two 2-7 teams will meet Sunday at Bayern Munich's soccer stadium.

They stared up at the side of the New Town Hall — the Neues Rathaus, a sprawling Gothic architectural gem. They locked their eyes on the 116-year-old glockenspiel, a huge mechanical clock with 43 bells and 32 life-size figures that now runs twice daily — 11 a.m. and noon.

First, the bells rang. Then the marionettes moved. And the Giants and Panthers fans aimed their phones at the glockenspiel, about eight stories up. They stood there quietly — as cigarette smoke wafted from a nearby outdoor cafe table — as the glockenspiel depicted 16th century German stories. In Munich's long and complicated history — about 866 years of it — this was a new scene, with this set of NFL fans admiring the city's treasures.

Sure enough, this trip to Europe feels a whole lot different for the Giants than their previous three regular season games in Europe — all in London. In many ways, it's not a cozy sort of different either — at least not like a charming, chiming glockenspiel.

And this Giants trip will have a much different vibe if they lose here Sunday to the pathetic Panthers.

In 2007, the Giants beat the Dolphins and improved to 6-2, on their way to a Super Bowl championship. That was the Giants' sixth straight win in 2007, after an 0-2 start.

In 2016, they beat the Rams and improved to 4-3. Those Giants opened 2-3, surged to 8-3, finished 11-5, and made the playoffs — but lost in the wild-round round.

In 2022, coach Brian Daboll's first season, the Giants beat the Packers and improved to 4-1. They started 6-1 and then 7-2. Though they finished 9-7-1, they made the playoffs (for the first time since 2016) and won a wild-card game in Minnesota.

Then the Giants went 6-11 last year (when they opened 2-8) and they're now 2-7 this season, with four straight losses. That 2022 London game feels like a lifetime ago, as Daboll's seat warms in his third season.

Losing to the 2-7 Panthers would be a huge blow to Daboll's job security, even though co-owner John Mara has said he doesn't "anticipate" firing Daboll or general manager Joe Schoen after this season. The key word there is "anticipate."

Mara has seen far too many of these brutal starts since 2016. It's not just 2-7 this year. It's also 2-13 in 2017, 1-7 in 2018, 2-11 in 2019, 1-7 in 2020, 2-6 in 2021, and 2-8 last year. Starting that poorly that often is hard to do. Yet the Giants have done it.

Will Daboll and Co. stop the bleeding in Munich against the woeful Panthers — in a game that surely won't be as entertaining as that glockenspiel? If they don't — and if they open 2-8 for a second straight season — the pressure on Daboll will only increase in the final seven games.