guile

Can Eli and the Giants knockout the Panthers who have playoff and Super-bowl experience? The Giants, being at home, are favored by 2½, but this is a very difficult game to call. Who are you going with?

Be sure to check out the NFL betting section of the forum to bet on this game.

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jeter4982

Giants! This is going to be a great game, but with Tiki Barber on fire, and the home crowd that the defense is fueled by, I think the Giants will edge out the Panthers. I can't wait...

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-Tom

jeter4982

I am so pumped for the game today...Less then two hours until kickoff. The way I see the game, both teams have the talent to win the game. For the Giants to win, I see the following items as key:

1. Eli Manning must have a solid game. He doesn't necessarily have to throw for 300 yards, but he has to make good decisions, and limit the turnovers.
2. The Giants young secondary has to contain Steve Smith. They can give up the short passes, but can't get beat deep.
3. The Giants offensive attack must focus around Tiki Barber. He has been on fire last couple of weeks, and can be a real weapon out of the backfield, or going out for a short pass.
4. The Giants must minimalize all penalities. They can't be going offsides or holding like they have the last couple of weeks.
5. The Giants must stop the run. They have been banged up at linebacker, but now they have their starters back in there. Stephen Davis must be taken out of the game, forcing Jake Delhomme to win game for the Panthers.

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-Tom

guile

Down 17 - 0 in the 3rd, it's not looking good for the Giants. It's hard to overcome turnovers, especially the way Carolina works on the clock.

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jeter4982

Wow, that game was pathetic...23-0. When I look back on my key points, they didn't achieve one of them. Eli Manning had a pathetic game, throwing 3 interceptions, and fumbling. The secondary collapsed and Steve Smith had 10 catches in the game. The Giants offense just couldn't do anything today. Forget focusing on Tiki Barber, how about focusing on getting a first down. The Giants had like 15 offensive plays in the first half. You can't win football games with 15 plays a half. They didn't have too many penalties, but I remember one Justin Tuck illegal contact penalty that extended the Panthers drive, and allowed them to score. And forget about stopping the run. The Panthers were running all over the Giants, at 10-15 yards a pop. The whole team just didn't show up today...the offense, defense, and special teams performed below average, and they just didn't seem to have the fire today. I'm just disgusted at the effort that was given, and its going to take awhile to get over this loss.

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-Tom

angryjonny

Man. I did not expect this at all. I thought Tiki was going to be running all over the place like he usually does but he was held to only 41 yards and instead it was Foster doing all the rushing. Shockey made the only big play for the Giants. That would be a tough one to deal with. The team definitely did not show up to play their best and didn't perform like they did in the regular season.

stormdriver

Carolina did exactly what they needed to do, they played hard defense. They concentrated all their power at the line of scrimmage, completely shutting down Barber. That put all the pressure on Eli. Obviously, Eli couldn't handle it. He should have actually thrown 4 ints, not 3. The refs called a penalty that gave them a break, not unlike every other break the NFL gave the Giants this season (extra home game, two free TDs in Seattle, etc..). You can't really say they didn't show up though. They did try. Without Barber going anywhere though, they fell very short. They were outclassed and outplayed in every category by a vastly superior team. Let's all look forward to more excitement from the team made of everyone's little brothers next season. They should do better than this, at least...

jeter4982

I absolutely think you can say they didn't show up. To tell you the truth I put very little blame on Eli and Tiki, as they were trying their best, but had no help. Now, thats not saying they had a good game, they had awful games, but without an offensive line who shows up, and without good receivers that actually run the routes, your quarterback and running back aren't going to have good games. Yes, the Giants did get a lot of breaks this season, but did they really end up helping them? I think they still would have beaten the Saints, even if it was in Louisanna. The touchdowns in Seattle can be argued, but they lost the game, so did those breaks help? No. They were outplayed in every category, but I have no idea how you can say a vastly superior team. The Panthers are probably a better team, but not by much. And let me just point out one more thing...Before the season, the expectations were only to go 7-9 or 8-8. A few optimists even said 9-7. The Giants went 12-4 this season. That is a great season in my opinion, especially with what they were expected to do. Yes, losing in the first round of the playoff hurts, but now we can go into next season with a good solid core of players signed for the next couple of years, and perhaps we upgrade the secondary and offensive line and we can make a run in the playoffs next year.

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stormdriver

I am sure you will. The Giants are a very good team. I just don't really care for Eli at all. I expect the NFC's tables to be run by the Giants and Cowboys next year though. This was just the practice round.

Master Jones

Man, well thats that. See ya next year GIANTS. O'well they had a good year.