Latest from weather.com is that the rain and snow will clear up at 3PM and by 6PM the weather should be clear. Unfortunately it will be cold and windy which could affect the offenses. The Giants simply have to get a good game out of their OL in order to control this game. They played poorly last week against Dallas and after watching the Ravens run wild on the Cowboys defense, you can see how they are not as unbeatable as they looked last week. Panthers have a good defense, but it is not overwhelming. If Giants play well, they can get the offense cooking again. They do need to be patient and not take needless chances. With the difficult weather and with the knowledge that the Panthers have not beaten a good road team this year, Giants should rely on their defense to hold the Panthers more or less in check. Be aggressive offensively, but not reckless.
A few more things: I said in an earlier post that the Eagles and not the Cowboys would make the playoffs from the NFC East. Looks like that will be the case. Cowboys looked bad getting toasted at home by the Ravens in this Saturday night week 16 game. Because of tiebreakers, the Falcons might beat out the Eagles, but if the Falcons lose one of the last two, and the Eagles beat the Cowboys in Philadelphia in week 17, the Eagles are in. In either case, whether Falcons win two or not, if the Eagles beat the Cowboys next week, which I think they will, the Cowboys are toast.
I maintain that Wade Phillips is a bad coach. He got beat again by a special teams play - fake FG - and the defensive calls he made resulted in two 75+ yard TD runs, on consecutive snaps by the Ravens offense. He is gone next year, in my opinion. His only hope is somehow squeezing into the playoffs this year, but I don't see that happening.
My only worry is: how did the Ravens look so good against the Cowboys tonight, when Giants looked so bad against them last week. It all comes down to the blocking of the OL. Ravens handled the Cowboys front and Giants didn't. Giants OL needs to step up and play the way they did earlier in the year. Eli and the offense need to make enough plays down the field to keep the defenses honest.
This is a big game for the Giants in the standings, but perhaps more important in terms of turning things around. It's funny how fast the national media has jumped off the Giants bandwagon. It took them a long time to get on board: they were reluctant, stuck in the belief that the Giants last year were a good team that got hot/lucky in the playoffs. They only got on board when they had to, when the Giants were 2-3 games ahead. And they used some code words that showed they were reluctant supporters. They didn't say: Giants are great, or Eli is a top qb, or anything like that. They talked about Giants balance, about Giants being well coached and methodical, about not beating themselves. But never did they say that they had superior players. Then, as soon as the Giants lost 2 in a row, they jumped off the bandwagon so fast and so hard that they broke some ankles hitting the ground. I don't mind. Giants get motivated by the "we-don't-get-no-respect" card, but it would be nice to build up some confidence and turn things around with a good game.
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