New York Giants vs. Carolina Panthers: 5 Things We Learned

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We all learned that the New York Giants are awesome and that they know what to do when they have to do it. 

We should all already know that, but we learned it again Thursday night. 

The backups were great, the offense was great and the defense was great.

On this short rest week, it would've been easy for a lot of teams to just take this week off, but not the Giants. 

Eli Manning Is Awesome

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No Hakeem Nicks? No Ahmad Bradshaw? No David Diehl? No Dominik Hixon? No problem.

Eli Manning made guys that the casual fans never heard of look like superstars.

He made it look just so easy out there, and this was without Hakeem Nicks on the field. He spread the sugar around, and I can only imagine what Eli can really do when this team gets healthy across the board. 

The best part? He made it look easy while he was doing it. We all know about the big three when it comes to quarterbacks in Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady and Drew Brees... but Eli Manning is right there with all three of them. 

Eli seriously impressed me tonight. 

Andre Brown Knows How to Pick Up Yards

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How many times did you think Andre Brown was going to lose yards, but instead he broke a big one?

Enough times is the answer, as Brown did a great job filling in. The best part for Brown? He might not have been just filling in. 

Like I said last week, Coughlin is going to have some thinking to do. Would you start Ahmad Bradshaw over Brown right now? I'm not so sure at this point. 

On a side note, Brown picked up two touchdowns and rushed for over 100 yards.

As of right now, Brown is the Giants' first 100-yard rusher in forever. 

The New York Giants Offensive Line Can Still Get It Done

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Give Eli Manning time to throw the football, and the New York Giants will find ways to score points.

Eli is just too good for them not to. He sat back, took his time and made great throws down the field. 

They picked up the pressure really well, and to put it frankly, Eli had enough time to make phone calls back there. 

Seriously, how often do we see Eli get that kind of time behind the pocket? Great, great job from the G-Men's offensive line. 

The New York Giants Have Depth Across the Board

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The New York Giants just plugged in backup pieces and they all looked great tonight. 

Ramses Barden played great, and so did Andre Brown. They both had some big roles to play in the G-Men picking up the W tonight. 

They were both probably pretty nervous, but they didn't let it get to them, none of them did. 

It was a great sight to see, as was this entire game. 

The New York Giants Are the New York Giants

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When I say this, I mean the New York Giants can still get it done when it counts. 

Their defense played great, it doesn't matter who was or wasn't playing. 

They just found ways to get it done all game long. 

It was good to since Prince Amukamara on the field, and it was really good to see the Giants' defense make plays and give Cam Newton hell all game long. 

2-1 has a much better ring to it than 1-2.