Giants vs Panthers: Carolina Will Overcome Injury-Riddled Giants in Shootout

Can the New York Giants keep up with the Carolina Panthers and their highly-potent offense, led by second-year quarterback Cam Newton?

After a disappointing performance two weeks ago on opening day, the Giants proved they can still score some points in their second-half comeback victory in Week 2 over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Eli Manning torched the Bucs secondary for 295 yards in that second-half performance and brought the team back from a two-score deficit.

But this week, the Giants have a bigger challenge laid down in front of them.

Cam Newton and his speedy offense will look to exploit the aggressive pass rush of the Giants’ front seven by spreading the field and getting the ball to running backs and receivers in space.

Newton struggled in his opening-week performance, but he burst out last week with 253 yards passing and a touchdown, rushing for 71 yards and another touchdown, in the team’s upset over the New Orleans Saints.

The power structure is slowly beginning to shift in the NFC South—maybe even in the NFC at large.

The Giants will also be asked to keep up with Carolina's high-flying offense without the services of Hakeem Nicks, Ahmad Bradshaw and Domenik Hixon. Manning is a good quarterback, and the backups are not inept, but they do not pack the firepower of the regular Giants starters. They just don’t make the same impact.

Unlike the offense, the defense is healthy—mostly—giving it the ability to attempt to bottle up the potent Panthers attack.

The Panthers' biggest advantage is their ability to play off of the option-read. That will force the Giants defense to play a little more conservatively and will allow Newton to take his shots downfield to his big-play wide receiver, Steve Smith.

In just a few short hours, the Panthers and Giants will take the field, and all things will be hashed out under the lights of Bank of America Stadium in North Carolina. Who do you got: the young and dynamic Panthers or the steady and clutch hand of Eli Manning and the Giants’ hard-nosed defense?

Let us know in the comments section below.

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Mike Hoag is a Breaking News Team writer with Bleacher Report and also covers the Cleveland Browns and the NFL for the site.