Carolina Panthers vs. New York Giants: Who Will Win the Opening Showdown?

With the New York Giants set to open their brand new stadium Sunday, they are hoping to get revenge against the Carolina Panthers who beat them in Week 17, 41-9.

Much has been made of the Panthers not scoring an offensive touchdown in preseason. The question is will it matter come Sunday.

Head coach John Fox is likely to pound DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart continuously throughout the game. While Matt Moore and the receiving corps were out of sync through preseason play, it's likely being overblown.

Steve Smith was out recovering from a broken arm and Stewart was recovering from offseason surgery. Both are Pro Bowl-caliber players that will make things happen on the field. 

On the Giants side of the ball, they have two solid running backs in Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs. Bradshaw won the starting job after a strong training camp and that has left Jacobs more than bitter. There's a good chance head coach Tom Coughlin will use both plenty on Sunday.

Eli Manning will be going up against a defense that finished No. 1 in the preseason and recorded 18 sacks. It's still too early to tell how good this Panthers' unit will be until the games start to count but they have looked good so far.

Under John Fox, Carolina has had success against New York. 

Will it continue?

Yes.

The Panthers are a mystery to many right now. There are a good amount of question marks heading into the season for this team and rightfully so. 

But they have a good coach in Fox, a stud receiver in Smith, one of the league's best running games, and a defense that was above average a year ago and could be better this season. Moore will make enough plays down field to keep the defenders on their heals, which will help free up the ground game.

Prediction: Carolina 17, New York 13