They Needed That

The Giants took advantage of a lot of Carolina mistakes to cruise to a relatively easy 27-13 victory. The Panthers turned the ball over three times, all in the second half and therefore managed only 13 points despite amassing 463 total yards.

New York took an early 10-0 lead off of some solid running by Tiki Barber and a nice catch by Plaxico Burress. Carolina came back to tie the game as the Giants secondary had problems with their coverage and Drew Carter got free for a touchdown. The Giants took the ball down the field just before halftime and took a 17-10 lead on an Eli Manning to Jeremy Shockey touchdown.

New York scored 10 more points on their first two possessions of the second half and with a 27-10 lead, their offense went into hibernation going three and out on their next five possessions. It didn’t matter, as Carolina couldn’t muster a scoring drive of their own until they kicked a field goal with a little over four minutes remaining and by then it was too late. The Giants improved to 7-6 with the win and currently hold tiebreaker advantages over both of the other 7-6 teams in the NFC.

Photo of Jeremy Shockey's 2nd quarter touchdown by AP/Mike McCarn