Here’s the edition of Rant-O-Matic for September 20, 2012:
New York Giants vs. Carolina Panthers
Unfortunately for the Giants, they will be playing in Thursday’s game without star wide receiver Hakeen Nicks–who re-injured his foot towards the end of last Sunday’s game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. There was concern for New York heading into the regular season as far as whether or not Nicks would be ready and he appeared to be just fine in Week 1 against the Dallas Cowboys, but the foot problems are back again in Week 3–which could hurt the Giants tremendously in the passing game.
On the bright side, New York still has one of the most talented wide receivers in the NFL to rely on in Victor Cruz–who is coming off an impressive performance himself against the Buccaneers with 11 catches for 179 yards and one touchdown. The combination of Cruz and Martellus Bennett should be enough for Eli Manning in the passing game, but it certainly won’t be easy.
As far as the Panthers, they’re coming off an impressive performance of their own against the New Orleans Saints in which Cam Newton led the way by throwing for 253 yards to go along with 71 rushing yards. Considering how poor New York’s passing defenses has looked over the first two weeks, there’s no reason why Newton shouldn’t have another big game on Thursday as he looks to help the Panthers improve to 2-1 on the season.
Either way–this matchup between the Giants and Panthers seems like the perfect way to kickoff what should be an exciting Week 3.
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