Panthers @ Giants

[Vin+ 3,121]

(AP) -- The Carolina Panthers are weighing the benefits of whether going for a perfect season is at odds with their ultimate goal of winning their first Super Bowl.

 

The New York Giants have plenty to worry about just to get into the playoffs.

 

Opting for the long view Sunday, the Panthers have ruled out running back Jonathan Stewart for a road game that features a marquee matchup between New York star Odell Beckham Jr. and Carolina cornerback Josh Norman.

 

Carolina is the ninth team in NFL history to start 13-0 and eighth in the Super Bowl era. Only the 1972 Miami Dolphins (14-0) and 2007 New England Patriots (16-0) capped perfect regular seasons.

 

It doesn't seem to be a priority for the Panthers, who can clinch the NFC's top seed this weekend with a victory and a loss by Arizona.

 

"It does go back to the fact that it's really not about going undefeated, it's about winning the Super Bowl," coach Ron Rivera said. "That's the thing that you have to really focus on is really what is the goal?"

 

Stewart, third in the NFL with 989 rushing yards, is out due to a sprained left foot suffered in last Sunday's 38-0 win over Atlanta. Fozzy Whittaker or Mike Tolbert will start in his place.

 

Greg Olsen, who has started 139 straight games and is second in the league among tight ends with 969 yards, will play after despite injuring his knee against the Falcons.

 

New York (6-7) has a history of upsetting unbeaten teams. The Giants surprised the 1998 Denver Broncos, who were 13-0 at the time and went on to win the Super Bowl. More notably, Eli Manning's Giants handed the 2007 Patriots their only loss in the Super Bowl.

 

Those feats are far from the minds of the Giants, who are tied with Washington and Philadelphia atop the mediocre NFC East. New York's path to the playoffs is even tougher than those of the Redskins and Eagles, who control their own destinies and can win the division by winning out.

 

"I don't think it's about knocking the other team off," Manning said. "In this situation in the season, it's about us needing a win and we need a win to keep our playoff dreams alive."

 

Manning was 27 of 31 for 337 yards and four touchdowns in Monday's 31-24 win at Miami that ended a three-game slide, earning NFC offensive player of the week honors. He found Beckham seven times for 166 yards with two scores, giving the receiver six straight 100-yard efforts for the longest streak in team history. It's the longest in the NFL since Denver's Demaryius Thomas had seven in a row last year.

 

Beckham will face a stiff challenge in trying to extend that run. Norman, expected to be the primary cover on him, has yet to let a receiver catch more than four balls or gain more than 36 yards this year.

 

Norman has 16 passes defensed to rank seventh in the league and opposing quarterbacks have a 50.5 passer rating when targeting him - sixth-best among players targeted at least 39 times.

 

"He's a technician, he gets himself in the right spot at the right time," Giants coach Tom Coughlin said. "He does play the ball in the air well. He's quick with his hands. He's physical."

 

Norman's excellence was on display last Sunday when Julio Jones, the NFL's leading receiver, had four catches for 33 yards when the two matched up. Jones became the first receiver in the last 11 games to catch more than two passes against Norman, who has allowed two touchdowns - none from Jones, DeAndre Hopkins, Mike Evans, Allen Robinson, DeSean Jackson or Dez Bryant.

 

Beckham has 12 TD catches to match Robinson and Tyler Eifert for the NFL lead.

 

"This should be a fun challenge I think for us as a defense and for Josh, who will get an opportunity to line up across from him a few times and we'll see how it all unfolds," Rivera said.

 

The Panthers' secondary has issues elsewhere. Carolina lost cornerback Bene Benwikere to a fractured leg last weekend after he had been starting for Charles Tillman, who has missed the last four games with a sprained knee but returned to practice Wednesday. Tillman is expected to play.

 

The Giants will have to contend with a Carolina pass rush that has produced an NFC-best 40 sacks. That could be even more tricky with left tackle Ereck Flowers nursing a left ankle injury that forced him out of Monday's game in the fourth quarter. Flowers, though, reportedly said he is "definitely" playing Sunday.

 

A New York defense that is allowing 425.0 yards per game - second-worst in the league - could be hard-pressed to slow down Cam Newton. The MVP candidate helped Carolina amass 928 yards in two games against the defense of New Orleans, which is comparable to New York's with an average of 428.3 yards given up.

 

Newton, who has thrown for eight TDs in his last two contests, leads the league with 20 touchdowns in the red zone to go with seven rushing scores. He'll be up against the second-worst pass rush in the league, with the Giants totaling 16 sacks.

 

Carolina has forced a league-high 33 turnovers while New York is tied for second with 25.

 

The Panthers won 38-0 the last time these teams met two seasons ago, sacking Manning seven times.

 

[Vin+ 3,121]

 

Panthers declared RB Jonathan Stewart, WR Brenton Bersin, RB Brandon Wegher, S Colin Jones LB David Mayo, WR Kevin Norwood and DE Ryan Delaire inactive for Week 15 against the Giants.

Mike Tolbert, Fozzy Whittaker and Cameron Artis-Payne are forming a committee in J-Stew's absence. Whittaker should get the most touches, but Tolbert is the best bet to score. It's a situation to avoid in fantasy leagues if at all possible.

 

 

 

Giants WR Dwayne Harris (shoulder) is active for Week 15 against the Panthers.

As is LT Ereck Flowers. It's all hands on deck for the Giants as they attempt to save their season against the 13-0 Panthers. Inactive for the G-Men are WR Geremy Davis, CB Jayron Hosley, LB Devon Kennard, OL Adam Gettis, OL Emmett Cleary, DT Markus Kuhn and DE George Selvie.

Source: Ralph Vacchiano on Twitter

[RazorStar 4,025]

The perfect season ends today.

 

41

38

[RazorStar 4,025]

Did I say perfect season ends today?

 

Nope. the only thing ending is my respect for Odell Beckham. What a scummy piece of dogshit. He makes MRAVEN seem well adjusted.

[Thanatos 2,847]

ODB is a fucking piece of shit and I lost all respect for him. Clearly head-hunting and trying to hurt Josh on multiple occasions. I hope someone breaks his fucking leg. Absolute complete piece of shit.

 

You don't *ever* play to intentionally injure someone. Just because you dropped a pass you normally manage to catch doesn't mean you should pout about it all day and take out your frustration by trying to hurt someone else.

 

https://vine.co/v/iKrtDwWZbKE

Edited December 20, 2015 by Thanatos19

[RazorStar 4,025]

The Giants are almost completely eliminated from the playoff race, and an Eagles win would seal the deal.

[oochymp 2,393]

OBJ should be suspended for that, not sure why he wasn't ejected

[SteVo+ 3,702]

The officials in this game were hesitant to throw flags early and it cost them. Odell and Norman should have both been ejected early.

[RazorStar 4,025]

[SteVo+ 3,702]

It really seemed like Beckham psyched himself out of this game (especially after he dropped an easy TD), but give him credit for the game-tying touchdown. Also, why did the Giants not line him up in the slot on every down? It really shouldn't have come down to a 28-point deficit if you're the Giants in this game.

[BwareDWare94 723]

Good on Norman for standing up for himself. Overrated BJ (Allllll teeth) suffers from Little Bitch Syndrome

[Thanatos 2,847]

The officials in this game were hesitant to throw flags early and it cost them. Odell and Norman should have both been ejected early.

 

Why Norman? He played physical, but I didn't see anything ejection worthy. Penalty worthy, yes, but not an ejection.

 

This was Cam after OBJ scored: "Ok. My turn."

https://pbs.twimg.com/tweet_video/CWstXfNWsAIaON0.mp4

 

OBJ also had a play on Cortland Finnegan where he grabbed him a headlock and dragged him several yards, then tossed him to the ground and somehow Finnegan got called for a personal foul. Maybe he did something afterwards that I didn't see, but OBJ should have been ejected twice in this game.

Edited December 21, 2015 by Thanatos19

[OSUViking 505]

I've never liked OBJ, and this just furthers my disdain for him.

[Favre4Ever+ 4,476]

I didn't watch the game, but on NFL.com on their little video / highlights... The first dirty thing I saw was from Norman when the score was still tied 0 - 0 and he picked up and slammed OBJ to the ground . Not saying that was the first thing, just the first thing I saw.

Doesn't excuse that headhunting bullshit though OBJ was trying to pull. That is suspension worthy.

[Thanatos 2,847]

Oh I'm not saying Norman was innocent, though to call that a bodyslam is reaching. But OBJ started it earlier with a shot to the face. He was doing it all game, just slapping Norman in the face before running his route.

 

But that headhunting routine should have gotten OBJ ejected for sure.

Edited December 21, 2015 by Thanatos19

[oochymp 2,393]

OBJ also had a play on Cortland Finnegan where he grabbed him a headlock and dragged him several yards, then tossed him to the ground and somehow Finnegan got called for a personal foul. Maybe he did something afterwards that I didn't see, but OBJ should have been ejected twice in this game.

it's because it's Cortland Innegan

[Maverick 791]

No, it's because it's Odell Beckham Jr

[SteVo+ 3,702]

https://twitter.com/AdamSchefter/status/678935018287276032

[oochymp 2,393]

so there's talk that Coughlin should have pulled OBJ, but why? as the coach your only goal is to put your team in the best position to win, so you only sit a guy if you think he's hurting your team's chances to win, so was he? the penalties certainly aren't good, but he wasn't getting that many of them, and he's still your best player, the Giants had a much better to win with him on the field, so why should be expect the coach to pull him? talk to him on the sideline certainly, but not at the expense of offensive snaps and mainly to make sure he knows he could be ejected, I don't blame Coughlin at all for leaving him on the field

[FartWaffles 1,857]

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000606634/article/odell-beckham-suspended-one-game?campaign=fb-nf-sf17508636-sf17508636

 

Giants wideout Odell Beckham suspended one game

 

The New York Giants' uphill battle to win the NFC East just got steeper.

 

Star wideout Odell Beckham was suspended one game, NFL official spokesperson Michael Signora announced Monday. Beckham had three personal fouls called against him during Sunday's heartbreaking loss against the Carolina Panthers.

 

The Giants will be without their star player as they travel to Minnesota for a tough road matchup against the Vikings.

 

Around the NFL will have more on this story shortly...

[Sparty 110]

Will he even learn anything from this? Probably not...

[Thanatos 2,847]

Good. Pleasantly surprised that the NFL gave him a suspension for this, way to go. For once.

On whether or not Coughlin should have pulled him: it's something I would normally expect Coughlin to do, based on his reputation. I completely understand the argument for leaving him in though, the Giants were all but eliminated with the loss, you play to win.

 

Carolina's coaching staff clearly thought the game was over at 35-7, they started icing Cam's knee down like he was done for the day. He didn't actually come out at all, DA never took a snap, but the Panthers just let their foot off the gas way too early. That's all this is.

 

Hopefully its a learning experience, but I almost feel like I wish we would lose one of these games where we let a team back into it, as maybe that will be a wake up call to the coaching staff.

 

In addition: Special teams. We have GOT to fix this. 5 blocked FGs, 3 missed XPs, one blocked, a PR TD and the second most ST penalties in the league. They are atrocious. All day long the Giants came around from the left side and got *this* close to blocking the XP, and then when it mattered most, they blocked the FG. Now Rivera claims they were offsides on the block, and it was very very close to being offside, but regardless, there was an obvious problem that I saw and the coaches should have seen and adjusted for it. It felt like the Panthers coaches and players got lackadaisical and just assumed the Giants were going to roll over.

[BLUE 1,026]

Good on Norman for standing up for himself. Overrated BJ (Allllll teeth) suffers from Little Bitch Syndrome

 

Why, exactly, is he overrated? I get that he's Public Enemy #1 right now and I'm not excusing what OBJ did and he crossed the line, but Josh Norman is a dipshit, too.

 

"Standing up for himself" LMFAO.

 

 

I didn't watch the game but I'm pretty sure that was from earlier in it.

 

Two dumbfucks. Unfortunately, OBJ out-douchebagged him. Is what it is and hopefully he matures. But anyone that thinks Norman is just some innocent victim in this is a fucking retard.

[Favre4Ever+ 4,476]

Ya, that's what I saw back when the game was 0 - 0. Again, I didn't watch it either, and OBJ deserves his suspension... But Norman is twat too, who started it (and got the better of it, for what it's worth), and then he starts crying and playing the victim card which really annoys me.

 

Josh Norman is a petulant child, and I lost a ton of respect for him as a player. Maybe not as much as OBJ for headhunting and letting it get to him that much... But neither of these guys wins.

Edited December 22, 2015 by Favre4Ever

[Thanatos 2,847]

OBJ started it by slapping Norman's facemask on two straight plays to open the game. And he kept doing that all game long, when he started his route, he would try to slap Norman's facemask.

 

Norman is not some innocent here either, by any means, but OBJ is the only one who actually crossed the line, (ethically, not penalty-wise, both of them should have had a couple more PFs).

 

That head-hunting shot was an intent to injure an opponent and at the least could have concussed Norman. Norman starts "playing the victim card?" Norman didn't try to hurt OBJ physically, at least until after Odell took one hell of a cheap shot.

 

Beckham should have been ejected for that hit.

 

And Norman did show the world who Odell really is, just like he said: A little bitch who lets opponents get in his head to the point where he will try to physically injure them.

Edited December 22, 2015 by Thanatos19