If there was a moment last season that Eli Manning would like to forget, it came in the playoffs against the Carolina Panthers.
Manning and company did nothing. They had the ball for 35 plays and gained 132 yards. Under intense pressure from the Panthers front seven, Manning got intercepted three times in what was his worst performance of the season.
A year later, the Panthers (6-6) again stand in the way of the Giants (6-6) and their playoff hopes heading into Sunday's meeting in Charlotte, N.C.
``That was the last game of the season and you think about it,'' Manning said Thursday of the embarrassing 23-0 playoff loss. ``You have a whole off-season to think about it. It's the one that sends you home for the year. You think about it because it was a situation where I didn't play well and we didn't play as a team. Nothing really went our way.''
Manning watched a videotape of the game again this week and saw nothing different.
Besides his interceptions, Tiki Barber ran for a season-low 41 yards and Plaxico Burress didn't catch a pass.
``We just didn't make any plays,'' said Manning, who completed 10-of-18 passes for 113 yards. ``We had 35 plays. It's not like we had a lot of opportunities, and we didn't take advantage of those opportunities.''
In preparing for this year's game, the offence has gotten a little help from linebacker Brandon Short.
Short, who played for Carolina last season before re-signing with the Giants, said the Panthers' game plan was simple. They rushed more men than the Giants could block and they refused to let either Burress or tight end Jeremy Shockey beat them deep.
``With that said, this is a new year and a new team,'' Short said. ``What has happened in the past is out the window. A lot of times guys like to bring that up and it is a great story, but this is a new team.''
Carolina is a much different team, especially at linebacker. Short is back in New York. Middle linebacker Dan Morgan (concussions) is on injured reserve and Will Witherspoon is playing for St. Louis.
Barber is ignoring what happened last year.
``It's, in a lot of ways, irrelevant to what's going to happen this Sunday,'' he said. ``We just have to be better. It's a completely different situation. We're excited about it.''
The Giants come into the game riding a four-game losing streak, with the last two losses coming on last-second field goals.
If there is a ray of hope for the Giants, Manning played well Sunday's 23-20 loss to Dallas, completing 24-of-36 passes for 270 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions.
``He's fought his way through some games that weren't as productive as we would like,'' Giants coach Tom Coughlin said. ``He played very well the other night and it's a shame that a guy who plays a game like he did, with the rating that he had, that this team lost the game.''
Carolina coach John Fox said that what everyone seems to forget about last year's game is how well his offence played against a banged up Giants defence.
Carolina controlled the ball for almost 43 minutes while gaining 335 yards, including 223 rushing.
With quarterback Jake Delhomme questionable with a thumb injury, Carolina might have to start Chris Weinke for the first time since the 2002 season.
``When he has played, he's shown the ability to come into the game and play well,'' Coughlin said of Weinke. ``He was inserted into the Detroit game in '05 late in the game and negotiated a drive for the winning touchdown.''
The Giants enter the final four games also tied with Philadelphia and Atlanta at 6-6. New York has the tiebreaker with Atlanta based on an earlier victory, and it could nail down the tiebreaker with Philadelphia next week by beating the Eagles for a second time this season.
Beating Carolina would give the Giants another potential tiebreaker.
``Both teams need a win right now,'' Manning said. ``It's going to be a battle. We have to know that they're going to be fighting hard. But every week, every team's trying to get a win. We're in the same situation. We're both fighting for a spot in the playoffs.''
© The Canadian Press, 2007
