Giants-Panthers Battle For No. 1 Seed
0 Comment December 19 New York Post
" Phil Simms has a message for Giants fans: Calm down - the worst is over.
The previous two weeks the 11-3 Giants have gone from juggernauts to mediocre in losses to the Eagles and Cowboys. But Simms, an integral member of two Giants' Super Bowl teams, said he believes Big Blue has plenty of time to turn it around, starting Sunday night against the 11-3 Panthers. It's a game that will decide which team will have home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs.
"People are saying, 'Plaxico's (Burress) suspended - the season is over," said Simms, an analyst with CBS. "They played two teams (Eagles and Cowboys) with no margin for error. Don't ever discount that, and for the Giants, those weren't must-win games and physically they were down."
With the NFC East already locked up, the Giants will not have any must-win games until the postseason. But if they want all those playoff games to be at the Meadowlands, and not Charlotte, they must beat a Panthers team that comes in off impressive wins over the Buccaneers and Broncos.
"The agenda for the Giants has changed and now it's for real," Simms said. "Now they've got a body of work (without Burress) to draw from.
"The Giants may not be capable right now of steamrolling people like they were earlier in the year. They might have to play a different game, but they're absolutely qualified to make those changes work. In my eyes they are still the Super Bowl favorites."
Speaking of steamrolling, the Giants expect to have leading rusher Brandon Jacobs back against Carolina. The bullish back missed half of the loss to the Eagles and the entire defeat against the Cowboys with a left knee injury. Without Burress and Jacobs, the offense sputtered, going from averaging 29.3 points in their 11-1 start to 22 total points in their previous two losses.
But Simms said he believes that when Jacobs returns, so will the Giants' swagger.
"I cannot verbalize how important Jacobs is," Simms said."
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