Carolina Panthers vs NY Giants Pick and Preview

Both teams have 11-3 records entering the Sunday Night Football game, and the early line at Diamond Sportsbook shows the Giants favored by 3 points. The winner will take a one-game advantage in the race for the best record in the NFC with one week to play and will have the tiebreaker edge over the loser.

Of course, maybe home-field advantage isn’t as important as it seems: The Giants didn’t need a single home game in last season’s playoffs to sweep to four straight wins and the Super Bowl XLII title. 

Two weeks ago, this Carolina Panthers-New York Giants prediction looked like it might mean little to the Giants, other than a tune-up for a playoff run. New York was cruising to the best record in the NFC at 11-1. The Giants were the hottest team in the conference, having won 15 of their last 16 games over the past two seasons. Carolina, meanwhile, was a solid 9-3 but facing a difficult stretch of games that would determine its playoff fate. Thoughts of carrying the best record in the NFC seemed to be a long shot for the Panthers.

The tables have turned in a two-week stretch, though, and Carolina now might be the hottest team in the league. Carolina defeated Tampa Bay and Denver by a combined 35-point margin during the past two weeks. The Panthers have won seven of their past eight games.

The Giants, meanwhile, have lost back-to-back games with an offense that mustered only two touchdowns in the two games. New York hadn’t lost back-to-back games since Sept 9 and 16 of 2007, a stretch of 32 games.

The matchup to watch in the Panthers-Giants game will be the Carolina offense versus the New York defense. Carolina’s offense, which struggled through some inconsistencies in the early part of the season, has scored at least 27 points in seven of its last eight games. New York’s defense has been very good lately, too, limiting seven of its last nine opponents to 20 or fewer points.

As a home favorite of a touchdown or less this season, the Giants are 3-1 against the spread. However, the Giants did lose their last home game, 20-14 against Philadelphia Dec. 7. New York has been an impressive 10-4 against the spread this season, although it has lost its last two games ATS.

As a road underdog of a touchdown or less this season, Carolina is 1-3 against the spread, but the Panthers did win their last road game, at Green Bay Nov. 30, by a 35-31 score. Carolina was a 3-point underdog in that game, too. The Panthers are 8-5-1 against the spread this season, including 3-3 on the road.

The last regular-season Panthers-Giants matchup occurred late in the 2006 season, when New York won 27-13 in Charlotte as a 3-point favorite. Carolina’s last trip to Giants Stadium occurred in the Wild Card Round of the NFC playoffs in January 2006, when the Panthers, as a 3-point underdog, hammered New York, 23-0.