Giants Win Ugly Behind Nicks Big Day

GIANTS 31
PANTHERS 18

That was ugly.

The Giants christened the opening of New Meadowlands Stadium with a ugly 31-18 victory over the Carolina Panthers, a game in which the G-Men lost Kevin Boss indefinitely after a concussion, a game that saw the Giants defense put together a sloppy first half, and a game that featured an invisible running game for a better part of the afternoon.

Yet 1-0 is 1-0.

Eli Manning found his new favorite target in Hakeem Nicks. Nicks had four catches for 75 yards and three touchdowns as the G-Men stormed back from a 16-14 hafltime deficit to blow away Carolina in the second half.

Late in the second quarter, Manning hit Nicks on a 19 yard go-route for the touchdown to give Big Blue a 14-9 lead. But, Carolina answered as the Panthers drove the ball down the field in the final minutes of the half, culminating in a Steve Smith touchdown.

Now in the third quarter with the Giants up 17-16, Manning hit Nicks again on the right from five yards out to give the G-Men a 24-16 lead. Finally, Ahmad Bradshaw bullrushed his way for a four yard touchdown to close out the Giants scoring at 31-16.

Manning played extremely well, completing 20-0f-30 for 267 yards and three TD's. He also threw three interceptions. The big problem for Manning was the fact that his receivers kept dropping passes, and his interceptions were of the tipped ball variety.

The loss of Boss is going to hurt. The Giants are very thin a tight end, and they will have to look at the waiver wire to find a new tight end. Boss, who was a big target for Manning will be missed dearly.

Defensively, the Giants were much more aggressive in the second half recovering two fumbles and picking off two Matt Moore passes. The defense will be tested big time next week at Indianapolis.

The Giants win, but it wasn't pretty.