There are those wonderful moments when everything clicks, the timing is just right.
You’re frantically rushing to make the train and see it pull gently into the station. The left and center lanes of the bridge get closed for construction, a sight you see from the vantage point of your rear-view mirror as you speed on by. Waiting to get served, stomach growling, you’re soothed by the most delectable assurance of all: There’s a fresh pie coming out of the pizza oven.
And so it is with the downtrodden, woebegone Giants, the 0-2 Giants, the sky-is-falling, back-up-the-truck Giants. With their season at an early tipping point, with all the historical (and hysterical?) ominous data hovering over them like flights circling over LaGuardia, the Giants receive the blessing of an all-expenses paid trip to Charlotte, N.C., where on Sunday there’s a 40 percent chance of scattered thunderstorms and a 100 percent chance the lousy Panthers will be waiting. These are rare moments when the stars are aligned so perfectly, when what is needed is what is granted.
Now the Giants will not subscribe to this publicly, and in their current state they should be lathered up for anyone, anywhere because the longer it is delayed, that first victory of any season is the hardest one to get. Sure, the Panthers at 0-2 are as winless as the Giants, but they’ve been closer, blowing fourth-quarter leads to the mighty Seahawks and last week to the Bills in Buffalo. Sure, Cam Newton is one of the new-age physical marvels at quarterback, DeAngelo Williams remains a powerful runner and linebacker Luke Kuechly is a second-year sensation.
The Panthers even have a hint of Giants in them, with former Big Blue exec Dave Gettleman in his first year as general manager, and receiver Domenik Hixon and linebacker Chase Blackburn on the roster. Hixon and Blackburn hardly play, though, and Gettleman very likely is going to have to sort through the should-he-stay or should-he-go debate regarding head coach Ron Rivera, who in two-plus years is 13-21 — plus a dreadful 2-14 in games decided by a touchdown or less.
A recent Charlotte Observer online poll revealed 83 percent of Panthers fans want Rivera fired immediately, and with a poor showing against the Giants, there’s some media speculation a move could come when the Panthers are in their Week 4 bye.
There’s also the matter of the decimation in Carolina’s defensive backfield, with starting free safety Charles Godfrey (Achilles) gone for the season, cornerbacks Josh Thomas (concussion) and John Norman (knee) and strong safety Quintin Mikell (ankle) all banged around last week in Buffalo. It is very likely Eli Manning will be throwing to Victor Cruz, Hakeem Nicks and Rueben Randle against the NFL’s most vulnerable secondary. Newton has been sacked seven times and all signs point to this being the week the dormant Giants pass rush awakens.
That the Giants are not favored in this game (1 1/2-point underdogs) is somewhat understandable but more so astounding, and this drop-down in strength of opponent figures to enliven the entire operation.
The Giants were 1-1 last season, coming off an escape job over the Buccaneers (the Giants trailed 27-13 before rallying) as they headed to Carolina in Week 3 and splattered the Panthers 36-7. This should be a matchup that allows the defense — which hasn’t been bad — to thrive, and Manning will loosen things up with so many open targets that the terrible running game, by default, finally will emerge from the darkness.
Since 1990, only three teams started the season 0-3 and made the playoffs, none since 1998. The Giants know where they are and what they have to do. This weekend, they will be in the perfect spot to do it.
Rolle: This is a must-win
The phrase “must-win’’ almost always is misused. Unless the Giants can accept missing out on the playoffs for the fourth time in the past five years, it is highly advisable they get off the schneid this weekend in Carolina. But must they? What happens if they lose? Will the last 13 games be rendered meaningless?
No doubt, the rhetoric will be the next game, in Kansas City, is really, truly the one they have to win.
“Us starting 0-3 … this is a must-win game for us,’’ safety Antrel Rolle said Tuesday on his weekly WFAN spot. “I don’t care how you look at it, I don’t care who has to say what about it, this is a must-win game for us.’’
Giants missing emotion
Rolle, since the 41-23 loss to the Broncos on Sunday, has hit on a familiar theme: He doesn’t see enough emotion and passion out of the Giants. Former Giants safety Deon Grant paid a visit to the team facility on Monday, and Rolle spoke with his friend and former teammate about that.
“It’s always great to get an opinion outside looking in,’’ Rolle said. “[Grant] said, ‘Antrel, even when you all make good plays, even when you are playing good football, it’s really not showing too much because there’s no excitement behind it.’ As a team we have to pick it up because there’s no one man without sin — that’s myself, that’s Eli [Manning], that’s [Justin] Tuck, that’s whoever you want to point a finger at. We all can make a difference and we all can make it better.’’
Tuck agrees there’s a lack of juice.
“I think we’re kind of waiting for that spark play,’’ Tuck said Tuesday. “I think we’re waiting on somebody else to make a play. I think we’re out there hustling, I think we’re out there playing our butts off, but I don’t think we’re out there having fun. And I think you have fun when you win, so I think he was dead-on when he said that.”