Giants set to resume "rivalry'' with Panthers

Terrell Thomas was working out with some players from the Carolina Panthers during the offseason and they got to talking about all of the games they have had against each other in their brief careers.

There was the overtime game late in 2008 to determine who would get the top seed in the NFC playoffs. There was the Giants Stadium finale last year that ended the Giants' postseason dreams.

They even mentioned the preseason opener of a year ago that nearly went into overtime but was decided by a turnover and Tommie Hill's last-minute touchdown.

The Giants have longstanding animosity with the Cowboys, Eagles and Redskins, division rivals they play twice every year. But in going over the games against the Panthers the last few seasons, Thomas decided that they, too, have developed a special place in the team's mind.

Yes, Thomas decided: "This is a rivalry."

And wouldn't you know it, here come the Panthers again for another high-stakes game dripping with subplots and storylines. Less than nine months after taking their own wrecking ball to Giants Stadium, Carolina opens New Meadowlands Stadium this afternoon. It's something Thomas thinks the NFL had in mind when they designed the schedule, and he likes it.

"Any time you can add any context to it, it's an advantage," he said. "Any type of bulletin- board message or just something you remember from last year or a couple of years back, you want to use that to your advantage to motivate you. It's a long season. You have your ups and downs and sometimes your opponents are better or worse. But you have to get up for every game."

Getting up for the Panthers after what has happened the last several seasons is not difficult. It all really started in the 2005 playoffs, when Carolina trounced the Giants, 23-0, in a first-round game. They met again the following year in Carolina, with the Giants exacting revenge, 27-13, and then met at the end of the 2008 and 2009 schedules.

"It's definitely a red-star game for the defense because the last two years they ran the ball so effectively against us," defensive tackle Barry Cofield said when asked if Giants-Panthers is a rivalry. "They've piled up about 500 yards in two games on our own field. So this is definitely a game we're focused on. Definitely some performances the last two years that we want to forget, and we want to make a statement."

Not everyone agrees that the teams are rivals.

"We burn for them when it's their week, but rivalry is a big word," running back Brandon Jacobs said. "We've played them almost every year, or four out of the last five years. It's a very competitive football game. Last year, we weren't all there, and we're ready for them just given the fact that we're opening our new stadium with those guys."

Both parties have to agree for it to be a true rivalry. Carolina's Steve Smith said he hopes the Giants consider his team that way, if for no other reason than the Panthers can't seem to find one in their own division.

"With the Giants and the NFC East, with that division, you say NFC East and everyone knows those four teams that are in there," Smith said. "You say NFC South, and I don't think we're established in a higher rank. I would hope it becomes a rivalry, and I think it's a good rivalry. Any time you have a rivalry, that means two teams are battling it out."

That'll happen Sunday. And it could happen again next year - assuming there is a full schedule of games - if the Giants and Panthers finish in the same place in their respective divisions.

Given the history of this "rivalry," you can almost count on it.