The Giants, now 11-3 after back-to-back losses, appeared ready to overcome the loss of Plaxico Burress, who famously shot himself in the leg in a New York-area night club two weeks ago. His wound and season-ending suspension, coupled with the loss of bulldozer running back Brandon Jacobs, look to be more than the defending champions can withstand.
Jacobs could be back for Sunday night's showdown with the Carolina Panthers. That game will decide home-field advantage in the NFC, and that is major since Carolina is a perfect 8-0 at home. If Jacobs' knee injury lingers into the playoffs, it might not matter where the conference's top two teams meet, that is if the Giants can even make it far enough to get to Carolina.
The Panthers have become the team to beat in the NFC, thanks to their improved play, and the Giants' struggles. At the time I made my criticisms of the Panthers a few weeks ago, the question I was asking was valid: How good were the Panthers really, with just a 2-4 record versus winning teams?
They've now won convincingly in consecutive weeks against winning teams, and Sunday's 30-10 smackdown of the AFC West-leading Denver Broncos included perhaps the most impressive defensive outing the Panthers' defense has had this season. Denver scored 10 points on its first two possessions, and none on its last nine.
Jake Delhomme and Steve Smith seem to have more continuity than they have at any point all year. Smith's two-game suspension to start the season was not good for either player, especially since Delhomme missed almost all of the 2007 season following Tommy John surgery.
The key question on Sunday is: Does Brandon Jacobs play? And if he does, how close to 100 percent will he be?
• Did you see Marcus Allen's ... excuse me, DeAngelo Williams' 56-yard touchdown run against the Broncos on Sunday.
The Carolina back's run was reminiscent of Allen's 74-yard TD run for the Raiders against the Redskins in Super Bowl XVIII. Williams ran left into a wall of Denver defenders, then cut in and streaked down the field for the touchdown.
Williams got left out in the cold when the Pro Bowl rosters were announced this week, but it is hard to argue against the three backs who went ahead of the third-year pro from Memphis.
Minnesota's Adrian Peterson (1,581 yards), Atlanta's Michael Turner (1,421) and Washington's Clinton Portis (1,337) are the NFL's top three rushers. Williams has 1,229, making the league's top four rushers all from the NFC. That's a crowd, and only three backs could go. Williams does lead the NFL with 16 touchdowns, however, and that makes the argument that he was snubbed that much stronger.
I still think the voters got it right. Peterson is the game's best back — period — and the man sees eight and nine-man fronts in his dreams every night. Turner and Portis play behind lines that don't run block as effectively as the Panthers' mammoth O-line.
• I wrote a few weeks ago in this column space that San Diego Charger LaDainian Tomlinson's best days were clearly behind him. More evidence of that could be found on Sunday when Tomlinson carried 15 times for 39 yards against the 2-12 Kansas City Chiefs.
The Chiefs own the third worst run defense in all of football, allowing over 155 yards per game on the year. Still, L.T. couldn't exploit K.C.
• I don't dislike today's hey-look-at-me athletes purely out of disdain for their sometimes childish behavior, especially in the NFL. I get it: The players’ faces are hidden by helmets, and they're not nearly as recognizable as athletes in other sports.
They want to be seen and heard, they're looking to entertain and to make themselves more marketable. I thought Chad Johnson's touchdown celebrations were hysterical and hurt no one, until he continued to celebrate his greatness in losing efforts for the Bengals.
The part I can’t stand is when the histrionics and antics of clowns steal attention away from more deserving athletes who maintain more low-key on-field personas.
Dallas cornerback Terence Newman might just be the best cover man in pro football today. Newman allowed just two touchdown catches during all of the 2005 and 2006 seasons, and he was whistled for a bogus pass interference penalty in the first quarter of the Cowboys' 20-8 win over the Giants on Sunday.
NBC's Al Michaels and John Madden both said the call that went against Newman was a bad one. The amazing part is, it was Newman's first penalty since early in the 2006 season. Newman played a super game, ending the night with six tackles and two interceptions of Eli Manning.
Newman played poorly in a 26-24 loss to the Washington Redskins in the Cowboys' fourth game of the year. After the game, it was discovered that Newman had a sports hernia which would require surgery.
Newman would miss five games following surgery, and the Cowboys allowed 130 points in those five games. Since his return, the Dallas defense has allowed just 62 points and four touchdowns, two of those TDs coming in the final quarter of a blowout win over the 49ers.
You won't hear that much about Newman. He's paid to keep wide receivers from catching the ball, and he does it as well as anyone since perhaps the great Deion Sanders. He's also intelligent, articulate and respectful, and he rarely looks to draw attention to himself.
There's another reason you don't hear that much about him — knuckleheads like Terrell Owens. Owens and the Dallas Cowboys' ongoing locker room soap opera squashes any chance that the performance of a stalwart like Newman would receive more than a footnote.
• Remember the 1980s, the glory days of the NBA? I started following the league when I was 5, and there was nothing that was ever any better for the game than the great Celtics-Lakers rivalry of that decade. Los Angeles and Boston combined for eight championships in the 80s, their dominance ending with Larry Bird's back problems, Magic Johnson's positive testing for the HIV virus and the coming of Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls.
Well, there's a sort of déjá vu going on in the NBA right now. The Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers met in the NBA Finals last year, with the Celtics winning their 17th NBA title. At 23-2 this year, Boston has tied the record for the best start in NBA history through 25 games, and the Lakers are the top team in the West at 21-3.
There are no Chicago Bulls nipping at the heels of the Lakers and Celtics this time around. But there is an upstart franchise, led by an unstoppable force much like Jordan, that could make life tough on Boston and L.A. come playoff time.
This time it's the Cleveland Cavaliers and LeBron James. Cleveland has the NBA's third best record this year at 20-4. Jordan lacked the supporting cast that accompanied Bird and Magic in the old days, and James lacks the help that Kobe Bryant and Paul Pierce have in L.A. and Boston now.
Jordan beat Bird and Magic and started a run of six titles in eight years by proving, once and for all, that he was the best player on the face of the earth. James will have to do the same in order for the Cavaliers to win it all.
Michael Gilliland is sports editor of The Laurinburg Exchange. Write to him at mgilliland@laurinburgexchange.com
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