Did you feel it there at the end of the game? That little sense of invisible chaos muscling its way into the Giants-Panthers narrative was powerful stuff, really potent as it was shoved down our collective throats. I mean, we thought we knew how this game was going to transpire right around midway through the second half. At 35-7 in the third quarter, there was no conceivable way the Giants could flip this game in their favor, certainly not against the mighty undefeated, undefeatable Panthers. A coaching assistant was probably already throwing Tom Coughlin’s stuff into those generic Home Depot moving boxes we always end up buying. Odell Beckham Jr. was already preparing his insanity defense for the jury. Ron Rivera was reaching into the table to gather his chips and cash out for the day.
And then! Oh, did the Giants make this unexpected fun. Or just super-painful. Depends entirely on your perspective, but suddenly remembering that Carolina is boasting a secondary at less than 100 percent strength, Eli Manning began carving his way through the defense. Beckham decided to focus more on catching footballs than causing traumatic brain injuries. Rashad Jennings ripped off a touchdown run to start the fourth-quarter fireworks. Suddenly, a gaggle of sports writers prepared to Select All-Delete on their game stories and cry into their free press box coffee even as they frantically sought out a fresh cup.
Instead, they only needed to slap a fresh lede on those puppies. Graham Gano’s 43-yard field goal with no time left gave the Panthers a 38-35 win at MetLife Stadium, thus preserving a historic and as-yet-unfinished march to the Super Bowl. The Giants, now 6-8, are effectively eliminated from playoff contention — they’re one game back in the NFC East, but would need a nearly impossible sequence of events to play out with the Redskins and Eagles to have any shot — and Tom Coughlin likely has but two meaningless home games against Minnesota and Philadelphia left in his tenure as Giants head coach. What could have been the greatest regular-season comeback win in NFL history was just another heartbreaking, last-second loss for a team that has mastered the art form.
In ending the Giants season, Newton was sublime. He threw for 340 yards and once again made Ted Ginn Jr. look like the Pro Bowl receiver he most certainly should not be. No Jonathan Stewart in the backfield? No problem, as Newton rushed for 100 yards on just eight carries. In fact, Newton became the first quarterback in the history of the NFL (think about that for a second … okay, let’s proceed) to throw for five touchdowns and rush for 100 yards in one game. Ever. No one had done that until Cam Newton against the Giants. Every time you think he’s reached his ceiling as an NFL player, there’s another level that Newton ascends toward.
A month ago, I said that Newton had effectively clinched this season’s MVP award and that it would likely be a unanimous vote. It wasn’t even a very daring proclamation on my part at the time, but his play against the Giants should have now solidified that belief among the NFL’s voting populace. The Panthers are guaranteed to finish with the best record in the NFL. Newton is the entire reason that result has come to pass. At times, he seems to redefine our own expectations for the totality of what a single quarterback’s skillset can encompass. He’s not the best deep passer we’ve ever seen. He’s not the best rushing quarterback we’ve ever seen. But I dare say, the way he’s playing right now is one of the highest combined levels of those two traits we’ve ever seen in an NFL playcaller.
Much has been made lately of the off-field friendship between Newton and fellow Charlotte sports icon Steph Curry, who’s already won a title this year, an MVP award, and propelled the Golden State Warriors to a 26-1 start on their current NBA season. Until last June, Curry was a great NBA player, but not one on an otherworldly plane the way he is now. But Newton has a chance at the same kind of global profile jump if he can lead the Panthers to their first Super Bowl title (and especially if they’re still undefeated at the time).
This is an insanely fun time to be a Panthers fan. That the perfect ride nearly came to an end in North Jersey on Sunday afternoon probably never felt like much of a possibility, even as the Panthers’ once-safe lead evaporated into nothing. With Newton this season, defeat is the only result that ever feels unlikely. Everything else is in play, always. And seeing where this team ultimately ends up is going to make for a hell of a story come January — and maybe February.
