CHARLOTTE – When the Panthers take the field tomorrow at Giants Stadium, they know what will meet them. Boos, then some more boos – and yet more boos.
There will be 78,000 sets of lungs giving the Panthers a New York welcome before their NFC playoff game with the Giants, and the Panthers say bring it on. They fancy themselves as a group of road warriors, capable of winning in enemy territory and silencing hostile crowds.
“For somebody that might be a big deal, not having a home game,” defensive end Mike Rucker said. “For us, we’re like, ‘Oh, well, we’ve done it before.’ We’ll hop on the plane, go up to New York and go from there. We’re not really worried about going on the road.”
That is because Carolina (11-5) has been better away from Bank of America Stadium than in it this year. The Panthers notched a 6-2 record as visitors, something they hope carries over in the postseason.
“When faced with adversity we seem to come together,” said linebacker Brandon Short, a former Giant. “It’s an us-versus-the-world mentality. Of course we’d rather be here in the confines of our own stadium, but it doesn’t matter where we play. The field is the same distance and you’ve got to go out there and make plays whether you’re playing in front of one person or 100,000.”
The Panthers have heard about the history of wild-card teams in the NFL playoffs all week. Since 1970, wild-card teams are 58-116 on the road. One wild-card team (1985 Patriots) won three road games to reach the Super Bowl. As a No. 5 seed it is unlikely the Panthers will get a playoff game in Charlotte.
Frankly, they don’t care.
“It doesn’t bother us too much,” tackle Jordan Gross said. “This is going to be a big test because crowd noise this year hasn’t really been that bad. It’s going to be bad up there.”
The Panthers have been piping in crowd noise at practice to prepare for what awaits them tomorrow. They have been down this road before in the playoffs. During their Super Bowl run of 2003, they won in St. Louis and in Philadelphia.
“It gives us a lot of confidence,” cornerback Ricky Manning said. “We have that this year. We had that two years ago. We know we’re behind enemy lines and know it’s going to be a war.”
Coach John Fox and Short are very familiar with what they will face tomorrow. Both were members of the Giants in 2000 when Giants Stadium was perhaps its loudest during Big Blue’s 41-0 dismantling of the Vikings in the NFC Championship Game.
“It won’t be like that because the Giants had a pretty good game that day,” Short said. “I’d like to think it’s going to be the inverse. We can take the crowd out of the game early if we can get a lead.
“You can’t compare it to the NFC Championship Game. The Vikings laid it down. This team will not lay it down under any circumstances.”
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“It is hard for me to go against John Fox in this game because I think he knows the Giants’ mentality so well, but I just think the play of Tiki [Barber] and Plaxico [Burress] and the attitude of Eli [Manning], I think they have more ability to score than Carolina does. I could see a 23-20 Giants win.”
– Fox Sports’ Brian Baldinger