Panthers running back Jonathan Stewart out for the Giants game

“Ted is getting confidence”, quarterback Cam Newton said. Olsen should be ready to start against the New York Giants on Sunday. Though Odighizuwa won’t be eligible for reactivation until the regular-season finale against Philadelphia on January 3, he said he felt he could play immediately.

The first priority in going undefeated is wanting to do so. The guy who many claimed wasn’t clutch now has the NFL’s best fourth-quarter passer rating of 115.0. And though RB Jonathan Stewart is sitting this one out, the Panthers have all the ingredients to win out. Indeed, the Falcons and Bucs may be weak enough to be put away by halftime, thus securing the win and the injury prevention. It’s not a huge surprise that these two stats go hand-in-hand, and the Panthers will likely look to send the house against Manning. In Carolina’s case, that’s the secondary.

Cornerback Bene Benwikere suffered a broken leg and was lost for the season. Howard – who has started 61 consecutive games – was held out of practice all week and the team was hopeful the rest would enable him to play. Colin Jones is a backup nickel and safety, and Tre Boston is a reserve safety with run-stopping skills.

The Battering Cam has never been as accurate as the apple that beaned his namesake Sir Isaac – even this year, his potential MVP year, he is only completing 59.1 percent of his passes. They know that the red hot Pittsburgh Steelers are fighting for their playoff lives and their loss to them last week has cut their lead to just two games. Davis is right behind him with 100 (77 solo). Would it surprise anyone if Newton threw out one of his old stinkburgers over the next three games? He caught both passes thrown to him for 120 yards and two scores in Carolina’s 38-0 win.

But Manning and the Giants are a weird team. And they didnt make a change at quarterback.

Beckham’s final numbers looked respectable, but his performance was much worse than his stat line indicates. And he’ll be looking to do what Brady did last month – leave East Rutherford still unbeaten after playing the Giants. Obviously, this is a pretty long list of players and injuries in one single game, but many of them come along with playing football.

Overall, Carolina’s third phase has been substandard, not exactly a new development in Charlotte.

The Panthers magic carpet ride of a season continues to roll, this time making a stop at Metlife Stadium. The new coach has improved matters some, a noteworthy achievement given that DeHaven was diagnosed with prostate cancer in the spring. Penalties have also been an issue – Carolina has committed 17 of them on special teams; only seven squads have more. The G-Men need to win the remainder of their games if they want to all but ensure a playoff berth.

Despite the five-year absence and the idle time, Cofield said he can offer immediate help as the league’s 16th-ranked run defense tries to contain the Panthers. “I’m excited about it”, Rivera said, according to Panthers.com. “I’d definitely be able to play and participate and contribute in some way”, he said. “Our record – in our league, your record is what you are”.

The Panthers were willing to be patient with Tillman, hoping he could return for the playoffs. Newton had a lower completion percentage on all passes (54.2 percent) in the first eight weeks than he has on deep passes in the last six. He writes regularly for the New York Times, ESPN.com, Football Outsiders, CJR, Slate and many others.