Joe Lapointe is at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., and will provide live analysis from the Giants’ game against the Carolina Panthers.  Update | 3:52 p.m. For a brief moment Sunday afternoon, it looked as if the Giants had the upper hand in the game against the Carolina Panthers and a promising shot at a playoff spot.  It came in the middle of the first quarter when quarterback Eli Manning found wide receiver Steve Smith in the end zone for what looked like a touchdown on a 26-yard passing play on the Giants’ first drive. But the play was nullified by a holding penalty against fullback Madison Hedgecock.  Three plays later, the drive was nullified when wide receiver Mario Manningham fumbled on the Carolina 14-yard line and it was recovered by the Panthers. And everything unraveled from there in the Giants’ final regular-season home game in their current Giants Stadium.  The Panthers took the ball and drove down field for a field goal and went on to a 41-9 victory that left the Giants on the brink of elimination.  The Giants had an 8-7 record and had to hope for a victory next week in Minnesota, and either Dallas or Green Bay both losing both of their final two games.  As of late Sunday afternoon, the Packers were leading Seattle, 48-10, and the Cowboys were preparing to play at Washington on Sunday night. Should the Giants end their season tied at 9-7 with either National Football Conference foe, the Giants would win the wild-card playoff berth due to the tiebreaker formula.  By the time the game ended, the stadium — with an announced attendance of 78,809 — was almost empty, but that meant there were few fans there to boo. The Giants’ defense, in particular, looked very bad, allowing Panthers carrying the ball to consistently break tackles.  The Giants have not missed the playoffs since 2004.  Update | 3:25 p.m. That was not a drive that the Giants’ defense will want to remember. The highlight of the drive — for the Panthers — was a 52-yard run by Jonathan Stewart, who broke several tackles on his way to the 1-yard line. The Giants’ effort prompted the Fox announcing crew to say that it was the worst tackling that they had seen all year. Ouch. Brad Hoover scored on the next play to make it 41-9. Stewart now has a career-high 194 yards rushing.  Update | 3:22 p.m. With the stadium almost half-empty at the end of the third quarter, the speaker system played the Beatles’ “In My Life” while the video board showed photos of fans enjoying better days in Giants Stadium. (”There are places I’ll remember, all my life …” )  The Giants cut the lead to 34-9 with 11:59 left in the fourth quarter when Manning connected with a leaping Steve Smith in the end zone for a 2-yard touchdown.  Update | 3:13 p.m. With 34 seconds left in the third quarter, Kasay’s 27-yard field goal gave the Panthers a 34-3 lead. The quarter ended with growing expanses of empty seats, a three-quarter waxing moon high in the blue sky over the stadium and the Panthers still ahead by 34-3.  One of the pleasures of this Giants season has been the ability to listen to the radio commentary of Carl Banks, the former Giants defender who works as an analyst next to the play-by-play man Bob Papa in the WFAN booth. Here are a couple of Banks’s comments about the Giants from the third quarter:  “I don’t see a guy out there on the field who’s even angry about it.”  “They need to change their attitude. Their defense isn’t showing any fight.”  There will be plenty of explanations and excuses for the poor performance by the Giants. Here are two:  * They played a Monday night game.  * Their practice routine was interrupted by the Christmas holiday.  Update | 2:52 p.m. The second half began before many empty seats. The remaining witnesses saw the Panthers increase their lead to 31-0 on a drive that took only two minutes. They scored the touchdown on a pass play of 27 yards from Moore to Smith, who bounced off a half-hearted tackle attempt by Michael Johnson, just before the end zone.  First-half statistics showed the Giants with 17 yards rushing in the first two quarters. Jacobs had two yards on five carries for an average of 0.4 yards a carry.  Update | 2:38 p.m. The first half ended with Manning scrambling up the middle for a six-yard gain before pitching a lateral that went for a fumble and was picked up by Peppers, who gained 11 yards before being tackled. The play was a miniature version of the first half and of the entire season: it began with hope and promise but devolved into a chaotic mess with the Panthers holding a 24-0 lead.  At halftime, to honor the last regular-season home game for the Giants at this stadium, a video on the scoreboard played a Bruce Springsteen song called “Wrecking Ball.’‘  Now my home was here in the Meadowlands Where the mosquitoes grow big as airplanes here where the blood is spilled The arena’s filled The Giants played the game . . . ”  . . . tonight all the dead are here So bring on your wrecking ball. Bring on your wrecking ball . . . ‘  The video board showed great plays in Stadium history and the former players Jason Sehorn and Lawrence Taylor were introduced.  After Taylor jogged on the field, the announcer Bob Papa led the fans in a chant of “L.T.!” Update | 2:12 p.m. Things deteriorated from bad to worse on the next Giants’ possession when cornerback Richard Marshall of the Panthers intercepted Manning’s slant pass intended for Steve Smith. The play followed yet another ineffective run by Brandon Jacobs, whose performance this season has been far less than expected. The poor running game, combined with the one-sided score, ensured that Manning would have to pass and that sort of situation allowed defensive backs to anticipate pass routes and jump in front of receivers after reading the eyes and body language of the quarterback.  Should the Giants’ lose this one, they could be eliminated from playoff contention, depending on the results involving Dallas and Green Bay. Coming into the game, they were one game behind the Cowboys and Packers but had the edge over those two teams in the tiebreaker formula for the wild-card playoff berth.  On second-and-goal at the 2, Moore connected for a touchdown with a pass to tight end Jeff King with 2:22 left. The clock ticked down one more second to make the official time 2:21 left in the second quarter. But I watched it as it took place and it was second-and-goal from the 2 and the play ended with 2:22 left in quarter No. 2 and the Panthers leading, 24-0. Update | 2:02 p.m. A 22-yard touchdown pass play from Moore to Muhsin Muhammad gave the Panthers a 17-0 lead with 5:40 left in the first half. This drew boos from the fans. During the drive, the Giants showed weak tackling, something that has plagued them at times throughout the season.  Muhammad got free behind cornerback Terrell Thomas along the right side of the field and caught the ball in the end zone. At this point, the game seemed as it it was about to become a romp for the Panthers.  Throughout the season, the Giants have been alarmingly inconsistent. They have dominated teams like Tampa Bay, Oakland and Washington. They have been dominated by teams like Philadelphia, New Orleans and Denver.  Update | 1:48 p.m. Moore is picking on Kevin Dockery, the backup Giants cornerback playing in place of the injured Corey Webster.  On Carolina’s first drive of the second quarter, Steve Smith caught a pass and eluded Dockery’s tackle attempt to fun for a first down. Then, Dockery was called for a pass interference penalty, one protested by both Dockery and Coach Tom Coughlin. The drive ended with a 29-yard touchdown by Jonathan Stewart that gave the Panhters a 10-0 lead with 10:37 left in the second quarter.  The game was still in its early stages, but it seemed, at this point, that the Giants’ were deflated by the holding penalty to Hedgecock and the fumble after the pass reception by Manningham. Update | 1:32 p.m. On Carolina’s first drive of the game, on third down, the Giants’ went to their “amoeba” look on defense, where none of the linemen get down in 3-point stances but instead lurk over the offensive line in an effort to confuse them. But the Panthers got the first down anyway. On the next third down, Justin Tuck jumped offside, turning a third- and-6 to a third-and-1. That helped Carolina get a first down on a 2-yard gain by Brad Hoover.  As the drive continued, Michael Johnson, the Giants’ strong safety, failed to get up after a tackle. The Giants came into the game already damaged in the secondary with injuries to Corey Webster and Aaron Ross keeping both out of uniform. Johnson eventually walked off the field without aid but C.C. Brown replaced him. Brown has had trouble in pass coverage this season. Matt Moore, the Carolina quarterback, on third-and-4 on the Giants’ 29, gained a first down on a scramble after a play-action fake. With a new set of downs, would Moore test Brown? They kept the ball on the ground until it was third-and-5 from the 19. Moore dropped back, drifted right and threw long and incomplete into the end zone, over Johnson, who was back in the game. A field goal attempt by John Kasay from 37 yards was good and the Panthers had a 3-0 lead with 46 seconds left in the first quarter.  Update | 1:19 p.m. On the first play from scrimmage for the Giants, Panthers defensive end Julius Peppers brought down Brandon Jacobs for a loss of three yards. Peppers was a primary focus of the game. He is one of the N.F.L.’s best pass rushers. But the Giants recovered from that and mounted a long drive, much of it fashioned with short passes that controlled with the field and the clock. Enough runs were mixed in to keep the Panthers guessing.  Eli Manning appeared to throw a touchdown pass to Steve Smith on first-and-10 from Carolina’s 26-yard line. But that was negated by a holding penalty against fullback Madison Hedgecock.  The drive died when Manning completed a third-down pass to Mario Manningham, who fumbled after the reception. The Panthers’ James Anderson recovered the ball at the Carolina 20-yard line with 7 minutes and 38 seconds left in the first quarter. Not a big surprise that OLG Rich Seubert and ORT Kareem McKenzie of the Giants were inactive for Sunday’s game against Carolina, the final Giants’ regular-season game in the current Giants Stadium. Both have knee injuries. Seubert was replaced by Kevin Boothe; McKenzie was replaced by William Beatty, a rookie.  Also not in uniform for the Giants were two injured defensive backs: CB Corey Webster and CB/S Aaron Ross. Webster has a knee problem, Ross a hamstring issue. Kevin Dockery was listed as a starter in Webster’s place. Ross has been in and out of the lineup this season and has played mostly safety. Aaron Rouse and Michael Johnson were the starting safeties against the Panthers. Healthy scratches for the Giants were WR Ramses Barden, TE Scott Chandler and WR Sinorice Moss.  An hour before kickoff, the temperatures were in the mid-40s with sunny skies, a relatively dry field and gentle breezes. In that the Giants this season have become a pass-oriented offense, the conditions favored them. In that it was to be the final regular-season game in the old stadium, much ceremonial trappings were planned, including the showing on the scoreboard of a Bruce Springsteen video of a song called “Wrecking Ball.”
The Giants still have playoff hopes, and a win over Carolina would certainly help. But they will have to overcome a significant deficit in the second half.