It was a much different time, with a much different team. But if you are a Giants fan praying for another miracle, nearly eight years later, you turn your lonely eyes to your quarterback, the Miracle Mann who doesn’t blink as he eyes the 13-0 Panthers. Just as he sure didn’t blink one Super night against the 18-0 Patriots.
Eli Manning won’t have his trusted old friends this time — David Tyree and Chris Snee and Plaxico Burress and Michael Strahan & Co. — but he’s coming off a Phil Simms-in-Pasadena night in time for a game that won’t get him a third Lombardi Trophy should he pull off another Perfect Upset, merely keep alive faint hopes for another unlikely playoff run.