CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Carolina needed to get through the first four games with no worse than a 3-1 record to be a legitimate playoff contender and keep pace with the New Orleans Saints in the NFC South with consecutive road games against Washington and Philadelphia coming up.
Mission accomplished. They found a way to do it -- despite sloppiness against an average Giants team and a subpar effort from quarterback Cam Newton -- by beating the New York Giants on Sunday 33-31 thanks to Graham Gano's 63-yard field goal with one second remaining.