NFL Thursday Night Football Free Live Steam: Giants at Panthers

September 20, 2012

Tonight's NFL Thursday Night Football bout to kick off week three of the young 2012 season pits the 1-1 Carolina Panthers against the likewise 1-1 New York Giants. It's must-see television tonight for many of you whether watching over the air or streaming live online, and definitely for me.

Carolina is rife with promise and hope that Rookie of the Year quarterback Cam Newton will continue his strong early season performance and pull out an upset victory. He has the tools to execute a diverse running and passing attack against the Giants, and should be able to take advantage of the option on occasion. Should Newton pull off the victory, he can hang his head high in having been able to defeat Drew Brees and Eli Manning in consecutive weeks.

For Eli, he needs to bust out the bottle of whatever magic helped him throw for over 500 yards last weekend and unleash a similar aerial assault against the Panthers. To do so, Manning will have to overcome the absence of last week's NFC offensive player of the week Hakeem Nicks who is out with a foot injury. Without Nicks, the Panthers are likely to shift their coverage plans and zero in on double and triple coverage for Victor Cruz.

The Giants and Panthers have not squared off against each other since September 12, 2010, a little over two years ago. In that pre-Cam Newton era match, Eli picked apart the Panthers in his house for a 31-18 win. Tonight's game should prove to be far more competitive.

Watch the NFL Thursday Night Football free online live stream at NFL.com here, or if you're more adventerous, go here where suggestive ads run wild. The game begins at 8:20 EST/5:20 PST. Also be sure to read our Madden NFL 13 review for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.