View No. 1: The Giants have already clinched the NFC East championship and on Sunday all will be well when they beat the 11-3 Carolina Panthers and clinch home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.

View No. 2: The Giants can't beat the Panthers, no way. They're going to lose out on home-field advantage throughout the playoffs and might even wind up without a first-round bye.

Somewhere in the middle of those opposing viewpoints is where the Giants themselves are and where their thinking is about the remaining two games of the regular-season.

"We have a great record, we have won our division and we are going to play a game for the home field advantage," said head coach Tom Coughlin on Wednesday. "I don't know how you can't feel excited about this week. We're at home, we'll have the '12th man' on our side and we have played some outstanding football this season."

Coughlin was asked during his press conference about his team's back-to-back losses the past two weeks. He smiled and actually did a few jumping jacks at the podium.

"What two weeks?" Coughlin asked. "What are you talking about? What two weeks? I have no idea what you are talking about. It all is what's up front, what is coming up. Let's go. Forget about yesterday, it doesn't matter. What matters is this coming weekend. We got it down to one game. I think it's great."

Do the Giants players have that attitude?

"They will in about 15 minutes," Coughlin said, smiling again.

So the Giants express no doubts, no fears and no concerns about the big game, their second Sunday night game of the season.

"It's a football game," said middle linebacker Antonio Pierce. "That's all it is, a football game. We want the bye, we want the home field and we want the No. 1 overall seed, and one game gets us all of that. Both teams will go into this game focused and understanding what's at stake."

What slump? What two-game slide? Philadelphia and Dallas are behind the Giants now, and all that looms ahead is Carolina.

SERIES HISTORY: 4th regular-season meeting. Carolina holds a 2-1 lead, and also have a 23-0 playoff victory in Giants Stadium on Jan. 8, 2006. It was after that game when running back Tiki Barber proclaimed: "We were out-coached and unprepared," and began his well-chronicled dispute with head coach Tom Coughlin.