The New York Giants beat the Carolina Panthers 24-17 on an 18 yard fumble return on the final play of their Monday night NFL pre-season scrimmage at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford.

With 10 seconds left and the ball on the Panthers own 18 yard line, fourth-string quarterback Hunter Cantwell went back to pass and was hit in the arm by Giants Defensive Tackle Leger Douzable. The ball went into the air and NY Giant defensive end Tommie Hill grabbed it and ran it back for a touchdown.

Cantwell had tied the game with 57 seconds left on a five-play drive that ended with a 31-yard TD pass to Jason Cherry and a 2-point conversion pass to Andrew Davie.

The Giants got the ball back but the Panthers defense held them to a three-and-out series. Jeff Feagles then punted it away, setting up the bizarre game-ending play.

“Everybody figured on defense they would take a knee,” Douzable said. “When they snapped it, I put a move on the guard. I saw the quarterback with the ball in his hand and I got it.”

“Both sides have a lot of work, but we have time. We have three weeks to do it,” Panthers coach John Fox said.

The Giants had led almost the entire game, scoring on a 19-yard run by Ahmad Bradshaw, a 36-yard screen pass from David Carr to halfback Danny Ware and a 46-yard field goal by Lawrence Tynes.

Eli Manning played only two series but was happy with the running game and defensive play of the Giants, who forced 5 Panthers turnovers.

The Carolina Panthers play their next 2009 NFL pre-season game against the Miami Dolphins on Saturday, August 22, 2009 @ 7:30 pm EST in Florida.

Eli Manning and the New York Giants head to Chicago next Saturday, where they take on the Bears in their next 2009 NFL pre-season. Gametime is 8:00 pm EST.

source: espn

The Detroit Lions have the distinction of being the first team in NFL history to go 0-15.  Will they lose their last game and end up a perfect 0-16?  They play the Packers in Green Bay, where they haven’t won a game in 17 years.

before the 2008 NFL season started there were such high hopes for the Lions in Motown. They had a perfect pre-season record, going 4-0. Now that the season has one week left, they are selling T-Shirts that read “2008 Pre-Season Champions”.

Believe it or not, if the Lions lose to the Packers, they won’t be the first team to go without a victory in an NFL season.  Back in 1976, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers went 0-14.  In one of the classic lines of that dreadful season, coach John McKay was asked what he thought of his team’s execution, he replied, I’m in favor of it.”

Are the Lions cursed? Is all of Michigan cursed? Nothing positive seems to happen up there.

The Lions last won a title in 1957.  Since then things have gone from bad to worse.  They have gotten the top draft pick consistently over the years but none of them have lived up to expectations. And injuries and bad luck have compounded their misfortune.

The Lions fans seem to be taking things in stride - or not. A great gift for Detroit Lions fans is a Lions Jersey that reads “Owen” with the number “16″ under it.

I hear there is a petition going around Michigan to rename the team the Detroit Lemons - because they just really suck!