Giants 27, Panthers 13

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) Chris Weinke couldn't turn around Carolina's disappointing season. Tiki Barber and Eli Manning helped revive the New York Giants' playoff hopes.<br/><br/>Barber rushed

Sunday, December 10th 2006, 3:11 pm

By: News On 6

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) Chris Weinke couldn't turn around Carolina's disappointing season. Tiki Barber and Eli Manning helped revive the New York Giants' playoff hopes.

Barber rushed for 112 yards, Manning threw 3 touchdown passes and the Giants snapped a four-game losing streak Sunday with a 27-13 win over the banged-up Panthers.

Weinke, making his first start in more than four years in place of the injured Jake Delhomme, threw for a team-record 423 yards, but had 3 2nd-half interceptions. He also was undone by drops and a nonexistent running game as the Panthers (6-7) lost their third straight.

While most of the attention was on Delhomme's sprained right thumb that forced him to miss his first game in four seasons, the Panthers' injury-plagued defense proved to be no match for the Giants (7-6), who remained in the top spot in the NFC wild-card race.

Barber went over 10,000 career yards rushing in the 2nd quarter on the way to his fifth 100-yard game of the season.

Manning had his second solid outing in a row, throwing a 2-yard touchdown pass to David Tyree midway through the 3rd quarter to make it 27-10.

The touchdown was set up after the first of Gibril Wilson's 2 interceptions of Weinke. The 34-year-old former Heisman Trophy winner, who hasn't been a full-time starter since Carolina's 1-15 season in 2001, completed 34 of 61 passes, but struggled with his accuracy in the 2nd half.

Kevin Dockery picked off Weinke in the 4th quarter, sending most of the crowd home.

Weinke, who had thrown 13 passes in the past four seasons, had at least six different players drop passes. He surpassed Steve Beuerlein's record of 373 yards passing against Green Bay in 1999, but it didn't stop the downward spiral of Carolina's once promising season.