GIANTS FALLOUT?

After a Panthers’ motivational baseball bat had dominated NFL headlines throughout the week, a handful of officials lined up across the 50-yard line during pregame warmups in Atlanta. They were likely placed there by a league hoping to avoid confrontations similar to what occurred ahead of Carolina’s Week 15 win against the Giants.

The pregame peace was kept, but the extra attention may have taken a bit of ‘swagger’ out of a Panthers’ secondary that had been playing with heaps of attitude.

“It’s a fine line,” defensive coordinator Sean McDermott said. “This is a physical game and playing defense is a personality and an attitude. We want to be aggressive, but we have to play smart at the same time.”

The officials flagged CB Charles Tillman for a personal foul on the Falcons’ third play of scrimmage, which both he and McDermott admitted was an example of not playing smart. And because CB Josh Norman had the worst game of his breakout season, it’s fair to wonder if last week’s drama made him more cautious.

“That’s something I’ll have to talk to Josh about,” Rivera said. “Unfortunately, when you have a game like we previously had, there’s going to be a little bit of carry over. But we brought it on ourselves.”