The Giants knew they would be short-handed on offense for Thursday night’s game against the Panthers. Now they know they will be decimated.

Receiver Hakeem Nicks, earlier in the day selected as the NFC Offensive Player of the Week after he wreaked havoc on the Buccaneers, did not accompany the Giants to Charlotte and has been ruled out of the game. This is a huge blow, and an unexpected one, for the Giants. Nicks has battled through ongoing soreness in his foot, a byproduct of breaking a bone in his right foot back in the spring. Despite the lack of practice time and the discomfort, Nicks managed to play in the first two games of the season and this past Sunday caught 10 passes for 199 yards and one touchdown.

Nicks was initially listed as questionable to face the Panthers and the fact that he did not practice this week was not alarming, given that he’s practiced on a limited basis all season. Nicks, though, was unable to participate in the team’s jog-through Wednesday morning and a determination was made that he would not be able to play in the game the next night. The quick turnaround no doubt did not help Nicks at all.

Before Nicks was kept home, the Giants knew they’d be without running back Ahmad Bradshaw (neck), right tackle David Diehl (knee) and No. 3 receiver Domenik Hixon (concussion). Losing Nicks is a potentially devastating blow, as the Giants now have no proven option other than Victor Cruz for Eli Manning to target. Expect the Panthers to throw double-teams and roll their coverage to Cruz on every play.

This is no doubt a bitter pill for Nicks to swallow. He started in high school in Charlotte and went to college at North Carolina. This was to be a homecoming for Nicks, who has never played a regular-season NFL game in his hometown.

Without Nicks and Hixon, the Giants are left with Ramses Barden, rookie Rueben Randle and second-year Jerrel Jernigan at receiver.