After watching the Panthers roll up 463 yards during Sunday’s win against New Orleans, offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski had about 20 minutes to bask in the victory.

The celebration was so short he missed his postgame kiss from his wife Sheila.

“It was interesting because after the game you’re pretty excited and happy about things. I didn’t even get a chance to come out and give my wife a kiss after the game,” Chudzinski said. “We just went straight back up to the office and started looking at Giants tape. It’s a quick turnaround and you really have to be focused.”

The Panthers have three days to cram for the Super Bowl champion New York Giants, who will come to Charlotte for a nationally televised game Thursday. It will be the Panthers’ first prime-time game at home since a 24-17 loss to Miami in 2009.

While Panthers coach Ron Rivera and his players are excited about the big-game atmosphere, they said the condensed week presents challenges, especially preparing for New York’s multiple pass-rush schemes.

“It’s going to be a big test for us, especially offensive line,” left tackle Jordan Gross said. “They’re a great unit up front. We’ve got a lot of work to do in a short amount of time. But we’ll be ready.”

Rivera said the Giants run lots of variations of their 4-3 scheme under defensive coordinator Perry Fewell, a Gastonia native who interviewed for the Panthers’ job before Rivera was hired.

“He’s got some very athletic, very flexible guys. It’s almost like playing a 3-4 defense philosophically,” Rivera said. “They’ve got some guys that can drop into coverage, can rush the passer, can peel if they have to in coverage. We’ve got to be able to develop a feel and have a good understanding of what they want to do and when they want to do it. When you’ve got a short week, it cuts your preparation time.”

Rivera said the trade-off for playing Thursday will be extra preparation time for the following opponent. The Panthers will travel to Atlanta for a Week 4 matchup with the Falcons on Sept. 30.

“It’s tough on two sides, for the players and for the coaches. But it’s all part of it, too. This part of the business brings more into focus in terms of highlighting a game,” Rivera said. “You highlight them on Thursday night, Monday night and Sunday night. This is becoming big and we know it is.

“On the flip side, you get three extra days. If you use those three extra days properly as players and coaches, it can help you as well. It hurts you, but it can help you as well.”

The Panthers came out of Sunday’s game without any major injuries. Linebacker Thomas Davis (hamstring) and offensive tackle Byron Bell (ankle) were at Bank of America Stadium to receive treatment Monday morning.

The NFL Network’s trucks also showed up at the stadium Monday morning. In addition to the NFL Network, WSOC-TV will show the game locally.

The Giants avoided an 0-2 start Sunday when quarterback Eli Manning threw for 510 yards to spearhead a fourth-quarter comeback in a 41-34 win against Tampa Bay.

Thursday’s game is a sellout, and Panthers players expect the home crowd to be loud. Middle linebacker Jon Beason said the Giants face a tougher task this week as the visiting team.

“I’m just glad we’re home. They’re going to be traveling on Wednesday. So we’ve got that in our back pocket,” Beason said. “They had a tough win (Sunday). They didn’t just go out and roll over Tampa. Tampa went up there and gave them (heck). So we’re happy about that.”

Added Gross: “Thank goodness we’re home. Our crowd was great (Sunday). I expect Thursday night to be a pretty special atmosphere. This is our biggest home game we’ve had in a while.”

The Panthers have one more prime-time game scheduled – Nov. 26 on Monday Night Football at Philadelphia. Rivera is hopeful one of the late-season games will be moved.

With its flexible scheduling plan, the league can move Sunday afternoon games to 8:20 p.m. the final seven weeks of the season.

“That’s where we want to be,” Rivera said. “We want to be at the end of the year that we have a game or two flexed in prime time, which means we’ve done some good things and we have an opportunity.”