Rain. Snow. Wind. Cold.

The Giants better get used it.

The forecast for Sunday's game against the Panthers calls for temperatures in the 20s, a wind chill in the single digits, and perhaps that dreaded "wintry mix." There's no forecast yet for the weather on Jan. 18, but it's a fair assumption it won't be suitable for tank tops and flip-flops. That's the day of the NFC Championship Game and that's the game the Giants will host ... if they can win this next game to clinch the top seed and if they advance that far.

Playing at home throughout the playoffs is a goal of nearly every team at the beginning of the season. For the Giants, it's within reach.

But the question surfaces: How big of an advantage is home-field advantage? More to the point, how much of an advantage is a Giants Stadium home field?

For offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride, not much of one.

"You'd love to have it be bright and sunny and no wind and what have you," he said after admitting that he'll spend most of the coming days with an eye on the Weather Channel. "It's a trade-off. Our defense likes it that way, it makes it easier on them."

Not on the offense. And with the Giants already struggling to move the ball and score points in the last two games, having to battle other elements on Sunday is not ideal. Having to do so in the playoffs doesn't sound too appetizing to Gilbride either.

"That's just the way it is up here in the Northeast," he said. "That's part of it. That's why statistics offensively are going to go down and defenses are going to get better because it's harder to do some of the things that you can do in an indoor stadium or a place that's warm and sunny.

"That's not the way it is here," he said.

If the Giants lose on Sunday, the irony is that it could send them to Minnesota or Carolina should they advance to the NFC Championship Game. The conditions for that game would certainly be more ideal to an offense. But while Gilbride might be considering home games in January to be a mixed blessing, the defense is drooling over the possibility.

"It'd be nice to be at Giants Stadium with the weather the way it's going to be for the next month or so and having the bye week," linebacker Antonio Pierce said. "I think all that plays a factor [in playoff success]."

If recent history shows anything in the NFC, however, having the top seed does not translate to success. Of the last 10 teams to clinch home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, only one has gone on to win a Super Bowl, and that was the 1999 Rams. So the NFC's No. 1 seed hasn't won a Super Bowl this century. Only six of those 10 teams have even reached the Super Bowl.

And if ever there was a home-field advantage in a conference title game it was last year in Green Bay. How'd that work out for the Packers?

Gilbride may be fretting, but the Giants have been built to win in the bad weather with a strong defense and a ferocious running game. Having the snow tires on Brandon Jacobs Sunday night might be the key to success. The Panthers play in milder Carolina, but they, too, have a strong running game and a tough defense with a coach whose genealogy reaches back to the rugged NFC East.

"I think both teams are built that way," Panthers coach and former Giants assistant John Fox said of the ability to play through bad weather, "and this is part of the reason they are."

Even if it is "built for" the elements, the Giants' offense doesn't have to like it. They will, however, be playing for it. Even if it's not perfect, Gilbride said having home games brings advantages as well as disadvantages.

"You hate to trade in the home crowd," he said of the playoffs. "You hope that that part of it will offset any diminishing factors of the outdoor conditions."

Sunday

Carolina

at Giants

8:15 p.m.

TV: Ch. 4

Radio: WFAN (660)