MUNICH – No introduction will be needed when Dexter Lawrence lines up at nose tackle on Sunday opposite center Cade Mays. of the panthers.

Mays spent a month earlier this season on the Giants’ practice squad, meaning he and Lawrence clashed a bit on the practice field for three weeks in September and the first week in October.

“I wrote in my notes this week: ‘Respect your opponent and don’t take anything lightly,’” Lawrence said. “So my mentality is the same as every week: go out and try to ruin the game as best as I can and play as well as I can.”

Mays, 25, was a 2022 sixth-round pick of the Panthers out of Tennessee.

In two years, he played 27 games, seven of them as a starter.

He was released in late August and the Giants picked him up.

After injuries plagued the Panthers’ offensive line, he was signed off the Giants’ practice squad on October 8.

An injury to Ikem Ekwonu meant Brady Christensen moved from center to left tackle and Mays took over at center in last week’s win over the Saints.

Lawrence is coming off a rare quiet game: six tackles but no sacks or quarterback hits. a 27-22 loss to the Commanders.

Lawrence is second in the NFL with nine sacks (the Panthers as a team have just 10 sacks), but last week the Giants, for the first time this season, failed to get a sack. They continue to lead the league with 35.

And now Lawrence is targeting Mays.

“I like it when they talk about me there, so he’s probably talking about me a lot, thinking he knows me, but I’ve grown as the weeks go by,” Lawrence said.

Brian Burns’ feeling towards his former team was a little stronger abroad.

He’s set to face the Panthers for the first time since being traded to the Giants in exchange for a 2024 second-round pick, a 2025 fifth-round pick and a swap of 2024 fourth-round picks.

Burns then signed a five-year, $141 million contract extension.

Burns spent five seasons with the Panthers. After saying earlier in the week that he wasn’t approaching this as a revenge game, he said, “I’m a little more motivated” after Friday’s practice in Munich.

Daniel Jones grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina, as a Panthers fan.

He is 2-0 against his childhood favorite team, having beaten them in 2021 and 2022, with both games at MetLife Stadium.

“Yeah, it’s cool,” Jones said. “I think it gives you perspective on your career and how far you’ve come playing against a team you grew up supporting. So, it’s definitely a cool experience. But once they get the ball out and it’s time to go, it’ll be like any other game.”

This is the fifth and final international game of the NFL season.

It is the second match to be played at the Allianz Arena, home of FC Bayern Munich.

The first game played in Germany was in 2022, when Tom Brady and the Buccaneers beat the Seahawks, 21-16, in the Bavarian capital.

In 2023, two NFL games will be held in Frankfurt.

K Graham Gano was activated from injured reserve and will return for this game. … WR Isaiah Hodgins and LB Curtis Bolton were elevated from the practice squad.