NFC Championship: Giants 20, 49ers 17 (OT)

FIRST QUARTER
No offense to James Laurinaitis, who gets to go to the Pro Bowl if San Francisco goes to the Super Bowl, but I am not rooting for the 49ers, now or ever.

49ers start with the ball. I assume the Giants won the coin toss and deferred? Missed it in the kitchen. Unlike last week, the 49ers are getting it to Frank Gore early and often. He appears trapped for a huge loss on a screen, but a big block by Joe Staley frees him to cut back up the middle for a first down. Mike Iupati's injured on a handoff to Kendall Hunter, but Gore's back up the middle for 7 the next play. 3rd-4, Alex Smith appears to throw behind Gore circling out of the backfield even though the Giant pass pressure wasn't great. Let the field position battle begin!

Giants will start out at their 15. Eli Manning's opening shot is an awful wobbler a mile behind Hakeem Nicks. OK, let the "Eli can't play in bad weather" theorists loose. It's 52 and raining in San Francisco. Carlos Rogers gets away with a TON of contact on a midfield bomb for Travis Beckum. 3rd-10. Manning hits Victor Cruz on the dig route for 11. While we wait for anyone to pressure a passer yet today, Manning converts another 3rd-and-long to Cruz. Giant running game gets nowhere, and they're looking at another 3rd-and-long when good pressure from Aldon Smith flushes Eli and Ray McDonald strips him. Very luckily for the Giants, Kareem McKenzie comes up with the loose ball.

HOLY CATS, guess who beats the bejesus out of the safety for today's first TD. The Giants couldn't see this coming? Perfect pass from Alex Smith to Vernon Davis, who burns the holy snot out of Antrell Rolle down the sideline for a 73-yard TD. Seriously, the Giants' plan for covering Vernon Davis isn't any better than that? You HAVE to know he's the only 49er receiver who can hurt you, right?

So much for the Giants being the better-coached team in this game, which is pretty much what I hung my hat on when I picked them.

The TD's reviewed to see if Davis stepped out of bounds, but Ed Hochuli spends more time than either Presidential candidate will take answering a question in this fall's debates explaining why he can't overrule it. 7-0 San Francisco as I realize that it's more important to our nation to get an out-of-bounds call correct than it is to have a solvent Social Security system, or to keep Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

7-0 49ers

It would have been especially funny if the TD had been reversed, since Davis drew a penalty after the play for obnoxiously hot-dogging on one of Fox's camera platforms.

The penalty helps the Giants start out at their 32. You always hear that the "Lambeau Leap" is grandfathered into the illegal celebration rule; they're describing that particular move is ok in any stadium, right? I'm going to be pissed off if they wrote a special rule strictly for one team's fans. Anyway, diving catch by Hakeem Nicks, and the Giant running game finally does something as Ahmad Bradshaw gets outside for 5 and another first down. But he gets stuffed again, and with a 3rd-and-inches coming at the SF34, I have to think the Giants are passing. They do, but Manning well overthrows a well-covered Mario Manningham.

Tom Coughlin's going for it on 4th-and-1. Brandon Jacobs gets tripped up behind the line by NaVarro Bowman and pretty clearly does not get it. Nope. 49er ball. Jacobs has to be the most disappointing big back in the league.

The 49ers open this drive with a TERRIBLE call, attempting a reverse with a pitch to Kyle Williams, who is all thumbs, loses the ball, and I have no idea how Osi Umenyiora failed to recover it. 2nd-20. Give Iupati some credit for Umenyiora's failed recovery, which Williams fell back on. What are the 49ers doing with the idiotic trick plays the last couple of weeks? 49ers punt after Alex Smith appears to throw a ball end-over-end on 3rd-and-long.

Raining harder at Candlestick than I've been giving credit for. Manning overthrows Nicks at the 40. Jacobs off LT for 4, 3rd-and-6 for the Giants to start the 2nd.

SECOND QUARTER
Here come the Giants! Cruz burns Carlos Rogers on a corner route for 36 and sets them up inside the SF30. Bradshaw cuts back for 5. Center David Baas goes off injured before a key 3rd-and-4. Manning and new center Kevin Booth do get a few practice snaps in during the timeout, and Manning hits Cruz over the middle for six when we return.

Again, nobody tell me St. Louis has any kind of a fan problem based on all the CRUUUUUZ calls I hear in San Freaking Francisco during the NFC Freaking Championship.

While I'm ranting about that, the Giants pound down to the six-yard line. Eli has to burn a timeout on 1st-and-goal. Rogers breaks up a pass for Nicks in the back of the end zone. 2nd-goal, Manning orders his TEs to flop ends before the play, and Bear Pascoe, who lined up right and got moved left, uncovers at the goal line on a crossing pattern back to the right for the tying TD. When Eli re-shuffled the TEs, you had to know he was throwing to one, didn't you?

7-7

Kyle Williams gets behind the Giant secondary for a Smith bomb but it's overthrown. Smith Tebows for 8. Williams makes a short catch and collects an illegal hands penalty from Aaron Ross. Gore gets the ball for the first time in a while for 4, then bulldozes up the middle for 8 more. Anthony Davis and Michael Boley get into a scrum after the play, but it's Vernon Davis getting his second, STUPID, penalty of the day by trying to be the third man in.


After all that nonsense, it's still 1st-and-10 at the SF32. But the 49ers have Gore going now. He gets 7 up the middle and bounces outside right for another 9. 49ers near midfield. Chase Blackburn breaks up a play-action pass for Davis. Smith dodges a blitz and scrambles for 5. 3-man rush still flushes Smith on 3rd down, and Jason Pierre-Paul makes his first play of the day, tripping him up short after 3 yards.

Harbaugh's going for it, 4th and a long 1 outside the NY42. No, they were going for the offside, draw the delay of game and will punt. Will Blackmon makes a fair catch signal and then takes off like an idiot. That'll be a penalty.

Giants at their 19 with about 5:30 left. Bradshaw bounces left and runs through a tackle for 6. Hitch to Cruz nets 15 after Rogers falls down. Swing pass to Bradshaw for 6. Donte Whitner stuffs a draw to force 3rd and a long 2. The 49ers blitz Bowman and get to Manning before he can do anything. Bad blitz pickup by Danny Ware. I think Bowman gets the sack, but Isaac Sopoaga completely clogged up the lane and kept Eli from going anywhere.

2:51 left for Smith from his 16. Gore stumbles in the backfield and loses a yard. I had no idea Smith has only completed two passes all half. 1-6, 6 yards besides the Davis TD. 2:00 warning, 49ers appear to be in no hurry whatsoever.

Gore up the middle for a couple gets the Giants to stop the clock with a timeout. Seems like Harbaugh is turning Steve Spagnuolo here. They do drop back to pass on 3rd down, but the Giants blitz two and flush Smith to be tripped up by Justin Tuck. Nice punt return by Blackmon puts the Giants at their 36 with 1:36 left. No timeouts, though.

DROP by Jake Ballard. Had about six yards. 1:30
As Ware DESTROYS Aldon Smith with a chip block, Manning hits Cruz at midfield. 1:10
Chris Culliver breaks up a sideline pass for Manningham. 1:00
Eli to Cruz over the middle again, beating Rogers again, inside the SF40. 0:40
McDonald forces Eli up in the pocket, but it's a leaping catch by Cruz at the 21. Spike at 0:20
Cruz already has 112 yards receiving.
DELAY OF GAME, Giants.
dumpoff to Cruz, vs. 3-man-rush, for about 14. Spike at 0:06.
Lawrence Tynes from 31 to put the Giants ahead at halftime. Phew.

Giants 10-7

HALFTIME
Both teams should have a pretty clear idea who they need to stop in the second half. Manning has thrown for an impressive 181 in these slop conditions, 125 of it to Cruz. Has to be one of the poorest performances by the 49er secondary this season. They may have to step up the blitzing in the 2nd half. The Giants haven't given them a lot to worry about on the ground.

So, did the Giants stop Vernon Davis in the first half or not? He had only one catch. But it was for 73 and a TD. Gore's getting 5 a carry, and Smith is getting away from their pass rush too often. But it's ultimately hard to say they need to change a thing on defense. The 49ers better figure out a third person to make the Giants think about, or they could have trouble erasing even a three-point deficit.

Both teams have flirted with disaster, but neither has turned it over yet. Suspicious feeling here is that's going to change, and the game will change with it.

THIRD QUARTER

Bradshaw bounces outside and runs through Whitner for 9. Parys Haralson stuffs him on 2nd down. Bradshaw muffs a screen with Ahmad Brooks bearing down on him on 3rd down for the 3-and-out. Probably would have been a big loss anyway; Brooks was all over it. Good 3-and-out for the 49ers.

1st down at the 32, Smith wanted to go deep but got a spinebuster of a sack from Pierre-Paul instead. Giants have come out of halftime with their pass rushing shoes on. They get Joe Staley jumpy to force 3rd-and-19.

AND THEN AARON ROSS GIVES IT ALL BACK WITH AN ILLEGAL CONTACT PENALTY. That's almost as bad as a turnover.

1st-and-10 all over again. Hunter finds a seam after a pitchout and gets 14 behind Iupati. Gore moves the pile to midfield for 4. Good protection for Smith on 2nd down but he one-hops it to Davis, who was double-covered. Smith outruns a blitz and fires for an open Delanie Walker, but Jacquian Williams breaks it up. Despite Tuck running into punter Andy Lee, the punt dies at the 6.

Joe Buck says the last playoff game in Candlestick was "a heartbreaker in January 03". So where did the Saints play the 49ers last week, Kezar Stadium?

Quick slant to Cruz for 6. And another, for another 12. Haralson blitzes the empty formation, but Manning slips him and hits Jacobs for 3 on the hot read. 3rd-5, though. 49ers blitz the empty formation again, get Manning off balance, and he winds up throwing it away. Long line drive punt is very returnable for Williams, and he's out across the 45.

Pierre-Paul stops Gore for 2, but he's wide open in the flat on play-action the next play and rumbles down inside the 30. Play-action again, and guess who's wide open for the TD. VERNON DAVIS, burning the crap out of Kenny Phillips, who seems barely interested in chasing him, and Corey Webster mistimes a chance to hit him in the end zone for a possible break-up, or didn't want to hit him, or was afraid to. Still got a piece of him, but Webster really pulled his punch when his best option would have been to knock some slobber.

Giant defense has looked great today. Except for two plays.

49ers 14-10

16 to Nicks over the middle off play-action. Manning misses a quick hitch to Ware with a corner blitz coming. Draw to Bradshaw does little except set up 3rd-and-long. Because of a local weather alert, I can no longer see the Fox graphic that says score, time and down and distance. Ray McDonald beats David Diehl on 3rd (I guess) down to sack Manning. Big play by the 49ers with just 3:15 left in the 3rd.

49ers get away with ridiculous hold on Tuck on 2nd down but Pierre-Paul bats down the pass for Gore. 3rd-7, 4-man rush flushes Smith forward again, and his dumpoff to Gore doesn't get enough.Giants may have only 1 sack so far but Smith has had barely any time most plays he drops back.

Jacobs up the middle for 5 to the NY33. No one open for Eli on 2nd down, throwaway. 4-man rush nearly gets to Eli on 3rd down, and he gets away with a terrible pass that is not intercepted only because two 49ers ran into each other. Tarell Brown lost that collision with Dashon Goldson and is going to be down for a while. It looks like it could be a head or neck injury. They brought out the stretcher, but Brown's walked off the field with help instead.

49ers at their 12, inside a minute left in the 3rd. Gore off LT and inside a block by Walker for 10. A rare completion, to Walker at the 30, ends the quarter.

FOURTH QUARTER

No, make that a stupid personal foul on Chris Canty, though I don't know what set him off at the bottom of the pile. (How about a punch in a teammate's mouth?) Definitely the wrong time of the season to be making that kind of mistake.


49ers at their 45, then. Gore makes a man miss at the LOS and turns a loss into 5. Anthony Dixon nearly breaks a big run, but Rolle trips him from the ground. 3rd-1. As Buck ominously says the 49ers are 0-for-7 on 3rd down today, Blackburn and Chris Canty stuff Dixon for no gain. Yeah, don't put the ball in Frank Gore's hands there or anything. See if that doesn't turn out to be a key play. Harbaugh takes the delay of game to try to set Lee up, but a poor punt only comes down at the 20.

I'm smelling a big drive for the Giants here. Rogers stuffs a screen to Bradshaw for no gain. Then, apparently believing he has an hour to throw, Manning gets splattered by Aldon Smith. That was a rookie-bad play. 3rd-and-15. Long time for Manning again, but he throws an incomplete dumpoff for Bradshaw while bailing out. 49ers only rushed three as the Giant o-line suddenly went into a nosedive.

And those are some great instincts I have.

Then again... on 4th down, Williams misplays a bouncing punt and it appears to go off his knee. No referee sees it this way, though, and we're going to have a challenge from the Giants. Big play alert?

It's stunning to me that Williams doesn't go after the ball after it hits off his knee. He makes a move and then stops. How could you stop there?

BIG PLAY ALERT! Giants ball at the SF29. Devin Thomas recovers the muffed punt. Is this the game-turning turnover?

3rd-and-7, and the Giants have completely quit protecting Manning. He gets splattered by Justin Smith as he gets the 2nd down throw away. But he beats a corner blitz by hitting Nicks down to the 12. With Tarell Brown out of the game, I don't know about corner blitzing with a scrub in his place. Bradshaw bangs up the middle for 6, but there's a flag.

HOLDING ON BAAS. Put the ball back at the 22. Nicks drops a pass thrown behind him inside the 10. Flare to Bradshaw for about 5.

SF rushes only 3 on 3rd-and-5, Manning steps up into a very solid pocket and hits Manningham in front of Brown's replacement, Tramaine Brock, for the lead TD. 8:34 to go.

17-14 Giants

But, like Danny Woodhead in the first game, Williams immediately atones for his earlier turnover with a kick return out close to midfield. Smith just overthrows Walker streaking down the sideline, but illegal hands on Phillips makes it first down at the 50. Linval Joseph nearly breaks through on Smith, but he scrambles away instead for a 17-yard gain. That's a good omen for the home team. Hunter runs through a terrible tackle on a toss sweep left and gains 18. Pitiful tackle try by Boley. Smith looks for the end zone but dumps off to Gore at the 10. Interesting play action by Smith was supposed to get Williams open in the end zone, but he's well-covered and it's a throwaway instead.

And SF continues to shoot blanks on 3rd down, with Webster knocking Michael Crabtree out of bounds after just two yards on a flare pass. Akers chip shot ties the game with 5:39 to go.

17-17

Have a feeling it's going to take a TD to win this. Dangerous screen to Beckum for a whole 2. Eli overthrows Manningham, open on a go route. 49ers blitz and Patrick Willis stops Beckum short of the first down. Willis hasn't had his name called a whole lot, has he? Big play, though.


Poor punt by Weatherford spotted at the 35. 49ers have a shade over 4:00.Gore falls on what was supposed to be a play-action screen and Smith fires one out of bounds. INSIDE HANDOFF to Gore for 3. Interesting call there for a team that's 0-for-9 on 3rd down. 3rd-7. Mattias Kiwanuka makes it 0-for-10 by sacking Smith. I believe he stunted around Joe Staley.

Some superb clutch defensive play here. These have been two freaking good football games today.

Giants at their 26, 3:05 left. Manning idiotically eats another sack on a corner blitz with a dog blitz by Willis, who gets the sack. 2nd-21, Bradshaw gets 5 of it back after flipping Willis ass over teakettle on a blitz pickup. The 49ers rip the ball free, but forward progress was correctly called. I don't want to hear a peep of controversy about that call. 2:00 warning.

Story I've completely overlooked in the 2nd half is that the 49ers have shut Victor Cruz down. Don't think he's had a catch since early in the 3rd.

49ers corner blitz again, and Cruz pushes off Rogers to get open at midfield, but also pushes himself off-balance and can't field the pass.

1:47 left for SF at their 29. Is Rams Nation doomed to the most despicable Super Bowl imaginable, Patriots vs. 49ers? Suddenly I find myself wishing the lockout had lasted a lot longer.

Smith escapes Joseph again and fires an incompletion. 1:39
Giants 4-man rush does little, but Smith fires a poor pass at Crabtree's feet. 1:33
Weird pass to nobody in particular falls harmlessly at midfield. I don't even know who that was intended for, and Smith wasn't under that much pressure when he threw. 1:29
The Giant pass rush has pretty clearly gotten into Smith's head.

Giants at their 18 now, with 1:18 and two timeouts left.
Cruz falls on his cut and the pass falls incomplete. 1:14
Manning holds the ball FOREVER again, gets a key block late from Diehl, and hits Bradshaw up the sideline near midfield.
DRAW to Bradshaw for 2, Giants let clock run, 0:45
Manning under heavy pressure again, dumpoff to Bradshaw gets a few. Timeout #2 at 0:32
3rd-4 from the SF46. Manning has to throw off his back foot under heavy pressure, throws too high for Cruz, who can't quite make the juggling catch. Punt coming at 0:27, and it looks like overtime unless something freaky happens.

49ers try for the punt block but almost didn't need to. Weatherford's punt is a TERRIBLE 29 yards and Williams returns it to the 35. 19 seconds is enough time to get in long FG position, and who are you going to trust more with a clutch FG this year than David Akers?

Smith steps up into pocket and dumps off to Gore for a WHOLE THREE YARDS. And he didn't get out of bounds. Timeout #2 at 0:12
Tuck and Pierre-Paul collapse the pocket around Smith and Tuck gets him for a sack or a very small gain.

Four seconds left. The 49ers used their last timeout. Smith barely avoids a sack and hits Walker around the NY32, but time runs out.

With the Giants harking back to their 2007 run this postseason with the win over the Packers, it's worth noting they won that season's NFC Championship in overtime before going on to beat the Patriots.

FIRST OVERTIME
Ed Hochuli's doing a perfect job describing the new overtime rules, it just takes fifteen minutes. Giants win the toss and choose the ball as the hardest rain of the day begins to fall, both in Candlestick and here at home.

Giants start at their 20. Screen to Hynoski, who runs through a tackle for 9. Manning hangs up a bomb for Cruz, and idiot Goldson costs his team an interception AGAIN, hitting Rogers while going after the ball himself. Bradshaw up the middle for 4. 3rd-down pass is through Jernell Jernigan's hands and would have been well short anyway. I believe this means we are officially in sudden death. Next score of any kind wins.

49ers start at their 22. Giants cover all options on the rollout pass and Smith fires a ground ball. Pierre-Paul blows up an inside handoff to Gore for a 2-yard loss. Ha! The last play of regulation was SF's first 3rd-down conversion of the day. They come up a yard short here as Phillips and Rolle are all over the pass to Vernon Davis.

Giants now at their 36. Bradshaw for 6 off I believe Chris Snee's block. Quick slant to Beckum for 5 and a first down. Hynoski's briefly wide open in the flat but Willis shuts it down for only a yard. 49ers take timeout on 2nd-8, ball at midfield.

Brooks in the neutral zone, 2nd-3 at the SF46 now. Brooks gets back by hitting Manning on the throw the next play, and it comes up well short. 49ers bring a big blitz on 3rd-and-3 and Justin Smith bulldozes Diehl to get today's sixth sack of Manning.

BIG PLAY ALERT! Jacquian Williams punches the ball loose from Kyle Williams on the punt return and Devin Thomas recovers for the Giants at the 24. That punched ball may be a ticket-puncher for the Giants.

Bradshaw bounces outside for 8.
Bradshaw again, bursts through the right side of the line down to the 10.
And now down to the 6. So when's the FG team coming out?
Eli takes a couple of steps left and goes down a yard behind the line to set Tynes up in the middle of the field. It'll be a 26-yard attempt.
? No, it'll be a 31-yard attempt, after the Giants get called for delay of game. We still have the inevitable last nanosecond timeout from Harbaugh coming, too. Not really last-second, but Harbaugh spends it.

And we have our Super Bowl XLII rematch, Giants vs. Patriots.

Giants 20-17

Postgame show
Total winner of a game for me. Had Giants outright and the under, the latter thanks to the weatherman. 2-0 today, 1-1 vs. the spread and the o/u.

Guess here is that the Patriots will be favored by 6, but I don't care what the number is. Damned if I'm betting against these Giants. Or the over.

Nothing against Eli, but I think the way to go with Star of the Game is to give it to the Giant defense. The pass rush was completely inside Alex Smith's head the whole second half for sure. And every play but two, they took Smith's best receiver away from him. And throw in Devin Thomas for two fumble recoveries on special teams. Jason Pierre-Paul had six tackles, a half-sack, made big run stops and was in Smith's face a ton, so SotG goes to him. If Cruz had not disappeared in the 2nd half, it would have gone to him for sure.

Whether they do something in free agency or the draft, San Francisco's biggest need heading into next season seems almost definitely to be wide receiver. Looks like WR's going to be pretty picked over by the 2nd round of the draft if I'm right, so it might behoove the Rams to strike early there in April, no?

Enjoy the Super Bowl!

-$-