<p>I think the Giants have a slight, very slight, edge over the 49ers. The 49ers defense is excellent, however their offense isn’t spectacular and Manning is significantly better than Alex Smith in my opinion.</p>
<p>We’ve had over 20 not so hot ( really bad!) years…it’s time for my 22 year old daughter to experience a winning home team! It’s time 49’ers!</p>
<p>Big Blue is on a roll and it doesn’t end on sunday evening</p>
<p>Offense wins headlines. Defense wins championships.</p>
<p>49ers by 3.</p>
<p>I think the key will be Victor Cruz. If the Niners don’t give up too many big plays to him, I think they win. I also think the Niner defense has the edge over the Giants offensive line and I like their field goal kicker, Akers, in a close game. Niners by 4.</p>
<p>Can’t judge the Giants defense by the regular season–many key players were out or playing hurt. They’re back, healthy, and playing a different game now.</p>
<p>Agreed that defense wins championships–the Giants defense and the passing juggernaut which is Eli-Cruz-Nicks-Manningham will win what will most likely be a close game.</p>
<p>(I actually feel less confident about this game than the GB one–i knew we’d steamroll Rogers and that the offense would manhandle the Packers’ defense.)</p>
<p>Do I have another choice? ;)</p>
<p>Generals are always fighting the last war, and this is not your grandfather’s New York Football Giants. Because the Giants can rush the passer with only their d-line and no blitzes they can afford to overload coverage, which in turn helps put pressure on the passer. When they were losing, the Giants didn’t have all their rushers together. Now they do. The key to the game may be the 49ers ability to run the ball and keep the Giants explosive offense (how strange to modify Giants offense with exposive) off the field.</p>
<p>They’re predicting a wet day and muddy field, which could help SF–or not. Footballs take funny bounces.</p>
<p>As a fan, I’m hoping for revenge after our last playoff meeting, a huge blown lead, and a bad ref call at the end to seal it.</p>
<p>Question for SF fans: What kind of Chardonnay and cheese do you bring to the tailgate?</p>
<p>Probably meaningless factoid: The Giants are undefeated in NFC championships–4-0.</p>
<p>Go Big Blue. (Victor Cruz went to my son’s schools, as did Vladimir Ducasse a Jets bust. I have mega schadenfreude for Rex.)_</p>
<p>Manning and Giants can’t keep being THAT lucky.</p>
<p>Go 49ers!!!</p>
<p>Hmmm, the 49ers and Giants have met 7 times in the playoffs since 1980; in 4 of those games, the winner (49ers * 2, Giants * 2) won the Super Bowl.</p>
<p>You can’t imagine how excited we NorCal-ers are to even have a team in the playoffs. </p>
<p>Go Niners!!</p>
<p>But aren’t any of you 49er fans going to answer me about what kind of chardonnay and cheese you bring to the tailgate?</p>
<p>For the 'niners, it is NOT Chardonnay, that would be for the Giants (baseball)! A nice peppery zinfandel is more acceptable for the 49ers. And we don’t judge you on your cheese, that would be cheese-head people who are not coming to this game…</p>
<p>Xiggi–that’s what they said four years ago–maybe it ain’t luck.</p>
<p>Too funny esobay!
PS Go Giants!!</p>
<p>I’m a massive 49ers fan and will be attending the game. </p>
<p>I think the Giants may attack the 49ers by spreading the field horizontally with three- and four-receiver sets. Defensively, the 49ers tend to utilize a more conservative man coverage scheme, but I hope the zone blitz is used to a greater extent. The key for SF is to generate pressure on Manning and avoid conceding big plays. Zone blitzing is ideal for that purpose. Consistently hassling Eli with four or five rushers, while leaving six or seven pass defenders to account for four receivers will go a long way toward thwarting what New York will attempt to do. Even so, the Giants are still a relatively one-dimensional team offensively. They’ve struggled running the ball and lack a speedy, change-of-pace back. They also lack an athletic tight end. Their offense is heavily dependent on the performances of Cruz and Nicks and if their impact is limited through effective coverage scheming, the 49ers will eliminate what is far and away the Giants most prominent offensive strength. </p>
<p>The 49ers are very underrated on offense. Their running game is very creative, often relying on large defensive players for power-running packages and unpopular concepts such as quarterback and power sweeps. In the passing game, Crabtree and Davis are both excellent options. Second-string TE Delanie Walker will also be returning from injury and would start for most teams in the league. </p>
<p>QB Alex Smith is also vastly under-appreciated. The offensive scheme in San Francisco doesn’t demand the quarterback to post gaudy statistics for the team to be successful. But when the team has fallen behind on points and relied on his arm, he’s delivered and has coordinated six fourth-quarter game-winning drives this season. In the Week 10 meeting between these teams, the 49ers had already established themselves as a run-oriented offense. Therefore, the Giants stacked the box and forced Alex to beat them with his arm and did (with ZERO yards rushing from starting RB Frank Gore). Last week against New Orleans, circumstances required two touchdown drives of 85+ yards in the final few minutes of the game and Smith fulfilled the task with extreme poise, essentially winning a shootout with one of the greatest offenses of all time. Alex will likely never be a big-yardage quarterback, but it’s time for him to start meriting some credit. </p>
<p>If there’s one thing that could hinder SF, though, it’s pass protection, which has been inconsistent this season. But having a home game helps for protection purposes where communication is easier. However, issues in that department would be very detrimental in this game, as the Giants have one of the best pass rushes (if not the best) in the entire league. </p>
<p>But all season the 49ers have forced turnovers, limited turnovers offensively, shut down the run, aggressively out-physicaled opponents, and won the field position battle with superb special teams. It’s no longer a very popular method of winning games in the current era’s adulation of pass-heavy, finesse offenses but it works. </p>
<p>Regarding external factors, I think the crowd noise, late kickoff, and slick conditions from all the rain here will be detrimental to the Giants and give the 49ers the upper hand. But it should be a close game. The Giants are a much better team than their 9-7 regular season record indicates.</p>
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<p>Well, it’s been nine atrocious years, and we were still very strong Super Bowl contenders until 1998.</p>
<p>And if you mean SF sports, in general, the (baseball) Giants won the World Series in 2010.</p>
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<p>Are you kidding me? That wasn’t a blown call. The “receiver” on the botched field goal attempt was illegally up-field and wasn’t eligible to catch the pass anyway. The flag was on him, not the phantom defensive pass interference. </p>
<p>I still dislike the Giants because of the '91 NFC Championship and I wasn’t even alive yet: first, for the blindside on Joe Montana; secondly, for Roger Craig’s asinine fumble at the end of the game, which consequently foiled the three-peat bid.</p>
<p>“Xiggi–that’s what they said four years ago–maybe it ain’t luck.”</p>
<p>And plain luck was the story four years ago as well. So hoping for a Pats against SF final, but I would take a Harbaugh bros affair. Anything but the Giants.</p>