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Giants
have
what it takes to pop San Francisco
Bleacher
Report
January 17, 2012
Bleacher
Report Photo: New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning will lead his
team Sunday
against the 49’ers in the NFC Championship game in San Fransisco. The
winner
goes to the Super Bowl to meet the winner of the New England-Baltimore
game.
In Week 10
of the regular season the San Francisco 49ers hosted the New York
Giants. The
Niners won that game 27-20, improving to 8-1, while the loss was the
first of
four in a row for the G-Men. New York will get the rare chance to atone
for
that loss on Sunday, however, when they face the 49ers in the NFC
Championship
Game.
Both teams
are coming off surprising upsets as the 49ers upended the red-hot New
Orleans
Saints and the Giants have convincingly beaten the Atlanta Falcons and
Green
Bay Packers during this postseason. San Francisco is a slight favorite
as the
home team, but here are three things the Giants can do differently in
order to
come out on top against the Niners this time around.
Have More
Success in the Running Game
The San
Francisco 49ers allowed just 77 rushing yards per game during the
regular
season, giving them the top rush defense in the league by a wide
margin.
Despite that, the Giants admirably tried to establish the run in their
first
meeting and they actually were more successful than most teams as they
gained
93 yards.
The issue,
though, is that it took 29 carries to reach that total, so the G-Men
only
averaged a little over three yards per carry.
If New York
can get that number closer to four yards per carry on Sunday, however,
their
chances of winning increase exponentially. It may seem unlikely that
they can
pull off that feat against a stout 49ers defense, but the Giants were
without
Ahmad Bradshaw in the regular-season game.
Bradshaw is
now perfectly healthy and running well with Brandon Jacobs playing
effectively
as a complementary back. If that combo can break 100 yards, then I love
the
Giants’ chances.
San
Francisco quarterback Alex Smith proved a
lot to his detractors in his scintillating performance against the
Saints last
week as he led the team on two impressive scoring drives late in the
contest.
With that
said, though, he has yet to prove over an entire playoff run that he is
a Super
Bowl-caliber signal caller. One way for the Giants to truly test his
mettle is
to pressure him early and often.
While New
York’s pass rush has been inconsistent at times this season, there is
clearly
no team in the league that can match the Giants’ depth of quality pass
rushers.
The G-Men were only able to drop Smith twice during the regular season
and he
had plenty of time to lead a game-winning drive late.
If the
likes of Jason Pierre-Paul, Osi Umenyiora and Justin Tuck can make him
uncomfortable on Sunday, the Giants will be in business.
When the
Giants and Niners locked horns during the regular season, Big Blue beat
the
Niners in almost every conceivable category. That included passing
yards,
rushing yards, third-down efficiency and time of possession.
One
incredibly important area in which the 49ers prevailed, however, was
turnover
margin as they picked off Giants quarterback Eli Manning twice late in
the
game.
Manning has
been fantastic thus far in the playoffs and he was great in the regular
season
as well, but it’s no secret that he can be prone to turning the ball
over.
Manning has a touchdowns to interceptions ratio of 6:1 in two playoff
games
this season, however, meaning he is absolutely locked in.
Provided
Manning can keep the football away
from the crimson-clad Niners, New York has all the tools to take down
the
favorites.
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