Giants 'D' outshone 49ers counterparts
Kendall Hunter of the San Francisco 49ers is tackled after he ran the ball against the New York Giants. (Jan. 22, 2012) Credit: Getty Images
SAN FRANCISCO -- The 49ers fans kept chanting "defense,'' and they got defense. From the Giants.
That's the way a team gets to the Super Bowl, by giving the opponent very little. When it counted, that was what the Giants gave San Francisco, controlling the line of scrimmage, controlling the clock. And getting a turnover that turned the game.
Ultimately, that turned the Giants into NFC champions with a 20-17 overtime victory Sunday night at Candlestick Park.
With the score tied at 17 and 9:42 remaining in overtime, the Giants' Steve Weatherford punted for the 12th time. Niners deep man Kyle Williams -- who already had botched a punt in the fourth quarter, allowing the ball to hit his knee, to set up a Giants touchdown -- fielded this one, was drilled and fumbled, giving the Giants the ball at the San Francisco 24.
"I caught the ball,'' Williams said. "I tried to make a play, and it ended up for the worst.''
Five plays later, Lawrence Tynes kicked the 31-yard field goal that put the Giants in the Super Bowl.
"They have grit,'' Giants coach Tom Coughlin said of his team. "They're battle-tested . . . The defense played superbly. It was one of those games where it was kind of like, 'How is this going to end up. Who's going to make a play here?' Of course, I didn't want THEM to.''
The Giants' defense wouldn't allow them to.
It wasn't exactly a duplication of the NFC Championship Game in January 1991 between the same teams on the same field, but it was close. In that game, a 49ers mistake -- a fumble by Roger Craig -- set up Matt Bahr's field goal as time ran out for a 15-13 Giants victory.
The 49ers got to this game on the strength of their defense, fourth overall in the NFL and first against the run. But the Giants, in effect, beat them at their own game.
"It was a lot of things,'' defensive end Justin Tuck said about the Giants' resolve and late-season rebound. "A lot of us looking in the mirror knew we had the talent to play with anybody. I got a little healthier. We just started playing together.''
It was the same resolve the Giants showed in shutting down Atlanta two weeks ago in the wild-card round and upsetting Green Bay last week in the divisional round. And it didn't surprise Niners offensive coordinator Greg Roman.
"It really speaks highly of them, how they're coached, their scheme, their players," Roman said.
The Giants were so efficient and powerful that the 49ers finished 1-for-13 in third-down conversions.
The 49ers had only 57 offensive plays to the Giants' 90. No 49ers wide receiver caught a pass in the first half, although tight end Vernon Davis caught a touchdown pass in each half.
"I think it's a function of our front," Giants defensive coordinator Perry Fewell said a few days ago about facing the Niners. "I think it's a function of the guys in the back row, as well as the linebackers, doing a great job communicating, anticipating and knowing where those guys are because they are so good, as far as tight ends.
"Vernon is a handful. He's as fast as a wide receiver. We have faced really elite tight ends, I think, this season . . . We are battle-tested as far as that's concerned. We just have to be on top of our game on Sunday in order to defend another guy like that."
Davis hurt them, but otherwise, the Giants were on top of their game. Now they're on top of the NFC world.
