Time AFTER time, Giant receivers YAC it up

Many of Eli Manning's big throws this season haven't been all that big.

Think about the ones in recent weeks that stand out. The 99-yarder to Victor Cruz against the Jets that helped get the Giants into the playoffs and was the turning point in this four-game winning streak. The 72-yarder in which Hakeem Nicks split the Falcons' secondary in the wild-card game. Last week's 66-yard touchdown catch by Nicks in the win over the Packers.

Those three plays accounted for 237 passing yards. But the actual passing part of it covered a mere 31 yards. The rest was all the work of the Giants' elusive, evasive, electrifying receivers. They're the secret ingredients in Manning's record-setting passing performance this season.

Manning knows that in almost any situation, he can put the ball in the air and not only have them come down with it but, if there's a sliver of space, break it for a huge play.

"It does make my job a lot easier when you have confidence in all of your receivers that they're going to win," Manning said. "You feel like every one-on-one matchup is in favor of us. I can just go through my reads. I can find my best matchup and go to that target . . . Obviously, the better they play, the better it makes me look."

Both have certainly been happening. In the regular season, Cruz had 1,536 receiving yards, but more than a third of that total -- 595 -- came after he caught the football. Nicks' proportions aren't that lopsided, but of his 1,192 receiving yards, 362 were with the ball in his hands.

Nicks has been especially proficient in that category -- yards after the catch; YAC for short -- during these playoffs. Whether it was the flash of speed he showed on the 72-yarder against the Falcons (67 YAC) or the strength he displayed when he absorbed a hit and spun out of contact to continue on during his 66-yarder against the Packers (50 YAC), he's been able to not only catch the ball but take off with it.

Will the Giants be able to continue their YAC-attack against the 49ers? San Francisco is known as a good, hard-tackling team. But the 49ers' pass defense was middle-of-the-road (16th in the NFL, allowing 230.9 yards per game), and they gave up 12 pass plays of at least 40 yards. Against the Saints last week, they allowed five plays of at least 20 and two of at least 40.

"I think we'll be able to do what we need to do," Nicks said. "I feel like we're confident in our run after the catch. They're definitely a physical team. They've got some safeties that like to come down and hit. But I feel we'll be good as long as we take care of what we have to do and just catch the ball first and not care who's coming at you."

"We understand their secondary is really good at coming downhill and making good tackles," Cruz added.

Naturally, with all that aggressive downhill action, if the Giants' receivers can make a move and get past the first wave of tacklers, there should be a lot of greenery between them and the end zone.

The Giants aren't the only team with YAC on the brain. 49ers defensive coordinator Vic Fangio noted that the key to his team's performance will be keeping the short passes short.

"[Nicks] is the guy that you've got to do a good job of tackling when he does catch the ball because he has the ability to turn a short-to-intermediate catch into a long one," Fangio said. "They've got three great receivers in him, Cruz, and [Mario] Manningham. They're a formidable group and it's hard to focus your attention on one guy because they've got three good receivers."

Nicks said that after he catches the ball, he looks upfield to make a move. The key, he said, is being decisive.

Some of the credit for the post-possession success of the Giants' receivers does go back to Manning. He's the one who puts the football in places where it can be caught cleanly. Early in his career he often would just throw in the vicinity of big targets Plaxico Burress, Amani Toomer and Jeremy Shockey. Now -- especially this season -- he's become more precise, and everyone is benefiting.

"Hitting guys in stride can be the difference and obviously, them making guys miss," Manning said. "If things are open, there's room, especially crossing routes, slant routes where they can stay on the move and run, if you can hit them in stride, it gives those guys opportunities to catch it and get up the field."

Cruz agrees. "The location of the football allows us to catch it in stride and be able to see the defender in front of us and be able to make a move by the time you catch the ball," he said. "A lot of it has to do with where the ball is placed and a lot of it has to do with our natural ability."

Tom Coughlin, who used to be a receivers coach, gave perhaps the most detailed and insightful outline of his multilayered plan for allowing his receivers to run with the ball once they catch it.

"Don't let them tackle you," he said of his advice to his group, "and make them miss."