While chalk held in the AFC side of the bracket, it’s a shocking NFC Championship Game matchup on Sunday evening in San Francisco when the visit the 49ers. Of course the G-Men stunned reigning Super Bowl champion Green Bay as a sizable underdog last week at Lambeau Field, while the Niners went off as 3-point dogs at home to the record-setting Saints.

Since they scored two touchdowns in the final three minutes to beat the Cowboys in Dallas on Dec. 11, the Giants have been the best team in the NFL. They have certainly shown that in the postseason, not allowing the Atlanta Falcons a touchdown and beating the Packers at their own game in Green Bay, despite two horrible calls by officials.

But there seems to be a lot of playoff magic for the 49ers at Candlestick Park. They proved against the Saints that they have the ability to be more than a strong defensive team. And quarterback Alex Smith proved he can make big plays when necessary. Which defensive front can apply more pressure on the quarterback will determine the outcome.

It’s not out of the realm of possibilities that this one comes down to which team records more sacks. Both defenses rely heavily on their fronts to generate pressure — the Giants with a four-man look led by Jason-Pierre Paul; the 49ers bringing a 3-4 attack paced by Justin Smith and rookie sensation Aldon Smith.

The Giants took down Aaron Rodgers four times last week and have six sacks in two playoff games. San Francisco, meanwhile, had three sacks of Drew Brees last week, with Justin Smith absolutely taking over the game at times.

Eli Manning is continuing his quest to become one of the elite NFL quarterbacks. On the flip side, Alex Smith is proving all his doubters wrong by showing that he deserves to be a starting quarterback in the NFL. As quarterbacks always do, both Manning and Smith will play critical roles in Sunday’s matchup, but they will go about it in different ways.

For Manning, he has found a natural fit with Hakeem Nicks and Victor Cruz. What is often lost in the art of completing a pass is the trust a quarterback must have in his receivers. For example, Manning must trust that either Nicks or Cruz will read the defense in the same way he sees it and either throttle down in zone coverage or run past man coverage. The Giants have mastered this art and rarely will you see Manning and his receivers on a different page.

Third down will be as critical against the Niners as it was against the Packers. In the playoffs, Manning has been fearless on third down, converting at a 51.6% rate with just two sacks in 67 dropbacks. Of course, against a pass rush like this, he will want to avoid third-and-longs.

For the 49ers, they will also rely on the passing game, but in a much more controlled fashion. The Niners will create confusion in the play-action game or set up mismatches with pre-snap alignments and motions. Last week we saw them isolating Vernon Davis on either a linebacker or a safety.

When these teams met in San Francisco in Week 10, it was a 31-yard Davis touchdown in the fourth quarter that helped turn the tables in the home team’s favor. The 49ers went on to win that game 27-20, thanks to a late defensive stand. Davis was an absolute terror for the Saints’ defense to deal with last week, hauling in seven catches for 180 yards and two touchdowns, including the game-winner in the waning seconds. Combined with a huge Week 17 performance against the Rams, Davis has 15 catches for 298 yards in his last two outings.

Alex Smith played well during the Week 10 win. Frank Gore left the game with an injury, leaving Smith to carry more of the load. He completed 19 of 30 passes for 242 yards with one touchdown, one interception, two sacks, no fumbles and six rushes covering 27 yards. His confidence should be higher than ever.

Manning may look for the big play in this one. San Francisco gave up 12 pass plays of 40-plus yards during the regular season, tied for fifth-most in the league. The Saints managed none until hitting two for touchdowns in the final minutes Saturday. Manning completed passes for 36 and 32 yards against the 49ers in Week 10, but none longer. He barely overthrew a wide-open Mario Manningham for what would have been a long touchdown in the final six minutes. That is one area for the 49ers to watch against the Giants.

NFL FOOTBALL BETS —49ers -2.5 (42)

RECORD VS. SPREAD—New York 10-8; San Francisco 12-4-1

SERIES RECORD—49ers lead 18-17

LAST MEETING—49ers beat Giants 27-20, Nov. 13, 2011

LAST WEEK—Giants beat Packers 37-20; 49ers beat Saints 36-32

GIANTS OFFENSE—OVERALL (8), RUSH (32), PASS (5)

GIANTS DEFENSE—OVERALL (27), RUSH (19), PASS (29)

49ERS OFFENSE—OVERALL (26), RUSH (8), PASS (29)

49ERS DEFENSE—OVERALL (4), RUSH (1), PASS (16)

STREAKS, STATS AND NOTES—Teams have met seven times in postseason, with 49ers winning four. … Giants won only previous NFC championship meeting 15-13 in January 1991. … Sixth conference championship game since 1996 season to feature two teams that missed playoffs in previous season. … New York QB Eli Manning and San Francisco QB Alex Smith tied for NFL lead with five fourth-quarter comeback wins in regular season. Smith added sixth last week against Saints. … Marks second time two former No. 1 picks at quarterback faced off in conference championship game. Denver’s John Elway faced Vinny Testaverde of Jets in 1998 AFC championship, with Elway getting win. … Manning set NFL record with 15 TD passes in fourth quarter this season. He has added two more in playoffs and has 113.6 passer rating in fourth quarter. … Manning has thrown three TD passes in three straight games for first time in career. … Manning has won six of his past seven playoff games, with five coming on road, including Super Bowl in 2008 vs. New England. Manning’s four road playoff wins tied for most ever. … Giants averaging 112.7 yards rushing per game over past seven contests after averaging 82.3 in first 11. … New York’s Victor Cruz and Hakeem Nicks one of only two wide receiving duos to each top 1,000 yards with Cruz finishing third in NFL with 1,536 (Nicks had 1,192). … Nicks has 13 catches for 280 yards and four TDs in two playoff games, joining Jerry Rice and Larry Fitzgerald as only players in Super Bowl era with two games of at least 100 yards receiving and two TDs in one postseason. … Giants coach Tom Coughlin can tie Tom Landry for most road playoff wins by winning seventh this week. … Giants finished tied for third in NFL with 48 sacks in regular season and have 17 over past four games. … 49ers allowed 44 sacks in regular season, most for any playoff team. … San Francisco led NFL with plus-2 8 turnover margin in regular season and were plus-4 last week against Saints, getting five turnovers and giving it away once. … Smith has gone 201 straight passes without an interception. … San Francisco K David Akers has 156 career points against Giants, most for any active player. … 49ers one of three teams to call runs on more than half their plays in regular season. … San Francisco WRs had seven catches for 48 yards last week. … 49ers RB Frank Gore had 13 carries for 89 yards last week after averaging 3.5 yards per carry over final eight regular season games. … Rookie Aldon Smith has 7 1/2 sacks over last six games for 49ers, including one last week against Drew Brees. … With a 49ers win, Jim Harbaugh would become sixth rookie coach to go to Super Bowl.

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