San Francisco 49ers vs New York Giants 2012-01-22

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Event
San Francisco 49ers vs New York Giants

Date
Sun 22nd January 2012 UTC
Sun 22nd January 2012 Local

Timestamp

Time

00:00:00 UTC

Timezones
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24-05-14 17:00 (PST Los Angeles)
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24-05-14 19:00 (CST Chicago)
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24-05-14 20:00 (EST New York)
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24-05-15 01:00 (GMT London)
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24-05-15 02:00 (CET Paris)
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24-05-15 04:00 (GST Dubai)
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24-05-15 05:30 (IST Kolkata)
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24-05-15 09:00 (JST Tokyo)
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24-05-15 10:00 (AEDT Sydney)

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League
NFL

Season
2011

Round
20

Status

Location
San Francisco
USA

(69,732 Attendance)

		vs
	17 No timeline found..		20 No timeline found..

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Description

For the fifth time in conference championship history and for the third time in five years, overtime decided the game, and as it was in the 2007 NFC Championship Game, a field goal by Lawrence Tynes was the winning score as the Giants defeated the 49ers for their fifth NFC Championship Game victory. The Giants became the third team in NFL history to advance to the Super Bowl with fewer than 10 wins during a 16-game regular season, joining the 1979 Los Angeles Rams and the 2008 Arizona Cardinals. (Additionally, Green Bay won Super Bowl II after a 9-4-1 season.)

The 49ers scored the first touchdown of the game as quarterback Alex Smith connected with tight end Vernon Davis deep for a 73-yard touchdown pass midway through the opening quarter. Davis was called for an excessive celebration penalty after he climbed atop the camera tower in the back of the end zone, which forced David Akers to kick off from the 49ers' 20-yard line. San Francisco took possession of the ball on downs when New York failed to convert a fourth-and-1 situation from their 34-yard line. On the first play of the ensuing drive the 49ers attempted an end-around reverse play where receiver Kyle Williams would be the ball carrier. Williams, however, could not handle the handoff on the end-around and fumbled the ball but was able to recover when the ball squirted out of the grasp of a Giants defender. The 49ers punted three plays later, but this would not be the last time Williams' ball-handling would cause his team trouble during the game.

The Giants tied the score on the next drive, as Eli Manning found tight end Bear Pascoe for a six-yard touchdown pass to complete a 10-play, 69-yard drive. Manning completed passes to wide receiver Victor Cruz twice on the drive, one for a large gain that afforded New York the football in San Francisco territory. It was among two of 10 catches that Cruz made during the game. They then gained the lead on the last drive of the half, as Tynes converted the first of two successful field goals with a 31-yard kick. Cruz was again Manning's key target on the drive, with four receptions including a catch that set up Tynes' attempt. With 5:18 remaining in the third quarter, the 49ers regained the lead on Smith's second touchdown pass. San Francisco was able to move the ball 54 yards in six plays and was aided by Williams' 24-yard return of Steve Weatherford's punt. Frank Gore caught a pass from Smith on the second play of the drive for a 24-yard gain to the New York 28-yard line whereupon Davis caught his second touchdown pass on the next play to give the 49ers a 14–10 lead.

On the Giants' first possession of the fourth quarter they elected to punt the football. Williams, who was filling in for injured starting kick returner Ted Ginn Jr., moved to receive the punt but at the last second elected to let the football continue to bounce past him. Giants receiver Devin Thomas picked up the ball and the play was blown dead at the spot of the touch with possession awarded to San Francisco. Thomas, however, did not stop running once he picked up the ball, claiming that Williams touched the ball before he did, and went into the end zone for what he thought was a touchdown. Coach Tom Coughlin decided to challenge the play and see whether or not Williams did indeed touch the football, which would have given the Giants possession. The call was reversed upon review, with the Giants taking possession at the spot of the touch as the kicking team is not allowed to return a muffed punt. Seven plays later, Manning found Mario Manningham for a 17-yard scoring pass to give them the lead again.

The 49ers responded on their next possession and on the first three plays, they achieved successive first downs. The first was awarded as the result of a defensive foul, as Kenny Phillips was flagged for illegal use of hands, while the following two were earned by Smith and Kendall Hunter on running plays. Three plays later, Akers was called on to kick the game-tying field goal as the drive stalled at the New York 8-yard line. Akers converted tying the game at 17-17. The rest of the fourth quarter was uneventful as the teams traded possessions six times. The Giants punted three times while the 49ers did so twice, and regulation ended on a play where tight end Delanie Walker fumbled the football.

After a lengthy description of the current playoff overtime rules by referee Ed Hochuli, New York won the coin toss and elected to receive the opening kickoff of overtime; however, four plays later, they elected to punt the football. With the new overtime rules in place, this meant that since both teams had taken possession of the ball, the game was now sudden-death where the first team to score would win the football game. However, San Francisco could not advance the football on their possession and the 49ers elected to punt the football after three plays. The Giants started their drive from their 36-yard line and advanced near midfield on third down, but Manning was sacked by Justin Smith and Weatherford came out for his twelfth punt of the game. Once again, Williams fielded the kick. After returning the ball five yards Giants linebacker Jacquian Williams reached in and stripped the football from Williams and Thomas recovered it at the San Francisco 24-yard line. It was Williams' second official fumble and second lost fumble, and the last time the 49ers would possess the ball.

Ahmad Bradshaw carried the football on three successive plays and rushed for eight, six and four yards to the San Francisco six yard line. On the fourth snap, Manning simply took the ball to the middle of the field and kneeled, which brought up third down. Tynes was called out onto the field for what was a 26-yard field goal, but the Giants were called for a delay-of-game penalty, making it a 31-yard attempt. After San Francisco called timeout to try to attempt to distract Tynes, he converted the field goal successfully despite a low snap. With the victory, the Giants moved on to Indianapolis to play the Patriots in the Super Bowl.

As had happened in the previous four conference championship games that required overtime to decide them, the winning margin was a field goal. Tynes became the first person to kick the winning field goal in overtime twice and became the first since Garrett Hartley of the New Orleans Saints did so in the 2009 NFC Championship Game. New York became the second consecutive team to win three playoff games to reach the Super Bowl after the Packers won three road playoff games the year before. San Francisco lost its second consecutive NFC Championship Game where they served as the host team, having lost the 1997 NFC Championship Game at home to the Packers. The 49ers dropped to a win–loss record of 1–5 in NFC Championship Game appearances since their victory in 1990 over the Los Angeles Rams to advance to Super Bowl XXIV; the Giants handed the 49ers two of those losses (one of them in very similar fashion to this game 21 years earlier) and the Dallas Cowboys also defeated them twice. Meanwhile, New York won their fifth NFC Championship Game in as many tries and won their third conference championship game on the road in the process. The three road wins all came on the last play of the game, while the two home wins were both by shutout.

Manning threw for 316 yards and two touchdowns completing 32 of 58 passes despite being sacked six times and hit constantly by the 49ers. Smith had 196 passing yards and two touchdowns – both to Davis – finishing 12-for-26. This was Smith's last 49ers playoff game as he was replaced by Colin Kaepernick in 2012. Bradshaw and Gore each rushed for 74 yards while Cruz led all receivers with 10 catches for 142 yards. Davis caught three passes for 112 yards and two touchdowns. Of San Francisco's six sacks, defensive tackle Ray McDonald had a team-high two and a half. Justin Tuck led New York with one and a half of the team's three sacks. San Francisco fumbled the football on four occasions and Williams lost the two fumbles which were the only turnovers of the game. There were twenty-two combined punts in the game, as Weatherford and Andy Lee recorded twelve and ten punts, respectively. The 49ers converted only one third down in 13 opportunities.