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On a miserably rainy night when Eli Manning was sacked six times, Victor Cruz caught 10 passes and the Giants’ defense was burned by two long touchdown catches by the 49ers’ Vernon Davis, it was the Giants’ special teams that keyed their overtime victory in the NFC Championship game on Jan. 22 in San Francisco.

A 31-yard field goal by Lawrence Tynes 7:54 into overtime clinched the 20-17 triumph that sent the Giants to Super Bowl XLVI in Indianapolis, where they will meet the New England Patriots. But had it not been by two fumble recoveries by Devin Thomas, Tynes might not have gotten the chance.

“I felt someone that did not necessarily get the kudos, not someone everyone was familiar with . . . I felt someone like that would step up and make the big play,’’ said Giants head coach Tom Coughlin, as quoted in the New York Post.

Thomas’ first heads-up play came early in the fourth quarter, with the 49ers leading 14-10. The Giants’ Steve Weatherford punted to Kyle Williams, who chose not to field the bounding football and let it skip by him.

But Thomas scooped it up on San Francisco’s 29-yard line. Coughlin threw his replay flag, claiming that the ball bounced off Williams’ knee, which the replay confirmed, and the Giants soon took the lead.

On third-and-15, Manning threw a dart to Mario Manningham from 17 yards out for the touchdown that made it 17-13, Giants, with 8:34 to play. Less than three minutes later, however, David Akers’ 25-yard field goal got the 49ers even.

After the Giants’ second possession of the overtime, it was Thomas' time to shine again. This time, Weatherford’s punt was fielded by Williams, but Giants rookie Jacquian Williams whacked the ball loose, and Thomas pounced on it on San Francisco’s 24, giving New York the ball.

Four plays later, Weatherford fielded the snap on a short hope and placed it perfectly for Tynes, who repeated his feat from the 2008 conference championship game when his field goal in Green Bay also put the Giants in the Super Bowl.

“I knew before I picked my head up that it was good,’’ Tynes was quoted in the Post as saying.

The Patriots, meanwhile, defeated Baltimore 23-20 for the AFC title when Ravens kicker Billy Cundiff missed a 32-yard field-goal try with 11 seconds left in regulation. Combined with the Giants’ win, it set up a rematch of Super Bowl XLII, which New York won 17-14.

Manning, who also had a six-yard TD toss to Bear Pascoe, threw 316 yards on 32-for-58 despite being tossed all over the muddy Candlestick Park turf by the 49ers’ bullying defense.

“We couldn’t give them turnovers,” Manning was quoted as saying by John Fennelly on sny.tv. “That’s the one thing we didn’t do… we knew it was going to be a tough game.”

—JOE GREENE, NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM