NFL Playoff Schedule 2012: Early Preview for Giants vs. 49ers NFC Championship

There's going to be an interesting football dynamic at play Sunday afternoon when the New York Giants (11-7) travel to San Francisco to take on the 49ers (14-3) in the NFC Championship Game. 

On one hand, we have a Giants team that looks every part the one that went on a wild playoff run in 2008 to make the Super Bowl and eventually knock off the unbeaten New England Patriots to become world champions.

New York has essentially won four straight elimination games, starting in Week 16 against the New York Jets but also including wins over the Dallas Cowboys, Atlanta Falcons and, most recently, the Green Bay Packers.

In '08, the Giants won road playoff games in Tampa Bay, Dallas and Green Bay before upsetting the Patriots in Glendale, Arizona during the Super Bowl.

If momentum is on anyone's side Sunday, it's the New York Giants.

However, it's not as if the San Francisco 49ers are coming off some snoozer win in the Divisional Round. In fact, the 49ers defeated the New Orleans Saints in one of the greatest playoff finishes in NFL history—nevermind just San Francisco history.

Alex Smith's touchdown in the waning seconds to Vernon Davis was every bit as dramatic and shocking as Dwight Clark's catch against the Cowboys in the 1982 NFC Championship Game and Terrell Owens' catch in the 1999 NFC Wildcard to beat the Packers. 

With that said, which dynamic is ultimately going to control how the 2012 NFC Championship Game turns? 

Will the Giants' familiar run through the playoffs continue right through San Francisco to Indianapolis?

Or, will the 49ers' historic comeback win be the one symbolic moment we remember during these playoffs as San Francisco gets back to the Super Bowl for the first time since 1995?