Giants vs. 49ers Predictions: How Each Defense Performs in the NFC Championship

When the New York Giants and San Francisco 49ers meet in this season's NFC Championship, it's going to be a sound, strong and hard-fought defensive battle.

Each offense will have their limited opportunities to move the chains and score, so those who remember the 1990 NFC Championship will bear witness to another excellent game. That said here are how each defense shuts down the offense with stats thereafter.

New York Defense vs. San Francisco Offense

Aside from their regular season meeting, Alex Smith and the 49ers offense has not faced a front four like the New York Giants all season.

Despite dealing with injuries, the Giants recorded 48 sacks this season and have been menacing once again in the postseason. Therefore, don't expect them to let up on Alex Smith just because San Francisco can effectively run the ball.

There's really no need for any complex stunt packages such as twists, wrap-arounds (when a defensive end loops into the middle and everyone else crashes toward his initial alignment) or "X's" with the linebacker.

Each of New York's defensive linesmen knows how to beat the man across from them and get to the quarterback. Stunts and other ways to confuse a blocking scheme take up too much time. If anything, anticipate the Giants to strictly work gap control against the run and be super-aggressive against the pass.

In turn, that allows the linebackers to read and react faster because their responsibilities won't change. As for the coverage, New York must play press on the outside with safety help over the top. The more physical the defensive backs get with Smith's receivers, the more time the pass rush has to get pressure.

Nothing confusing needs to come of the Giants game plan as the 4-3 front is as basic as it gets. Those who succeed at it (such as New York) flourish because of their defensive line. Whenever there's four legit unblockable studs rushing, the rest of the defense shuts the offense down accordingly.

All this being said, Smith will have limited time when dropping back and Frank Gore will see a stacked box against him.

Prediction: Six sacks, two forced fumbles, one interception, 310 total yards allowed.

San Francisco Defense vs. New York Offense

Much like the Giants, the 49ers defense must play physical press coverage against Eli Manning's well-established receiving targets. With a strong front seven, San Francisco is vulnerable to the pass more than the run and tossing the rock around is New York's specialty.

The biggest concern for New York is not throwing the ball too much. The Giants must try to establish some sort of ground game against the NFL's best rush defense, otherwise the 49ers will take advantage.

They did so against New York in the regular season and Manning threw two picks. Well, the same story happened against New Orleans and Drew Brees was intercepted twice. Now, it's not that San Francisco relies on turnovers, the defense just plays so sound across the board, turnovers simply happen.

In order to consistently move the rock against San Francisco, the offense must play damn near flawless on every possession. Unfortunately for the Giants, Manning can be interception prone and the rush offense will get shut down by San Francisco's front seven.

The difference, however, lies in the 49ers 3-4 front that doesn't need to run blitz. Led by middle linebacker Patrick Willis, any run that goes outside is met by Justin and Aldon Smith as well as Ray McDonald.

San Francisco can be more complex in blitzing because their outside linebacker are aligned further outside than New York's while also being in a two-point stance. And if the 49ers want pressure on Eli, they must confuse the his offensive line.

New York's pass protection is arguably the best in pro football, so anticipate a late roll down from the defensive backs in press coverage to set up the blitz package. As we learned against Green Bay, no pressure on Eli Manning can kill a defense's confidence.

Prediction: Four sacks, one forced fumble, two interceptions, 325 total yards allowed.

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