New York Giants: Why Trip to San Francisco Is Exactly What Big Blue Needs

The New York Giants need this game against the San Francisco 49ers in the worst way.

I'm not even talking about winning, even though that would be nice; they just need to actually play this football game.

The Giants need to play a serious playoff contender to get motivated and get on a roll. They took the first quarter off against the Cleveland Browns and managed to win that game, but they know they can't do that against this very tough 49ers team. 

They're scary good on defense, they can rush the football, and Alex Smith now has more weapons than he honestly knows what to do with. The bottom line is that the G-Men have to bring their A-game this Sunday. 

This is the kind of game people look at to predict how a team will fare as the season progresses. Remember how the Giants beat the New England Patriots in the regular season last year? Or how they lost to the Green Bay Packers on a last-second field goal?

Those were good measuring points of how good the Giants were last year, and they went on to win the Super Bowl. 

Can the Giants come out and win this game? Certainly, but I want to see them playing focused and hard for 60 minutes. If they can do that, then I'll be happy. 

They're obviously banged up with injuries, but they're still 3-2.

Hakeem Nicks has missed games and Kenny Phillips, Andre Brown, as well as Rocky Benard have already been ruled out for the 49ers game. 

But none of that matters, injuries happen in the NFL, and the Giants need to play through whatever happens like they always do.

Some people may call the NFC Championship game a fluke last year, and here's there chance to prove that it wasn't. 

They need to go out there and remind the world that they're Super Bowl champions, if not for the fans, for themselves.