DOWN, NOT OUT: Eli Manning and the Giants came up short against Patrick Willis, Ahmad Brooks and the 49ers in Week 10, but will have their chance at revenge on Sunday. (AP)
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The Giants wanted another shot at the 49ers, wanted the stakes higher than they were in November. Now they have it, and it doesn’t bother them in the least that the game is in San Francisco, because they would play this one, the one that is the Golden Gateway to Glory, on the moon.
Jim Harbaugh has restored the pride to a storied franchise, and 60 minutes from the Super Bowl means the Giants will be expecting a hostile environment Sunday night — and possibly a rainy one as well — at Candlestick Park.
“I can care less about how hostile it is, it’s a game,” Antrel Rolle said. “When you’re home, you want to bring ’em to their feet. When you’re away, you want to bring ’em to their knees, and that’s the way I look at it.”
The Giants can smell the Super Bowl. They have a chance now to leave a forever footprint on the heart and soul of this city, a Dare to Dream Team that transformed into a Dream Team when it mattered.
But if ever one game at a time applied, it is now, 60 minutes from Super Bowl XVLI.
“Really at this stage in the game, you have to solely focus on the task at hand in front of you,” Dave Tollefson said, “because the Niners are gonna try to whip our [butt]. And if you start looking ahead, it’s gonna happen.”
The Niners held off the Giants 27-20 two months ago when Justin Smith batted down a fourth-and-2 Eli Manning pass from the 10.
“We understood that they were a team that we could potentially see again and that we wanted to see again in this situation,” Victor Cruz said, “and we got what we asked for.”
Jake Ballard hasn’t forgotten the long plane ride home.
“It [stunk],” Ballard said. “Make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
The Avengers gleefully shut Rex Ryan’s trap, and beat down the Packers this weekend after leaving their 38-35 loss to the Packers seeking a rematch. And there is no better way for them to finish the way Tom Coughlin implores them to finish than by settling their unfinished business.
“A lot of guys were saying, even I said, ‘Hopefully we see these guys again down the road,’ ” Ballard said. “We got our opportunity.”
The 49ers seemed to want that game back in Week 10 more to make a statement to the league. They can’t possibly want this one more than the Giants do. Cruz, asked how motivating it is knowing the Giants lost the earlier meeting to the Niners, said: “It’s very motivating. We understand that game came down to the wire and we were one play away from potentially winning that ballgame.”
The 2007 Giants would not have won Super Bowl XLII if they had not been Avengers — first on the road against the Cowboys, next in the NFC Championship in Green Bay, and finally at The Show. The Giants had lost 45-35 in Week 1 to the ’Boys and 31-20 late in the regular season before The Avengers struck back with a 21-17 playoff upset. The Giants had lost 35-13 to Brett Favre at Giants Stadium in Week 2 before The Avengers left Lambeau Field shellshocked following their 23-20 overtime triumph that took them to the Super Bowl. And, of course, the Giants had lost 38-35 to Tom Brady and the Patriots in the regular-season finale before Manning and the Avengers shocked the world with their 17-14 Supe upset in Glendale, Ariz.
After beating the Packers in a revenge game, is this another revenge game?
“Yeah absolutely,” Ballard said. “The way it’s all turned out for us, this could be a storybook ending, but we gotta take care of business and prepare well for this game.”
For some, it wouldn’t matter if it were the 49ers or the Jimmy Johnson Cowboys standing between them and a shot at hoisting the Lombardi Trophy.
“This is about the NFC Championship,” Manning said.
The Giants relish a pugnacious team that can test their No Toughness, No Championship mantra, and that’s the 49ers. Alex Smith shocked the world when he outdueled Drew Brees and the Saints, but Harbaugh ideally would like his reclamation project to manage the game, recognizing that his physical defense will be a rock.
Niners-Saints was compelling theater nevertheless.
“It was a good game,” Rolle said. “They weren’t playing against the Giants, but it was a good game.”
Rolle was asked if the Giants sent a message to the 49ers by whacking Aaron Rodgers and the Pack the way they did..
“Our message wasn’t about the 49ers,” he said. “We’ll send that message come this Sunday.”
The message will be sent with a violent thunderclap of shoulder pads.
“There’s gonna be some thumpin’. … You gotta put your big boy pants on, and go down there and run downhill,” Tollefson said.
A veritable Pier 6 … or Fisherman Wharf Brawl.
“We are a scary team right now,” Cruz said.
Except the 49ers no longer scare easily. This one, more than most, will be a test of wills.
“We don’t fold,” Rolle said. “No matter what happens, no matter if it’s a bad call, no matter if things are not going our way, we’re not gonna break.”
All in one more time.
“We’re not gonna be denied,” Rolle said. “I may be a little biased, but in our minds, we can’t be beat.”
steve.serby@nypost.com