SAN FRANCISCO — The third time was indeed the charm for Steve Weatherford last night.
All it took was the veteran punter changing New Jersey football addresses.
After back-to-back championship game failures with the Jets, Weatherford latched on with the Giants and finally landed that Super Bowl trip he feared would never happen yesterday thanks to a 20-17 overtime victory over the 49ers in the NFC title game.
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Weatherford was so overjoyed that the TV cameras plainly caught him mouthing an obscenity as he celebrated Lawrence Tynes’ 31-yard game winner at soggy Candlestick Park.
“I hope my mom didn’t see that, but I couldn’t control it,” Weatherford said amid the Giants’ locker-room jubilation. “I was just so excited.”
The Giants might not be headed to Indianapolis without Weatherford. Not only did he average a hefty 46.4 yards on 12 punts (part of a 22-punt slugfest between the two teams), but Weatherford also was credited with making the best of a low snap by Zak DeOssie on the winning field goal that appeared to skim the grass.
And Weatherford started the two biggest plays of the night — fumbled punts by 49ers returner Kyle Williams in the fourth quarter and OT — with booming kicks.
Weatherford said he was so locked in on Tynes’ kick he didn’t even remember bailing out DeOssie.
“I blacked out, I was so excited,” Weatherford said. “The only thing I remember is that ball going right through the pipes. I got the snap, got the laces down and he put it right down the middle, and now we’re going to the Super Bowl.”
Weatherford didn’t get the chance to utter those words the past two seasons after getting to the AFC Championship with the Jets and falling short both times.
The closest Weatherford got to an outright dig at the Jets was describing the postgame locker room scene.
“It’s a little different feeling winning,” he said with a sly grin.
”We’re a resilient group. Six weeks ago, nobody gave us a chance. Now, we’re everybody’s favorite.”
Asked if the Jets had been in his thoughts during the game, Weatherford smiled even wider.
“It popped in my head that this was my [third] time in a championship game, and after what happened the last couple of years, would I ever get that opportunity to go to the Super Bowl,” he said.
The answer this time, finally, was “yes.”