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First off, thanks to grantmp for the suggestion of "A Prospector's Guide."  It fits in well with our Golden Nuggets links when they're rolled out.

The 49ers travel to New York to face the defending Super Bowl Champion Giants in what will be the 27th regular season contest between the two teams, dating back to 1952. The regular season series is tied at 13-13, but the two teams also have a storied history during postseason play, with the 49ers holding a 4-3 advantage over the Giants. Head Coach Mike Nolan’s ties to the Giants organization run deep, having served as the team’s defensive coordinator from 1993-96. His father, Dick, played nine seasons for the Giants (1954-57, 1959-61).

The upcoming game marks the second consecutive year that the 49ers have made the trip to New York. Last year, the 49ers fell to the Giants, 33-15, after New York scored 24 of its points on four San Francisco turnovers.

San Francisco is looking to snap a three-game losing streak after falling to the Philadelphia Eagles, 40-26, last week. San Francisco held a 26-17 lead heading into the fourth quarter, but three turnovers in the final quarter proved costly. RB Frank Gore rushed for 101 yards on 19 carries with one touchdown, marking his second 100-yard rushing game this season. He now has scored a touchdown in fi ve-of-six games this year. TE Vernon Davis caught a season-high six passes for 75 yards, including a career-long 57-yard reception. LB Takeo Spikes posted an interception for the third straight game.

After the jump, we've got a recap of the last season's matchup, along with some facts and stats about the teams...

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Well, the Browns certainly surprised a few people last night.  Facing the Giants at home, the Browns were an 8 point underdog, playing without one of their top offensive weapons, Kellen Winslow, Jr.  Even though it was a home game, I'm guessing very few people (except a few people in our prediction contest) thought the Browns could pull this out.  Well, the Browns pulled out not just an upset, but a thorough second half whuppin of the Giants.

While it's just one game and the situation will be quite different this coming Sunday, I thought a good first step is to look at what the Browns did right and how they forced mistakes by the Giants.  The problem is that I was in class this evening and forgot to TiVo the game.  So I'll throw out what the stats show and then I'd like to open this up to everybody.  If you watched the game last night, we'd love to hear your thoughts on what seemed to work for Cleveland.  The Giants had been rolling up to this point and proceeded to crap the bed.

A quick look at the stats shows that Eli Manning was certainly awful, finishing 18/28, 196 yards, 1 TD, 3 INTs and a QB rating of 57.1.  His 3 INTs led to a touchdown on Eric Wright's pick-6, a field goal and a missed field goal.  However, I'm not sure how much pressure was truly put on Eli.  He was sacked once and hit 5 times, but without seeing the game I can't tell how much he had to run around in the pocket.

Given Eli's struggles, it's particularly interesting that the Giants running game was pretty dominant, rushing 25 times for 181 yards.  The Browns rushed 30 times for 144 yards.  Again, without seeing the game it's hard to determine how much was garbage rushing versus key rushes.  The late rushing by Cleveland makes sense given the lead, but I can't come up with anything for the Giants rushing game.

So I guess I just want to open this up for discussion.  There is plenty of reason to be negative about this game given the 49ers performances lately.  If they blow winnable games, what's gonna keep them from getting blown out by the Giants?  Every game in this league is winnable per se.  However, coming off an embarrassing loss, I'm thinking the Giants will be pretty pissed off.  They could certainly come out flat, but as professionals I'm not so sure about that.  So, have at it.

Week 7 the 49ers head into New York to face the defending Super Bowl champs, the New York Giants.  The 49ers will be in the midst of a rather fearsome stretch: @ New Orleans, vs. New England, vs. Philadelphia, @ NY and versus the Seahawks.  If they want this season to go anywhere, 2-3 seems like a bare minimum result.

The New York Giants are represented here at SB Nation by Big Blue View, run by ETVal, so head on over if you get a chance.

Overview
While I'm sure there are people who picked the Giants to win it all, I think the general consensus is that they shocked the world this past February when they took down the unbeaten New England Patriot.  The Giants squeaked into the playoffs at 10-6 and definitely made the most of their opportunity.  Earlier in the season they faced off against the 49ers and saw their defense score 24 points in an eventual 33-15 Giants victory.  My prediction of a close Giants win was not to be.

While the Giants lost Jeremy Shockey for the season in Week 15, things worked out well enough in the end thanks to the somewhat stunning rise of Eli Manning, a superb defense and a quality year from Plaxico Burress.

Additions
The Giants made some interesting additions in the offseason.  They landed Mario Manningham, a favorite of some around here, late in the third round.  While he has a ways to climb on the depth chart, I'm curious to see how he performs in the NFL.  He came with some question marks and some baggage, but even though he's in New York, I wouldn't imagine there is a lot of pressure to put up big numbers right away.  And playing behind Amani Toomer and Plaxico Burress will give him two impressive receivers to learn from.

They added veteran Sammy Knight when they elected not to shell out the big bucks for Gibril Wilson (thank you Al Davis).  The first two rounds of the draft landed a safety and a cornerback for the future, but they're in good shape for now in their secondary.  I also think they might just have a steal on their hands in sixth round pick Andre Woodson.  He struggled late which saw his stock plummet from high first rounder to where he ended up.

Subtractions
The big change is of course the most recent news of Jeremy Shockey to the Saints.  Losing the franchise's #4 man in receptions certainly won't help the team, but they showed they could win big without him.  Losing the single season sack leader (and #5 all time) in Michael Strahan is certainly a tough blow as well.  While Strahan was starting to lose steam, he still made a very solid contribution.

At the same time, even though two guys who were pretty close to the face of the franchise off and on over the last few years, I don't think the Giants are in too much trouble with these losses.  There will be an impact, but they have some talented guys behind them.  If nobody steps up there will certainly be issues, but the sky isn't falling yet (and besides they won the Super Bowl and can't complain anyways).

2008 Questions and Answers
Will there be a Super Bowl hangover?  Considering the fact that few if any people expected the Giants to win, a hangover certainly seems like a distinct possibility.  At the same time, Tom Coughlin is a disciplinarian type of coach and I can see him being the type of guy who can focus the team on the task at hand and get them thinking about 2008 and only 2008.

Will the real Eli Manning please stand up? Week 17 and the first rwo rounds of the playoffs saw Eli Manning absolutely blow up, taking care of business and moving the team forward.  While he was nowhere near as good in the conference championship game and the Super Bowl, he still didn't blow things for his team, which is sometimes all you can ask for.  The monkey of being Peyton's little brother has been removed by the Lombardi Trophy, so now we get to see what Eli can do without that kind of pressure.  It's still New York so there will always be some pressure.  Winning it all could lead to Eli getting truly comfortable as a star QB, or he just reverts back to his old ways.  Who really knows right now.

vs. San Francisco
Last season I picked a 23-21 Giants victory.  This season, I think the Super Bowl hangover happens and the 49ers offense doesn't have the turnover issues they had last year.  I'm gonna go so far as to say 49ers victory 24-20.  Of most of the predictions I'll make, this one might inspire the least confidence.  However, if the guys we expect to start are starting (meaning no 3rd string QBs and the like), I think this is a very winnable upset.  Join with me in praying for the hangover.