In a near-mirror image of the NFC Championship game in 2008, the New York Giants scored a clutch overtime win to earn a trip to the Super Bowl.
There, the team, which again entered the playoffs as a wildcard, will battle the New England Patriots for a chance to reclaim its standing as the best football team in the world.
Three years ago, the Giants survived the formidable Patriots’ threat to win the Super Bowl and give New England its only loss of the season.
Both the Giants and Patriots earned their bids on three-point victories; the Giants topped the San Francisco 49ers 20-17, while the Patriots overcame the Baltimore Ravens 23-20.
While Sunday’s NFC Championship game between the Giants and San Francisco 49ers was going to be a ratings hit regardless, and the fact that it remained tightly-contested all through overtime would have made FOX happy no matter what, the network gets an additional bonus in terms of a massive lead-in for “American Idol.”
The lead-in will not quite be as monstrous as that given to rival series “The Voice” when it airs out of NBC’s Super Bowl in two weeks, but it represents the best FOX could do in terms of attracting extra eyeballs for the series, which premiered to very disappointing numbers this past week.