It's probably no coincidence that the Giants' fiery play over the last month coincided with linebacker Michael Boley's return to the field from a pulled hamstring, coincidently suffered against the 49ers in Week 10, a 27-20 loss in which New York allowed two fourth-quarter touchdowns with Boley on the sideline. He missed the next two games -- losses to Philadelphia and New Orleans -- and returned in Week 13, but admittedly was only "70 percent" in a span of three games, including two more losses.
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Boley had two sacks of quarterback Aaron Rodgers, performing the championship-belt "dance" after each one that the Packers quarterback made famous. He also deflected a pass that teammate Deon Grant intercepted late in the game.
"He did an awful lot of things," Giants coach Tom Coughlin said on Monday. "He rushed the passer with the two sacks, he had hits on the quarterback, he was very physical in his tackling and he covered well. He displayed a lot of the things that he can do, and when he is on the field we have a lot more options than we have when he is not."
Now he gets a chance to play the 49ers again, this time for all the NFC marbles.
"I guess going back up there could be a little extra incentive because I didn't finish the first one," he said.
