It was during practice early last week when safety Antrel Rolle came up to Hakeem Nicks with not so much a suggestion as a request. Rolle made Nicks vow that if the Giants wide receiver scored a touchdown against the Falcons in their wild-card playoff game at MetLife Stadium, he would celebrate by the doing the “Dirty Bird.”

Nicks was about 10 years old when the touchdown dance was made famous by former Falcons running back Jamal Anderson during Atlanta’s march to the Super Bowl during the 1998-99 season. Ten years later, Rolle had mocked the Falcons by doing the high-stepping, arm flapping routine after returning a fumble for a touchdown in a 2009 wild-card playoff game between the Cardinals and Falcons in Arizona.

Apparently, Rolle figured a reenactment was in order and was psychic enough to pick Nicks to do it.

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“I told him if he got in the end zone, he would have to do the Dirty Bird,” Rolle said late yesterday after the Nicks caught two touchdown passes to help the Giants to a 24-2 waxing of the Falcons. “We practiced all week, so I knew he was going to get it.”

Despite all the practice, Nicks had the mental meltdown of forgetting to do the Dirty Bird after catching a 4-yard touchdown pass from Eli Manning with 2:47 left in the first half. The score gave the Giants a 7-2 lead. Nicks had jumped high in the air to pull down the pass in the back of the end zone and instantly celebrated with his teammates. When he got back to the sidelines, Rolle was there to greet him with a disappointing look that said, “What happened to the Dirty Bird?”

“After the first touchdown he reminded me, so I told him I’d do it,” Nicks said.

Of course, he needed to score another touchdown — a touchdown that ultimately ensured the Giants their first home playoff win in 11 years.

It came with 2:58 left in the third quarter after the Giants defense had held the Falcons on fourth-and-1 for the second time in the game. It was third-and-3 when Manning dropped back to pass, avoided pressure from his right side and fired over the middle to a crossing Nicks.

“It was zone coverage and I was actually about the sit, but when I saw the linebackers drop out of there I tried to get into Eli’s vision,” Nicks said. “Once I caught it, I was just trying to make a play.”

Catching the ball in stride, Nicks jumped between defenders Dominique Franks and James Sanders and sprinted the rest of the distance to complete a 72-yard score for a 17-2 lead.

This time Nicks didn’t forget the Dirty Bird, doing to the dance in the end zone and prompting an immediate response from Anderson (@jamthedirtybird), who tweeted: “NO HE DIDN’T!!!!”

Yes, he did.

The touchdown tied Earnest Gray’s catch at San Francisco in 1982 for the longest reception in Giants playoff history and highlighted a day when the sure-handed Nicks caught six passes for 115 yards.

It served as a reminder the Giants have playmakers other than Victor Cruz, who was the center of most of the pregame hype after his salsa-dancing regular season. There’s Nicks and Mario Manningham, who came through by pulling in a beautiful 27-yard touchdown pass from Manning for the game’s final points.

“We know what any one of us is capable of doing at any given time,” Nicks said. “We’ve all stepped up this season and made a lot of plays.”

With the Giants visiting Green Bay next week with a spot in the NFC Championship Game at stake, the Dirty Bird goes back into moth balls, leaving Nicks to figure out a new dance to do if he scores.

Let’s hope for his safety it’s not the Lambeau Leap.