SAN FRANCISCO -- Cramping and in need of IV fluids, Ahmad Bradshaw headed into the locker room a few minutes before the final whistle Sunday, when Giants owner John Mara stopped him.

Mara embraced Bradshaw and whispered something in the running back's ear. He was clearly grateful for Bradshaw's 100-yard effort against one of the stingiest defenses in the NFL, and the Giants' complete performance in one of the franchise's most satisfying regular-season victories in recent memory.

Jason Pierre-Paul had a breakout game, with two sacks against the 49ers. Kirby Lee/Image of Sport/US Presswire

Coach Tom Coughlin said nobody expected the New York Giants to beat the San Francisco 49ers this week. Well, certainly nobody expected this: a complete domination of the 49ers on their own turf, to the tune of a 26-3 beatdown of a team many considered to be the best the NFC has to offer.

The Giants delivered a statement -- not only to Jim Harbaugh's Niners, but to the rest of the NFL -- that the defending Super Bowl champions are alive and well.

"I don't think it was that subtle," linebacker Mathias Kiwanuka said, when asked if the Giants gave everyone a subtle reminder of who the defending champs are. "You can talk and say everything you want but at the end of the day you got to line up on Sunday and prove it.

"I feel like we did a good job of backing up everything that we felt during the week."

What the Giants felt in the week leading up to this NFC Championship Game rematch was what never fails to stir Coughlin's team. Nothing drives the Giants more than a sensed lack of respect from either an opponent or the media, prompting a desire to prove people wrong and win under conditions that are supposed to be dead set against them.

The Giants heard all week long about how the 49ers felt last year's NFC title was stolen from them by the Giants, about how much better San Francisco got in the offseason and about how unbeatable the Niners had looked in outscoring their previous two opponents by a frightful combined score of 79-3.

"Most people against this defense didn't think we could do what we did," center David Baas said. "That's fine. That doesn't matter. This team knows what we can do."

"Secondly, I think it sends a message to everybody in the NFC," Baas continued. "Don't count us out because we're a very, very good team and we believe that."