49ers Hold Back Giants, 27-20

Justin Smith batted down Eli Manning's pass in the waning seconds of the New York quarterback's comeback try, stopping the Giants for a 27-20 victory Sunday in a matchup of NFC division leaders.

With his team trailing, Manning completed a pair of long fourth-down passes and got his team to the red zone with 1:53 to go. Unlike last week's rally by New York (6-3) at New England, Smith made a leaping right-handed smack of the ball on fourth-and-2 from the 10.

The 49ers (8-1) won their seventh straight and didn't rely on Frank Gore, whose franchise-record streak of five straight games with 100 yards rushing ended with a knee injury.

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