Peyton said the brothers spoke every Friday night during the season — it is part of their routine — and during their most recent conversation, Peyton brought up the defensive scheme the 49ers used on that play.

“It’s an eight-man coverage,” Peyton said. “We talked about the certain holes and windows in that coverage. It was a great throw. That was really the pivotal play.”

The 49ers, of course, will bemoan the miscues that gave Manning his chance — punt returner Kyle Williams fumbled twice to set up the fourth-quarter score as well as the Giants’ game-winning field goal in overtime — but without Manning’s poise, the Giants’ season would probably have ended here.

Sunday’s rally was Manning’s seventh fourth-quarter comeback of the season and his eighth game-winning drive — staggering numbers that are emblematic of the Giants’ penchant for playing close games. Earlier in the year, especially, it seemed the Giants went down to the final series every week; several players even joked about the “cardiac” nature of the team’s play.

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The last time the Giants were here, however, the result was less pleasant. Trailing by 7 points with under seven minutes remaining, Manning led the Giants on a drive in which they converted on two fourth downs only to fall short on a third in the waning seconds. Manning’s fourth-down pass from the San Francisco 10 was batted down near the line of scrimmage by Justin Smith as the 49ers celebrated.

Given another opportunity on the same field, however, Manning did not falter again. His second touchdown pass of the game — he finished 32 of 58 for 316 yards passing — highlighted the Giants’ rally, and after Williams’s second fumble, Manning watched from the sideline as Lawrence Tynes’s field goal won it in overtime.

After the kick went between the uprights, Manning rushed to midfield with the rest of his teammates as the 49ers trudged to the locker room. Manning has now won five road playoff games in his career, the most in N.F.L. history.

“I think everyone knew we were going to get a chance to win this football game,” Manning said. “Something was going to happen.”

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It did. And when it was over, and Manning had run into the tunnel that leads to the visitors’ locker room at Candlestick Park, he found a surprise: Peyton was waiting with open arms.

On this night, at least, Peyton wanted only to be a brother. Peyton would not talk with reporters about his injury, and when he was asked about the possibility of leaving the Colts for a team like the Jets, he shook his head and said simply, “Go, Giants.”

Peyton added: “This is Eli’s day. I was glad I was here to witness it. I look forward to watching him in two weeks.”