"The Horror! The Horror!

Every punt returner in the league felt for Kyle Williams. The young 49er started the NFC Championship game minding his own business and finished it as the perpetrator of a two-pronged returners' faux pas.

1. Stay away from the bouncing ball.

2. Once you get the ball, hold onto the damn thing.

"It's tough,'' says Will Blackmon, who was on the other side of the field, wearing a Giants uniform, when Williams's double nightmare occurred. "He's a good player, and he was having an awesome game.''

But no one will ever recall the good things Williams did in that contest. The world will only remember that he allowed one bouncing ball on a punt to graze his uniform, creating a live ball that was recovered by New York, and that he fumbled while returning another punt. Each led to scores, without which the Giants would not have won the game and advanced to Super Bowl XLVI."