EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Reminded in the aftermath of a sloppy 16-13 win that his biggest contribution in the first 58 minutes of Thursday night's game was a 10-yard end-around, San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Terrell Owens smiled.

	Terrell Owens turned a Giants miscue into a game-breaking play.

Up until that point, that one rush represented two more yards than he had generated on three catches.

"Yeah," Owens acknowledged after a long pause. "But if you wait long enough, you know, I will make a play. Sooner or later, it's going to happen. We saw it again tonight. It just took a while, that's all."

And sure enough, presented with an opportunity when the New York Giants secondary -- which had blanketed him all night -- committed a communications and coverage error, the 49ers' star took advantage.

Owens' numbers weren't staggering, with his 41 receiving yards the fourth fewest he has had in the last three seasons, but he delivered at crunch time. In a contest when both teams squandered scoring chances, but mostly just played miserably on offense, Owens authored the signature play.

His 33-yard catch on the 49ers' final possession moved the ball from the San Francisco's 30-yard line to New York's 37. Five plays later, a shaky Jose Cortez knocked home a 36-yard field goal with six seconds left, and a 49ers offense that seemed comatose at times had a measure of redemption.

So, of course, did its highest-profile performer, who did nothing to reduce his reputation as one of the NFL's premier playmakers.

"That's why he makes the big money," teased 49ers tailback Garrison Hearst, who scored his team's lone touchdown on a 9-yard reception in the third quarter. "You are not going to keep him down forever."

Led by second-year cornerback Will Allen and hard-hitting free safety Omar Stoutmire, however, the reshuffled Giants secondary nearly managed to turn Owens into the invisible man.

San Francisco was in three- or four-wide receiver alignments for 26 of its 51 snaps, by unofficial count, and in those situations Owens played in the slot. Most of those times he was shadowed by New York cornerback Jason Sehorn, who did not play at all in the preseason as he recovered from knee surgery.

On the critical first play of the final 49ers drive, with just under two minutes remaining, Owens aligned in the left slot and Sehorn sprinted out with him. But as Owens ran a deep seam route up the left side, Sehorn moved off and broke to the sideline, taking the deep hook zone. Whoever was supposed to be in the short hook zone missed his assignment -- several Giants defenders suggested the coverage was poorly communicated and executed even worse -- and Owens ran free.

It was a rare faux pas in a gameplan that largely called for zone coverage against Owens, but the San Francisco star is that rare player who will seize on an opponent's lone blunder, and he did exactly that. On replays, it looked like the Giants were playing a three-deep but that a linebacker or safety failed to cut off the underneath lane. The error left the soft zone overly vulnerable.

"It might not have been the only (coverage) mistake we made all evening," said Giants strong safety Shaun Williams, "but it was sure the biggest."

San Francisco quarterback Jeff Garcia, who like the 49ers offensive seemed out of sync nearly all night, allowed that his eyes "got really big" when he saw the coverage void up the left seam. Because there was so much cushion up the hash, with no defenders within three yards of him, Owens actually ran the route a few yards deeper than normal.

As Owens gathered in the ball, then added 10 yards after the catch, Sehorn threw his hands up as if to signify that there had been a "bust" in the coverage. Sehorn would only allow that the coverage "wasn't what it was supposed to be in some ways," but corner William Peterson said there was a definite breakdown.

After the crucial play to Owens, fellow 49ers wide receiver J.J. Stokes caught a 12-yard pass and then Hearst carried three times to get the ball in the middle of the field for Cortez, who had a first-quarter field goal attempt blocked and was pitifully short on a 48-yard try in the second quarter.

"We're going to have to get a lot better really quick if we're going to meet the goals we've set for ourselves," said Garcia, who completed 16 of 26 passes for 166 yards, with one touchdown pass and one interception. "Every time we got something started, and it seemed like we were going to get clicking, we made a mistake to shoot ourselves in the foot.

"The only plus is that, with a game on the line, we put together a big drive. But we better quit reading all the hype and get down to business. We have to be more consistent."

It would help, Owens would probably suggest, if the 49ers begin to once again feed him the ball consistently. In all, Garcia directed 10 passes to Owens and he caught four of them. One was intercepted, another dropped.

Following two superb seasons that established him as a big-play performer, campaigns in which he totaled 2,863 yards and 29 touchdowns, Owens is going to draw special coverage schemes every outing.

It would help if Stokes, the other starter, would play up to his potential. He hasn't done that, though, in seven previous seasons and probably isn't set to make a quantum leap this year, either.

Of the 16 completions the 49ers had Thursday night, more went to the running backs and tight ends (nine) than to the wide receivers (seven). So it may be incumbent upon Owens, no matter the coverage schemes aimed at checking him, to find a way to get open. One 49ers offensive veteran said late Thursday night, as he walked toward the team bus, that the passing game was too conservative.

"Don't get me wrong, the Giants did a good job on us, but we have to take a few shots deep early so that we establish a threat in defense's minds," he said. "And we have got to get the ball to Terrell, no matter what that takes, because he's our bread and butter. I mean, how many chances did he really get tonight, huh?"

The Giants would know how to answer that question: One chance too many.

Len Pasquarelli is a senior writer for ESPN.com.