bounce-back year, going from the 28th-ranked defense in 2000, to the 9th-ranked. Terrell Owens had become Jeff Garcia's favorite target. Garrison Hearst, who had been forced to retire from football after breaking his ankle in the 1998 divisional playoffs, finally returned to the line-up after over two years of rehabilitation. He became the first player in NFL history to come back to football after suffering avascular necrosis. He had an excellent season, rushing for 1,206 yards on a 4.8 average. His comeback earned him the NFL Comeback Player of the Year Award. In the final six weeks of the season the 49ers defense shut out three teams (the Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins, and New Orleans Saints), and had one of the most stupendous goal-line stands against the Philadelphia Eagles. In the team's first playoff game in 2 years, they played against the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field in the NFC Wild Card, but lost 25–15. The 2002 NFL season began with the divisional realignment. The 49ers gained two new divisional rivals, the Seattle Seahawks and Arizona Cardinals, while former divisional foes Atlanta Falcons, New Orleans Saints, and Carolina Panthers moved to the newly formed NFC South. The team's production dropped from the previous year. Jeff Garcia went from having 31 and 32 touchdowns in the previous 2 seasons, to only 21 in 2002. The 49ers defense struggled at times, dropping from the 9th-ranked defense in the previous season to the 19th-ranked. Even though the team did not have the same success as they did in the 2001 regular season, the 49ers won the NFC West for the first time since 1997, with the division-clinching game coming on a last-second touchdown pass to Terrell Owens against the Dallas Cowboys. The 49ers finished 10–6. In the 2002–03 NFL playoffs they hosted the New York Giants in the 2002 NFC Wild Card. The Giants had a 38–14 lead late in the third quarter; however, the Giants defense, which had been highly ranked all year, began to collapse, and by the final minute in the 4th quarter Jeff Garcia had led the team back from the 24-point deficit to take a 1-point lead. Giants quarterback Kerry Collins then led a drive in the game's final minute to put the Giants at the 49ers' 23-yard line with six seconds left for a shot at a game-winning field goal. Long snapper Trey Junkin, who had