A penalty on the kickoff pushed the Niners back to their own 8. Here's the part where legends are made.
According to Tackle Harris Barton, at the TV timeout Joe Montana looks along the endline and sees a familiar figure walking. Joe tells the huddle "Look, that's John Candy." Season on the line, how cool can a guy be?
Against a loose defense, Montana navigated the Niners downfield. Connection to Rice, across midfield. Under 2:00.
After an offensive penalty, Montana hit Rice perfectly on a crossing pattern. Eluding three defenders, Rice gained 32 yards to get to the Bengal 19.
As good as he was throughout his career, Rice was Superman in this game. His 220 scrimmage yards accounted for almost half of the Niner's total offense.
Walsh drew up the key play. Rice had been immense, Walsh knew he would draw a crowd:
*Rice ran to the left corner as decoy.
*John Taylor post pattern. TD, Niners 20-16.
No miracle finish for the Bengals. Going off the field after such a gut-wrenching loss, Wyche could not have been more gracious. He congratulated his former coach and said "I couldn't be more happy for you."
At the trophy presentation, I have to give a tip of the cap to Brent Musberger for an excellent piece of journalism. After awarding the trophy to Walsh, Brent asked Walsh one question. Brent must have had good intel.
BRENT: "Was this the final game for the great coach Bill Walsh?"
Brent didn't have to say another word. Walsh hugged his son.
Walsh retired from the Niners after winning his third title of the decade. He had taken over the Niners when they were a ragtag bunch, and now they were champions again.
*Broncos: were 0-3 in their first three SB appearances. This was AGAIN one of the years the Broncos went thru the Browns.
*Niners: were 3-0 in their first three SB appearances. Walsh retired in the prior off-season, Seifert took over Defending champs.
This game was a walkover. Some footnotes:
*4th title for the Niners. 4th for Montana, title for Seifert in his debut season as HC.
*3rd title for Matt Millen after he had won two with the Raiders.
Rice was so fluid, he jumps off the tape. The combination of Montana to Rice was lethal.
*Bills: 1st Super Bowl. They had just ripped the Raiders in the AFC title game, 51-3.
*Giants: Came in via the upset route. The NFC title game must be noted.
The Giants won their opening playoff game convincingly versus the rebuilding Mike Tomczak Bears. As the seconds ticked off, it set up a Giant/Niner clash in San Francisco. Parcells told his players "You know nobody thinks we can win."
A lot went down in that game. The Niners were 2x defending champs, now going for a three-peat. They looked really strong, and the Giants didn't look as dominating as they had in 1986.
Jeff Hostetler was subbing in at QB for an injured Phil Simms. The Giant defense, especially their pass defense, was pretty solid. 6-6 at half.
In the second half, John Taylor broke a tackle for a long TD, 13-6. Matt Bahr FG, 13-9.
The Giants had been bringing the lumber on Montana. On a play that Montana rolled right and paused, Leonard Marshall drilled him and knocked him out of the game. After a Gary Reasons fake punt, another Bahr FG, 13-12.
Steve Young entered in relief. Under 5:00 remaining, Niners are trying to kill off the game. Erik Howard knocks the ball out of Craig's hands. Lawrence Taylor catches the fumble, chance to move down for the winning points.
Hostetler hits Bavaro, inside Niner 40. Anderson moves the ball to the 25. Another FG attempt.
Bahr makes his fifth Field Goal of the game. Giants win 15-13 without benefit of a touchdown. Pat Summerall says "There will be no three-peat."
This is the game that Belichick stunned his defensive players by saying "We have to let Thurman Thomas run for 100 yards." It was a strange pep talk. But it was designed to feed on the Bills' aggressive tendencies.
After an early Giant FG, Kelly hits Lofton on a long deflected reception. Norwood FG, 3-3.
Down 9, Parcells stuck with the ground game. Run blocking was a better matchup for Jumbo Elliott vs Bruce Smith. Better than asking Elliott to pass block against the speedy Smith.
Ottis Anderson runs loosened up the defense. Nice completion for Hostetler to Ingram. TD pass to Baker. Bills 12-10 very late in the first half.
On the opening drive of the second half the Giants converted on four consecutive third downs:
1) Meggett short pass runs out of a tackle
2) Anderson run off left tackle thru a big hole
3) Ingram completion well short of the line. Superhuman effort to get past five would-be tacklers.
4) Rollout pass to TE Cross.
Short TD run by Anderson. Giants killed off 9:29 on the drive. Giants, 17-12.
With the lead, Belichick dropped into a dime coverage. He let Kelly throw into coverage, and they pounded Andre Reed. Great showing by RB Thomas. Thomas TD run early in 4th qtr. Bills, 19-17.
Two completions to stone-faced Mark Bavaro. That guy was a rock. Anderson run stuffed. FG, Giants 20-19.
All down to the Norwood kick. "He missed it. Wide right."
Giants win, 20-19. Norwood takes way too much grief for this one. Back then, a 47-yard FG attempt on grass was a 50/50 proposition at best.
It was a great strategic game. The Bills were very close to delivering the knockout punch in the first half:
*The safety easily could have been a touchdown. Bruce Smith was inches away from knocking the ball free.
*Hostetler staying in the game was key. Phil Simms was in street-clothes. Hard to imagine Matt Cavanaugh performing on this stage.
The defensive scheme was exactly what Belichick wanted. He minimized the long Bill pass plays. He conceded a huge game to Thomas with knowledge that the Bills wouldn't stop throwing.
The Giant time-consuming drives wore on the Bill defense. The Giants amazingly held the ball for more than 40:00.
Second Super Bowl win for the Giants/Parcells. Lawrence Taylor accurately compared the two teams:
"Winning in 1986 was like winning with a Royal Flush. In 1990 it was like winning with Two Pair. Much harder."
This Giant team will go down as coming through the underdog role. But it was a very good team. They went through two teams that were championship-worthy, the Niners and the Bills.
Their defense, especially the pass defense, was stingy. They were hard to score on. The offense wasn't flashy but they got yards between the hashes with the likes of Anderson, Bavaro, and Ingram.
The team was good enough that the QB became interchangable. Simms or Hostetler, didn't really matter.
*Bills: 2nd appearance, after losing to Giants previous season.
*Redskins: going for 3rd title in 10 years.
This Redskin team always struck me as so out of place:
*Full decade since the Riggins team of 1982.
*Only three players still on the team from 1982. Monk/Grimm/Jacoby, by my count.
*And Rypien was really only great in 1991.
Last edited by ChuckyTheGoat; 02-15-23 at 05:55 PM.
The Cowboys were so good. Jimmy Johnson talked about the team oozing talent. The Herschel Walker trade was a steal with the Cowboys picking up the likes of Emmitt Smith, Russell Maryland, and Darren Woodson.
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Originally Posted by ChuckyTheGoat
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