SUPER BOWL XXI CHAMPION 1986 NEW YORK GIANTS

Super Bowl XXI Giants 39-20 over the Broncos.  I was one of those that was all set for the Bears to repeat as champions …yada yada yada….who’s got the ring?  On the way out to Pasadena, they blew out The Team of the 80s 49ers 49-3 in the divisional playoff. The NFL’s worst playoff beating of the decade. Then shut out division rival Washington 17-0 for the NFC Championship. Are you kidding?? They came through the playoffs with a combined score of 66-3. Talk about dominant.

So they were off to Super Bowl XXI in Pasadena’s Rose Bowl. There is something about the Super Bowl being played in the Rose Bowl. It just has a regal look and feel to it.

When the Giants mauled (dont know if thats a strong enough adjective) the 49ers 49-3 in the NFC Divisional Playoff, you knew the Washington Redskins were going to be in deep trouble in the championship round. Sure they had upset the Bears but that was with 3rd or 4th string QB Doug Flutie.  I don’t ever like to say in sports that it was over but you would have had to field an all star team to stop them because they were comin’!!

Hosting the NFC Championship, a fierce swirling wind became the story of the game. The Giants won the coin toss and took the wind. The Redskins couldn’t run and came out to 3 straight 3 and outs. Subesquently they had 23, 27, and 28 yard punts into the wind which led to the Giants playing on a short field. They took a 17-0 first half lead and the game was over.

Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor,was not only the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year, he was league MVP also. In his prime and comin’ off the corner, he just terrorized opponents. It was only the second time a defender was NFL MVP. The first?? Alan Page of the Minnesota Vikings in 1971. He had his greatest season with 20.5 sacks and countless plays where he ran down runners from behind on the line of scrimmage. The play he chased Reuben Mayes of the Saints from behind… yet I digress

Other hatchet men on that defense?? All Pro Leonard Marshall at DE had 12 sacks that year & nearly beheaded Jay Schroeder on one sack in the NFC Championship.  Pro Bowl NT Jim Burt held down the middle and knocked Joe Montana out cold in the divisional playoff.  Carl Banks totally owned the strong side dominating opposing TEs.

super-bowl-logo-1986Crafty George Martin, Harry Carson, Gary Reasons formed a formidable defense and get this:  With all this talent and being the leagues #2 defense in 1985, they drafted LB Pepper Johnson (5 rings player and coach) CB Greg Lasker, DE Eric Dorsey, NT Erik Howard, and CB Mark Collins in the draft!  Collins was the reason the Giants could handle the 49ers for the next 7 years because he shut down Jerry Rice better than any corner over Rice’s career.

This is before we even get to Phil Simms or Joe Morris who ran for 1,516 yards and 14TDs that year…but really that defense at its peak was just frightening.

Pivotal XXI 2nd quarter stop where Taylor cutoff a scrambling Elway before the goal line.

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The 2013 Class of Hall of Fame Enshrinees: Bill Parcells & Cris Carter

300_110727The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the culmination of a career where a player, coach or owner stood as giants of the game. Once they’re enshrined here, they belong to every football fan for all eternity. Family members and fans can come to a place where they’ll be forever young and immortalized as one of the greats of all time.

This was the 50th anniversary class of those that went in. There will be another day for those that didn’t make it on this ballot but this is where we celebrate those that did make it.

Parcells

2013 Hall of Fame Enshrinee

Coach Bill Parcells – The only coach in NFL history to take 4 teams to the NFL’s post-season. Although many still think of him as the Head Coach of the New York Giants, don’t forget he took the 1998 New York Jets to a 12-4 record and the AFC Championship that season. This came on the heels of taking the New England Patriots to Super Bowl just two seasons before. His last good team was the 2007 Dallas Cowboys that finished 13-3 that should have played for it all. If not for a Patrick Crayton dropped pass in the 4th quarter, he may have had a third make the Super Bowl.

He finished 172-130-1 in the regular season and was 11-8 in the playoffs including 2 Super Bowls. Yet think about it?? He almost led four different teams to the Super Bowl, the latter three in an 11 year period. His famous departure from New England where he claimed “If you’re going to cook the meal you should be able to shop for the groceries.” He shopped for former Patriot in Hall of Fame back Curtis Martin and resurrected Vinny Testaverde’s career and pointed Bryan Cox in the right direction.  He’s now where he belongs, among the true giants of the game.

From THE Ohio State University: Cris Carter

From THE Ohio State University: Cris Carter

WR Cris Carter -What can’t be said that we hadn’t already said in our article about his Hall of Fame candidacy?? Has there been a better set of hands in the history of Pro Football?? How many ridiculous one handed catches did Cris Carter make during his great career with the Philadelphia Eagles and mainly with the Minnesota Vikings?? At first glance, the numbers stand out with 1,101 receptions for 13,899 yards and 130 touchdowns. Good for 2nd most in NFL history for receptions and receiving touchdowns at the time of his retirement.One of the greatest attributes is that he honed his skill amidst a myriad of pedestrian NFL quarterbacks.

The Vikings claimed Carter from the waiver wire for $100!! They nabbed a Hall of Fame wide receiver for half the price of a smartphone. Think about that for a second. With the humbling experience he rededicated himself and gave up his tempestuous ways and became a polished receiver with the Vikings. So polished that he thrived with moderate quarterbacking in Minnesota in the ensuing years. Do you realize that in just 12 years for the Norsemen he caught 1,004 receptions for 12,383 yards and 110 touchdowns?? Do you also realize he did most of this while catching passes from the likes of a moderately successful Sean Salisbury, a decade away from developing Rich Gannon, an eroding (with his fourth team) Jim McMahon, a developing Brad Johnson, and an on the downside late 30′s Warren Moon?? Now why didn’t we place an out of retirement Comeback Player of the Year Randall Cunningham with this group?? Because his three best years came before the famous 1998 Vikings everyone remembers with Cunningham & Randy Moss.

Carter, along with Jerry Rice became the first receivers not named Sterling Sharpe to have 100 receptions in back to back seasons for 1994 & 1995. Carter caught 122 in ’94 then 122 in ’95 as compared to Rice’s 112 and 122 respectively. It was 1994-1996 where Carter did his best work. In 1994 his stat-line was 122 rec. for 1,256 yards and 7 TDs. He followed that up with 122 receptions for 1,371 yards and a career high 17 touchdowns in 1995. Lets compare these numbers with Hall of Famer Jerry Rice and should be Hall of Famer Sterling Sharpe over their best 3 year periods. Where Sharpe’s numbers are 1992-1994, Rice and Carter’s are both from 1994-1996.

  • Cris Carter (1994-1996) 340 receptions, 3,790 yards & 34TDs
  • Jerry Rice (1994-1996) 342 receptions, 4,601 yards & 36TDs
  • Sterling Sharpe (1992-1994) 314 receptions, 3,854yards & 42 TDs

No longer does he have to be compared or concerned about not being enshrined. We will hear this come August: For induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, I present to you “From THE Ohio St University” Cris Carter!

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Super Bowl XXI Giants v. Super Bowl XXV Giants

SUPER BOWL XXV CHAMPION 1990 NEW YORK GIANTS <————————————Click Link