1991 New York Giants season

1991 New York Giants season
Head coach	Ray Handley
General manager	George Young
Owner	Wellington Mara Robert Tisch
Home field	Giants Stadium
Results
Record	8–8
Division place	4th NFC East
Playoff finish	did not qualify

The 1991 New York Giants season was the 67th season for the club in the National Football League. The Giants entered the season as the defending Super Bowl champion but failed to qualify for the playoffs. They were the eighth team in NFL history to enter a season as the defending Super Bowl champion and miss the playoffs,^[1] and became the first organization in NFL history to do so twice; the Giants missed out on the playoffs a season after winning Super Bowl XXI as well.

The 1991 season marked the first season that the Mara family did not have total ownership of the Giants. Wellington Mara's nephew Tim, who had inherited the half-stake in the team that his grandfather and namesake had given to Tim's father Jack, decided that he no longer wanted to be involved with the team after twenty-six years, most of which had been spent feuding with his uncle over the team's operations. On February 2, 1991, shortly after Super Bowl XXV, Tim Mara announced he had sold his family's stake in the team to businessman Bob Tisch, the co-founder of Loews Corporation and former United States Postmaster General. Tisch did not take an active role in the operations of the team, instead choosing to focus on the team's finances; this enabled the Maras to keep control of the football side of the team and allowed Wellington Mara's son John to take a more active role with the Giants.^[2]

The 1991 season also marked the first time since 1983 that the Giants entered the season with a new head coach. Bill Parcells decided to retire following the Super Bowl victory and general manager George Young chose to promote Ray Handley, the team's running backs coach, to the position instead of promoting defensive coordinator Bill Belichick; Belichick would leave the Giants soon after to become head coach of the Cleveland Browns.

During the Giants' previous season Phil Simms entered the year as the starter and started the first fourteen games of the season. In the course of that fourteenth game, where the Giants hosted the Buffalo Bills, Simms suffered a severe foot injury and backup Jeff Hostetler took over and led the Giants through the playoffs and to their Super Bowl victory over those same Bills.

Simms did recover from his injury and was expected to regain his starting position, but Handley decided to make Simms and Hostetler compete for the position. Handley made his decision prior to the Giants' week one matchup with the San Francisco 49ers on Monday Night Football and gave the starting job to Hostetler amid some controversy. Hostetler led the Giants to 6 wins in his eleven starts, but broke his back during a week 13 win against Tampa Bay. Simms returned to finish the game, but went 2–3 as Giants starter the remainder of the year and the Giants fell out of the playoffs.

^[3]

Offseason

After the 1990 season, in which the Giants won the Super Bowl, the Giants lost several members of their coaching staff. In addition to Parcells and Belichick,^[4] wide receivers coach Tom Coughlin took the head coaching position Boston College; he was said to have been the first choice to replace Parcells and would have done so had he not left the Giants.

NFL Draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	College
1991 New York Giants draft
1	27	Jarrod Bunch	RB	Michigan
2	55	Kanavis McGhee	LB	Buffalo
3	83	Ed McCaffrey *	WR	Stanford
4	111	Clarence Jones	T	Maryland
5	139	Anthony Moss	LB	Florida State
6	67	Corey Miller	LB	South Carolina
7	195	Simmie Carter	DB	Southern Miss
8	223	Lamar McGriggs	DB	Western Illinois
9	250	Jerry Bouldin	WR	Mississippi State
10	278	Luis Cristobal	G	Miami
11	306	Ted Popson	TE	Portland
12	334	Larry Wanke	QB	John Carroll
Made roster † Pro Football Hall of Fame * Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

^[5]

Regular season

Schedule

Game	Date	Opponent	Result	Giants points	Opponents	Record	Attendance
1	Sept. 2	San Francisco 49ers	Win	16	14	1–0	76,319
2	Sept. 8	Los Angeles Rams	Loss	13	19	1–1	76,541
3	Sept. 15	at Chicago Bears	Loss	17	20	1–2	64,829
4	Sept. 22	Cleveland Browns	Win	13	10	2–2	75,891
5	Sept. 29	at Dallas Cowboys	Loss	16	21	2–3	64,010
6	Oct. 6	Phoenix Cardinals	Win	20	9	3–3	75,891
7	Oct. 14	at Pittsburgh Steelers	Win	23	20	4–3	57,608
8	Bye Week
9	Oct. 27	Washington Redskins	Loss	13	17	4–4	76,627
10	Nov. 4	at Philadelphia Eagles	Loss	7	30	4–5	65,816
11	Nov. 10	at Phoenix Cardinals	Win	21	14	5–5	50,048
12	Nov. 17	Dallas Cowboys	Win	22	9	6–5	76,410
13	Nov. 24	at Tampa Bay Buccaneers	Win	21	14	7–5	63,698
14	Dec. 1	at Cincinnati Bengals	Loss	24	27	7–6	45,063
15	Dec. 8	Philadelphia Eagles	Loss	14	19	7–7	76,099
16	Dec. 15	at Washington Redskins	Loss	17	34	7–8	54,722
17	Dec. 22	Houston Oilers	Win	24	20	8–8	63,421

^[6]

Game summaries

Week 7: at Pittsburgh Steelers

	1	2	3	4	Total
Giants	7	6	7	3	23
Steelers	0	0	3	17	20

at Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Date: Monday, October 14
Game time: 9:00 p.m.
Game weather: 47°F, wind 10 mph
TV: ABC
Pro-Football-Reference.com

Game information

First Quarter

Giants – Howard Cross 12-yard pass from Jeff Hostetler (Matt Bahr kick) – Giants 7–0

Second Quarter

Giants – Matt Bahr 45-yard field goal – Giants 10–0
Giants – Matt Bahr 40-yard field goal – Giants 13–0

Third Quarter

Giants – Dave Meggett 30-yard run (Matt Bahr kick) – Giants 20–0
Steelers – Gary Anderson 26-yard field goal – Giants 20–3

Fourth Quarter

Steelers – Gary Anderson 39-yard field goal – Giants 20–6
Steelers – Louis Lipps 16-yard pass from Neil O'Donnell (Gary Anderson kick) – Giants 20–13
Steelers – Eric Green 5-yard pass from Neil O'Donnell (Gary Anderson kick) – Tie 20–20
Giants – Matt Bahr 44-yard field goal – Giants 23–20

Giants

Jeff Hostetler
14/25, 116 Yds, TD
Rodney Hampton
25 Rush, 96 Yds
Dave Meggett
4 Rec, 34 Yds

Steelers

Neil O'Donnell
11/21, 152 Yds, 2 TD
Merrill Hoge
8 Rush, 73 Yds
Dwight Stone
2 Rec, 78 Yds

Standings

NFC East
	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
⁽¹⁾ Washington Redskins	14	2	0	.875	6–2	10–2	485	224	L1
⁽⁵⁾ Dallas Cowboys	11	5	0	.688	5–3	8–4	342	310	W5
Philadelphia Eagles	10	6	0	.625	5–3	6–6	285	244	W1
New York Giants	8	8	0	.500	3–5	5–7	281	297	W1
Phoenix Cardinals	4	12	0	.250	1–7	3–11	196	344	L8

Roster

1991 New York Giants final roster

Quarterbacks

Running backs

Wide receivers

85 Stephen Baker
82 Mark Ingram, Sr.
81 Ed McCaffrey
88 Joey Smith
83 Odessa Turner

Tight ends

87 Howard Cross
84 Zeke Mowatt

Offensive linemen

Defensive linemen

Linebackers

51 Bobby Abrams ILB
58 Carl Banks OLB
99 Steve DeOssie ILB
52 Pepper Johnson ILB
96 Kanavis McGhee OLB
57 Corey Miller OLB
55 Gary Reasons ILB
56 Lawrence Taylor OLB

Defensive backs

Special teams

Reserve lists

Practice squad

Rookies in italics
Active, Inactive, Practice squad

References

↑ NFL 2001 Record and Fact Book, Workman Publishing Co, New York, ISBN 0-7611-2480-2, p. 256
↑ NFL 2001 Record and Fact Book, Workman Publishing Co, New York, ISBN 0-7611-2480-2, p.287
↑ http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D03EEDB113CF931A25753C1A961958260
↑ http://www.patriots.com/team/index.cfm?ac=coachbio&bio=506
↑ http://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/nyg/1991_draft.htm
↑ http://www.jt-sw.com/football/pro/results.nsf/Teams/1991-nyg

New York Giants

Founded in 1925 Based and headquartered in East Rutherford, New Jersey

Franchise	Franchise Seasons Coaches First-round draft picks Quarterbacks

History	1925–78 1979–93 1994–present Financial history

Stadiums	Polo Grounds Yankee Stadium Yale Bowl Shea Stadium Giants Stadium MetLife Stadium

Culture and Lore	Cleveland Bulldogs The Duke Sneakers Game The Greatest Game Ever Played The Fumble Crunch Bunch Gatorade shower Big Blue Wrecking Crew I'm going to Disney World! Wide Right Little Giants This team is going to the playoffs! One Wild Finish New York Groove We Fly High The Helmet Catch Bob Sheppard Jim Hall Yankee Stadium Legacy License Plate Guy The Comeback 2007 New England Patriots–New York Giants game Big Fan

Rivalries	Philadelphia Eagles Dallas Cowboys Washington Redskins San Francisco 49ers New York Jets

Key personnel	Owners: John Mara, Steve Tisch General Manager: Jerry Reese Head Coach: Ben McAdoo

Division championships (16)	1933 1934 1935 1938 1939 1941 1941 1944 1946 1986 1989 1990 1997 2000 2005 2008 2011

Conference championships (11)	1956 1958 1959 1961 1962 1963 1986 1990 2000 2007 2011

League championships (8)	1927 1934 1938 1956 1986 (XXI) 1990 (XXV) 2007 (XLII) 2011 (XLVI)

Retired numbers	1 4 7 11 14 14 16 32 40 42 50 56

Ring of Honor	Jessie Armstead Carl Banks Tiki Barber Mark Bavaro Al Blozis Rosey Brown Harry Carson Charlie Conerly Frank Gifford Pete Gogolak Mel Hein Jim Lee Howell Sam Huff Dave Jennings Tuffy Leemans Dick Lynch Jack Mara Tim Mara Wellington Mara George Martin Joe Morrison Charlie Conerly Steve Owen Bill Parcells Andy Robustelli Phil Simms Michael Strahan Ken Strong Lawrence Taylor Bob Tisch Y. A. Tittle Amani Toomer Emlen Tunnell Brad Van Pelt Alex Webster George Young

Media	Radio network Bob Papa Carl Banks Howard Cross

Current league affiliations	League: National Football League Conference: National Football Conference Division: East Division

Seasons (91)	1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1941 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Championship seasons in bold

New York Giants seasons

1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Bold indicates NFL Championship or Super Bowl victory Italics indicates NFL Championship or Super Bowl appearance

1991 NFL season

East	Central	West	East	Central	West
Buffalo	Cincinnati	Denver	Dallas	Chicago	Atlanta
Indianapolis	Cleveland	Kansas City	NY Giants	Detroit	LA Rams
Miami	Houston	LA Raiders	Philadelphia	Green Bay	New Orleans
New England	Pittsburgh	San Diego	Phoenix	Minnesota	San Francisco
NY Jets		Seattle	Washington	Tampa Bay

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