1992 New York Giants

I don't remember Fassel as our OC..Sheesh

He was Phil Simms' first QB coach in 1991.

Year after that, he became the OC.

I remember an interview with Simms where he said he learned a ton under Fassel.

at that roster...even with the aging core...it's hard to imagine that was a 6-10 team.

Brutal Injuries: Simms & Hostetler and of course LT. Not to forget Sean Landetta and Matt Bahr got hurt and I am sure a lot of others I forgot. I remember Hoss getting crushed on a Sunday night against Denver and also against Philly in the punching bag game.

Coaching was lousy...the head coach and the DC made decisions that made no sense and the HC killed team morale.

Always was a shame that Parcells retired in May of '91 after BB was gone.

but still blanking on him as our OC

All I recall is that we still had the pieces in place for another run, aging or no aging..In 1991 that is..

Shame on George Young for promoting him

facepalm.

Simms season ended week 4
Hostetler got a concussion
Dave brown broke his thumb
Kent Graham hurt his elbow and shoulder

and LT with the Achilles

This team seemed snake bitten

Vai Sikahema punching bag ensemble. It still annoys me to this day. Almost on the level of the 49ers collapse.
Oh memories.

Was handley melting down and the meltdowns getting progressively worse until the Russ Salzburg debacle.

92 was the one season I was absolutely convinced we'd suck. I've never entered a season with not a single ounce of faith but that year was the exception.

for leaving the team in the lurch and without too many options other than ... .......

Rod Rust's read and react defensive scheme was absolutely horrible.

Ray Handley never had control of the team. He also had lost his way in front of the media. Finally, I think the team knew the guy was way in over his head.

Then onto Reeves..
Year 1 you get significant improvement simply by going from Handley to Reeves who was obviously a quality coach. However, Reeves totally destroyed the roster. Making one bone head move after another. It seemed like he wanted to re-assemble the Broncos in a Giants' uniform. In addition to the McCaffrey dismissal that someone else mentioned earlier. We actually had Matt Stover on our team and he also was dumped in favor of David Treadwell. We also dumped Sean Landetta for Mike Horan. I THINK Reeves did that too but I am not confident.

from when he was a friend of a friend here post-football career.

I remember him talking once about the QB's.

He said, (and I'm papraphrasing a bit), that while Hoss was a good enough guy, he would have run through a wall for Phil.

Thought that was pretty telling about the o-line's respect for Simms.

In comment 12217639 Bold Ruler said:

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facepalm.

Little Bill took a while to get it. To have Browns era little Bill wasn't much.

when they let McCaffery go. I thought he was a steal in the 3rd round of the 91 draft. I too, blocked out most of the years under he who will not be named. And I'm reminded of the Sikahema play every time I see him on the local news.

then LT blew out his Achilles.

In comment 12217718 Moondawg said:

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In comment 12217639 Bold Ruler said: Quote: facepalm. Little Bill took a while to get it. To have Browns era little Bill wasn't much.

How about early 1990s Coughlin? IIRC, he had already split for BC by the time Parcells retired. Then, since he still had unfinished business there, he stayed when the Giants asked him to come on board in 1993.

I've got to think Coughlin could have at least gotten a few playoff appearances out of the roster Parcells left over.

that year watching the Giants get destroyed by Dallas. I think it was Graham's first career start...something like 30-3 or along those lines. Couldn't believe how far they had fallen from winning the Super Bowl less than 2 years before that.

Berkow NYT 10-06-1992

"Maybe, then, they forgot their fundamentals, their preparation, and were not concentrating on those openings. This also was representative of the three games the Giants have lost. They've played well for a couple of quarters, first or second, but neglected to remember that a football game is four quarters.

Killer instinct or whatever, the Giants were missing a crucial component.

"Until I do my job better," said Bart Oates, the center, "then I can't assess blame to anyone else. I missed some blocks."

At an important moment in the game, meanwhile, when the Giants had 10 men on the field, Handley explained, "We have our assignments, but if we didn't have enough players on the field, then I must take responsibility."

A football team is indeed a combination of things, like a pizza. But while this team may be a little too old or a little undertalented to be of championship caliber, it still has not risen to the occasion. This team, Handley said at the beginning of the season, was going to be his. No longer would it be the team of Parcells, an inheritance.

So the disappointments of last season, and those of the current one, inevitably must point back to Handley. It just may be that coaching the Giants for him, like answering that question about killer instinct, is, in his words, "too difficult."

Frey NYT 10-24-1992

"Everson Walls, the veteran cornerback, moved on two days ago. When he was released, he cited communication failures as a major problem on the team.

Even a rookie, the cornerback Phillippi Sparks, mentioned how uncommunicative the whole coach-player relationship has become in the Giants clubhouse, noting that things were never like this in college ball. 'Nobody Talks to You'

"I've never seen anything like it," Sparks said. "Nobody talks to you. You don't know how to prepare for a game. Even at Arizona State, we had more communication than around here."

Handley denied that there was a communication problem, calling Sparks's statement inaccurate. Never mind that Moore and offensive line coach Fred Hoaglin are said to be not speaking to each other. Never mind, as Johnson explained, that players are doing a lot of griping under their breath.

Communication about the communication problem is even worse.

"I don't think it's been a problem, but I don't think there's been enough communication," Roberts said. "Maybe there's not enough communication. But there's not a 'communication' problem."

Eskenazi NYT 10-28-1992

"The Giants now have all of 11 sacks in almost half a season. No wonder opposing quarterbacks are completing 64.2 percent of their pass attempts, the highest percentage against any team in the N.F.L."

Eskenazi NYT 12-08-1992

If a fan had seen the Giants in their Super Bowl victory barely 22 months ago, and suddenly looked at last Sunday's lineup, he might not have believed the changes.

There were different players at 10 of the 22 starting positions, not to mention a different place-kicker, punter, holder and snapper. Seven of the 11 offensive starters were different, and it could be argued that the changes were for the worse, except at running back.

At the same time, General Manager George Young suggested today that too much was being made out of the Giants' poor season.

"You know, there's only 12 teams that make the playoffs and most don't," he said. "We've been kind of spoiled."

In North Central Ohio, Browns country. First year of having to deal with not being able to watch them every week. That year there was nothing to do but watch games i cared nothing about while waiting for score updates. Internet in its infancy, no sunday ticket yet at that point although in the next few years I would figure out how to use newsgroups and bulletin boards to stay better connected. Also first time of having to deal with blackout rules. I'll never forget after scoring some beer with a really bad fake id, gathering in front of a tiny tv in a friends dorm room to watch Dolphins-Browns on a Monday Night, a pretty good matchup at that point in time and being treated to a rerun of Perfect Strangers instead

Told Bill Belichick before Parcells retired that he wouldn't consider him for head coach of the Giants. George Young was a disaster in the 1990's. He pretty much ruined his own legacy and his chances to make the Hall of Fame.

the 1992 "highlight" tape...Hampton and Bunch were beasts that year.

In comment 12217834 arniefez said:

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Told Bill Belichick before Parcells retired that he wouldn't consider him for head coach of the Giants. George Young was a disaster in the 1990's. He pretty much ruined his own legacy and his chances to make the Hall of Fame.

+1

What a mess it became.

In comment 12217837 Eric from BBI said:

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the 1992 "highlight" tape...Hampton and Bunch were beasts that year.

I remember that tape, got it free with a subscription to something, I think it was called "Challenges and Changes" and featured their somewhat surprising blowout of the chiefs as the feel good inspirational moment of the year

Two words:

H*ndl*y
R*st

was George Young not Bill Parcells. I went to that Packer game. What i remembered besides LT's injury was how the Packers acted at the end of the game. LB George Koonce was wuffing on the Giants, mocking them about running sneaks. The Packers were slapping the Giants around. Green Bay was on the way up & the Giants were done for that season.

GYII was so terrible. He was a self-described socialist history teacher, who tried to impose his beloved "middle class" version of the CBA on the league. Sharks like Jerruh snickered behind his back. The Giants let so many damn good players walk away. With a proper HC selection, the 90 championship team should have been able to compete for 2-3 more championships.

preceded by the equally depressing 1991 tape "A Different Story."

that we weren't going to mention the "H" word around here?

In comment 12217921 RetroJint said:

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was George Young not Bill Parcells. I went to that Packer game. What i remembered besides LT's injury was how the Packers acted at the end of the game. LB George Koonce was wuffing on the Giants, mocking them about running sneaks. The Packers were slapping the Giants around. Green Bay was on the way up & the Giants were done for that season.

Are you sure you're remembering the right season? The Giants beat the Packers 27-7. It was their last win until beating the Chiefs more than a month later.

Unless maybe I'm misunderstanding something in your post...

In comment 12217924 Eric from BBI said:

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preceded by the equally depressing 1991 tape "A Different Story."

I hate 1991 more than 1992. In addition to the bullshit decision to start Hoss over Simms, the team actually had some life heading into the stretch. Then they went to play the 1-11 Bengals and got dick-punched, falling apart completely.

had the personal constitution of so many other NFL great coaches who wanted nothing more than to build on their own legacy and success with one single organization.

Insert Coughlin's level of dedication and commitment into Parcells and think how different the Giants history may have been.

fans of that time was always that Belichick would get the job if Parcells stepped down. But he was gone to Cleveland by the time Parcells resigned. The story was that Young had already anointed Handley as the heir apparent. Never been sure if that was true or just spin to reassure fans and boost Handley.

As much as I hate Handley, always felt that maybe it was just a case of a guy getting a job too soon. He had been promoted to OC after the Super Bowl. A couple of years as OC under Parcells might have been the type of experience he needed to be prepare for the top job.

Anyway, he wasn't ready and Young made the biggest mistake of his career. With Bill B in Cleveland, he should have either gone outside the org or gone with a vet like Ron Erhardt. Wouldn't have been a long term solution but with that core you just needed a solid pro to run the ship. Young then compounded the mistake by bringing Handley back for a second year. Should have fired him since it was obvious he was in over his head.

had no idea what he was doing. He was unable to hire a coach to replace Handley. Frank Gifford hired Dan Reeves. He passed over Belichick, cut Phil Simms, drafted Dave Brown, passed over Belichick again while preventing Parcells from returning and couldn't close the deal with Saban. Drafted Tomas Lewis, Cedric Jones, Derek Brown. That's a partial list. George Young was a savior for Giant fans in the 80's. In the 90's he had as bad a run as any GM that ever worked in New York in any sport. Even the Knick GM's.

of the infamous Cowboy game. Down 34-0 at halftime. Giants roared back and closed to 34-28. After the game the reporters all wanted to know what Handley had told the team at halftime. He must have said something to light a fire under these guys. They were right but not the way they imagined. Turns outs he told them he was benching the veterans to let the kids play. The vets revolted, stayed in the game and almost pulled it out.

in fairness, he also drafted the likes of Strahan, Toomer, Barber and Armstead. For whatever reason he whiffed on the first rounders but hit big on some later round picks.

As much as it may have hurt to cut Simms, Phil was pushing 40. He was about done. Obviously Brown was a bust but looking back at the QB's drafted in that time frame (circa 1991-1995) it's not clear where we were going to get our QB of the future. It was a horrible time to be looking for a franchise QB. Among high round picks only Favre and Bledsoe made it big. Rest were a pile of crap. Guys like Klingler, Ware, Shuler and Mirer. Brown was actually better than most of those guys.

Overall I agree that Young did a poor job after Parcells left but all time bad run? Don't think so, we were a legit contender in '93 and a playoff team in '97. Lots of NY teams have had worse era's.

...and 41 of them were runs? Pure entertainment.

My biggest "WTF?" that year came after Hostetler got hurt (joining Simms), and our wonderfully NFL-ready #1 pick QB stayed on the bench behind Kent Graham.

...that I really don't remember much. The only info I got between games was from the Star Ledger's sports page. No BBI, no NFL.com, we didn't have cable or ESPN at home. I had little idea of the bad situation with the coaching staff. I consider 1993 my official first year of being a hard-core Giants fan committed to watching every game every week. Before that it was hit or miss for me.

In one of the recent books about the Giants Kent Graham mentioned his surprise that Dan Reeves chose him over Dave Brown during camp, Kent obviously thinking he outplayed Brown. I'm guessing maybe he did but George Young wanted his #1 pet pick to get a chance to shine.

Like has been discussed many many times here over the years, Dave Brown was set up to fail... he had no chance to be a Super Bowl winning QB under that coach with that system with those players. I was rarely angry at his play, I mostly felt bad for him running for his life every snap.

meant to say Kent was surprised Brown got the nod, not him.

bizarre. They needed a win for their first playoff spot in ages.The Giants as mentioned had lost a bunch of games in a row. Everyone knew Handley was a goner. And the Giants just mauled them. Ran the ball right down their throats IIRC. Dominant performance against a playoff team. Just showed that the talent was not the problem.

Dis-A-Ray's team.

I remember that quote, but don't remember the player that said it. I think it was one of the defensive lineman.

a few weeks before he was notified that he would not be brought back, "The New York Giants need to be rebuilt, and I'm the guy who can do it." It was an amazing statement for so many reasons.

but damn, that roster looks better than 6-10 from my uneducated eye and based on what I know the players on the roster.