How were you feeling? It's hard to believe, but we're only 15 days away from the anniversary of the game. I ask because I had the '90 Giants America Game on in the man cave earlier.
I don't really remember how I felt because I was so young, but just looking back at the particulars-backup QB facing a team coming off a 51-3 AFC Championship win/had beaten us in Giants Stadium only a month before-I probably wasn't thinking we were going to win.
Anyway, if we could beat that guy in the NFC Championship game we could beat the fucking Bills.
I also actually liked that Buffalo had that massive blowout win a week earlier...those kind of things normalize quickly in the NFL.
We played them pretty well earlier that season pretty well with Hoss and held them to 17. So I thought that would be a good baseline going in...
Still...Buffalo looked great and they were the rightful favorite.
The national media wasn't giving us a shot, which was perfect. No other team in the league would have gone into Frisco and beaten the Niners like the Giants did the previous week. That gave them all of the momentum. I knew it was a challenge, but the Giants were up for it.
Besides, the Giants outplayed the Bills in that 17-13 game about a month and a half earlier at Giants Stadium. They outgained them and won the time of possession. The Giants weren't some punks that year. They were bigger and stronger than everyone else and had the best staff in the entire league, or even ever for that matter.
The only time I was scared the entire game was the moment of the safety. Hostetler saved the game by not fumbling. I STILL don't know how he held onto the ball without fumbling on that play. It was the Giants' destiny to win that game, especially after the Ingram play and then on 3rd and 10 right before the half when they scored a TD on that Hoss to Baker play in the corner of the end zone.
So yes, I was confident.
We played them pretty well earlier that season pretty well with Hoss and held them to 17. So I thought that would be a good baseline going in...
Still...Buffalo looked great and they were the rightful favorite.
Regarding the 1 week break. I think it had something to do with adding 2 more wild card teams that year.
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We stopped the three peat in Candlestick, but only had a week to prepare for Buffalo. I forget why, but that year they tried to have only one week between league championship and the SB.
We played them pretty well earlier that season pretty well with Hoss and held them to 17. So I thought that would be a good baseline going in...
Still...Buffalo looked great and they were the rightful favorite.
Regarding the 1 week break. I think it had something to do with adding 2 more wild card teams that year.
I thought it had something to do with the Gulf War.
The regular season game was very worrisome. When Kelly was in they moved the ball very well on our D. Scored a couple of TD's in the first half. Then Kelly got hurt. We shut them down after that but was that because of adjustments or because Reich < Kelly?
I kind of remember that playoff against the Vikings the same way when they had Kerry Collins, their offense seemed unstoppable, and the Giants just ran away with the game. But that was a different kind of game.
Conversely, I felt really good about the 2000 Super Bowl against the Ravens. I thought we had enough offensive weapons to get at least two tuddies and maybe a field goal or two while the Ravens couldnt score in a monkey whorehouse with bags full of bananas. Not the case.
Conversely, I felt really good about the 2000 Super Bowl against the Ravens. I thought we had enough offensive weapons to get at least two tuddies and maybe a field goal or two while the Ravens couldnt score in a monkey whorehouse with bags full of bananas. Not the case.
We lost at home during the regular season to Buffalo 17-13 or 17-14 after Simms went down with a broken foot
Conversely, I felt really good about the 2000 Super Bowl against the Ravens. I thought we had enough offensive weapons to get at least two tuddies and maybe a field goal or two while the Ravens couldnt score in a monkey whorehouse with bags full of bananas. Not the case.
The Bills played us in Giants Stadium.
Yeah, SF beat us in SF and it ended with Phil Simms face mask to face mask jawing with Ronnie Lott, IIRC.
Lott and Simms - ( New Window )
But, in the end everything happens for a reason. All that pain made my first NYG SB win (XLII) all the more sweet.
I have been to a lot of tough weather games during my younger days, but that one was just miserable - freezing icy rain, wind, and low temperatures. And we lost Simms and the game so salt in the wound.
Recall a large amount of no-shows even though this was a marquee matchup of two teams clearly heading for the playoffs.
Giants barely squeaked by the 49ers.
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So I am not sure how valid my opinion is, but I did NOT feel good about that game. I just saw that Buffalo offense as unstoppable. If I remember correctly we lost to SF 7-3 in SF and then we got beaten pretty thoroughly in Buffalo. I also remember shit-stomping their way through the playoffs. I really thought that Bills O was gonna score at least 3 touchdowns on us despite our D.
Conversely, I felt really good about the 2000 Super Bowl against the Ravens. I thought we had enough offensive weapons to get at least two tuddies and maybe a field goal or two while the Ravens couldnt score in a monkey whorehouse with bags full of bananas. Not the case.
The Bills played us in Giants Stadium.
Yeah, SF beat us in SF and it ended with Phil Simms face mask to face mask jawing with Ronnie Lott, IIRC. Lott and Simms - ( New Window )
Ah thats right. Like I said I was 10. I def remembered Phil breaking his leg in that game tho.
But, in the end everything happens for a reason. All that pain made my first NYG SB win (XLII) all the more sweet.
I was lucky enough to be the ripe old age of 6 for XXI and actually do have some memories of the game. Specifically the Giants stopping of the Broncos at the goal line and the pass that deflected off of Bavaro's hands into McConkey's. For some reason, McConkey was my Dad's favorite player.
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of that SB and therefore have literally ZERO recollection of it. My earliest football memories are 1993 (MAYBE '92). So my memory went just far enough back to remember all the heartbreak of the 90's (including Ricky Watters scoring 5 TDs in the 44-3 game) without the memories of XXI and XXV to smooth over the pain.
But, in the end everything happens for a reason. All that pain made my first NYG SB win (XLII) all the more sweet.
I was lucky enough to be the ripe old age of 6 for XXI and actually do have some memories of the game. Specifically the Giants stopping of the Broncos at the goal line and the pass that deflected off of Bavaro's hands into McConkey's. For some reason, McConkey was my Dad's favorite player.
That TD by McConkey off Bavaro was right in front of me...
Giants barely squeaked by the 49ers.
But wasn't beating the Joe Montana 49ers and preventing their 3-peat *almost* like as massive of a feat as beating the '07 Pats back then? I would've thought that would give y'all all the confidence in the world at that point-- that if you can beat Montana in SF in the NFCCG you can beat anyone. I guess the 49ers were not seen as quite the juggernaut they were in the 80s by that point?
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How many of you remember what Buffalo did to the Raiders in the AFC championship game?
Giants barely squeaked by the 49ers.
But wasn't beating the Joe Montana 49ers and preventing their 3-peat *almost* like as massive of a feat as beating the '07 Pats back then? I would've thought that would give y'all all the confidence in the world at that point-- that if you can beat Montana in SF in the NFCCG you can beat anyone. I guess the 49ers were not seen as quite the juggernaut they were in the 80s by that point?
IIRC, the rank was 49ers, Bills, Giants....pre-playoffs and the Giants with Hostetler at QB were a distant 3rd, with Simms they would have been about even with the Bills. And yes the NFC was extremely dominant during that period.
Same.
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How many of you remember what Buffalo did to the Raiders in the AFC championship game?
Giants barely squeaked by the 49ers.
But wasn't beating the Joe Montana 49ers and preventing their 3-peat *almost* like as massive of a feat as beating the '07 Pats back then? I would've thought that would give y'all all the confidence in the world at that point-- that if you can beat Montana in SF in the NFCCG you can beat anyone. I guess the 49ers were not seen as quite the juggernaut they were in the 80s by that point?
I was 11, so I knew shit. But to me the 49ers were like gods. It felt like they'd always been the best and always would be. To this day I can't be convinced there was ever a better quarterback than Montana.
I was 14 and I feel the same way. There was so much turmoil in my life at that time - adjusting to high school was difficult, my grandmother had just died, my dad was essentially fired by his business partner, and the Gulf War had just started. For those reasons I latched onto that playoff run like a remote on a shark. The joy those wins brought me in a dark time was indescribable. After pulling off the upset in SF, I felt good going into Tampa. Had so much confidence in those teams.
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In comment 15120676 gfinop said:
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How many of you remember what Buffalo did to the Raiders in the AFC championship game?
Giants barely squeaked by the 49ers.
But wasn't beating the Joe Montana 49ers and preventing their 3-peat *almost* like as massive of a feat as beating the '07 Pats back then? I would've thought that would give y'all all the confidence in the world at that point-- that if you can beat Montana in SF in the NFCCG you can beat anyone. I guess the 49ers were not seen as quite the juggernaut they were in the 80s by that point?
I was 11, so I knew shit. But to me the 49ers were like gods. It felt like they'd always been the best and always would be. To this day I can't be convinced there was ever a better quarterback than Montana.
I think I remmeber kicking their punk asses in the '86 playoffs and was never really afraid of them. I mean I knew they were good, but always thought they were more scared of us and lucked out too often. I was a dumb kid who watched games but was more interested in friends and Nintendo.
The thing about thise Bills, that offense was so fast and so crazy to me with playmakers everywhere and it seemed like they were blowing teams away. I had never seen anything like it. Plus, their D had some fucking players on it. Bennett, Talley, Smith, Kelso, Shane Conlan, Nate Odomes, Leonard Smith....those guys could play.
I just didnt see it for us.
They played theirasses off and still my favourite Giants team.
The only had a week to prepare because of terrorist threats.
My Dad asked my Mom to predict the score of he game, and she said 20-19 Giants. My Dad laughed it off, because he thought getting 19 points was basically impossible. We were scared to ever ask to predict the result of a game again.
But that changed after watching a Carl Banks interview clip from media day in Tampa. Someone had asked him a similar queation, like "can you stop the Bills", and Banks responded with a smirk and wryly commented along the lines of, "yeah, we've been here before, we know what we have to do, we can handle it..." and it wasn't his words as much as how he said them. He oozed this calm confidence; unspoken was "yeah, we got this" and I thought to myself, "holy crap, they have the Bills right where they want them!" and I felt the upset coming the rest of the week.
That fact that I was going to college outside of Rochester, NY at the time, right in the heart of Bills country, made the whole experience that much sweeter. The hype that was generated for that game was unlike anything I've ever been around. It was a quiet day on campus the Monday after the game. All you could here was the sound of feet shuffling on the cold pavement. I wore my Giants hat to class but never said a word. :-)
To this day I still remember dropping to a knee and praying for Norwood to miss. I had my fingers crossed while my hands were folded and I kept my head down. My older neighbor mockingly got down on a knee and prayed for Norwood to make it to spite me. But he didn’t cross his fingers. To this day I account that miss to my fingers being crossed while I prayed and my neighbors not being crossed.
Ahhh the things we tell ourselves.
Part of the Bills hype was they were going to break the NFC's SB streak in that they were similar to and NFC team in that Buffalo is a cold weather city, they could run the ball with Thomas and the defense with Bruce Smith was good. In fact, Smith wasn't shy about telling anyone with a mic that he was better than LT and Reggie White.
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wasn't this still back during that period when the NFC was still head and shoulders better than the AFC? The NFC dominance I thought lasted all the way up until '98 and then shifted with Elway winning 2 in a row and then of course the rise of the Pats. That would've made me think back then that if the Giants could get through the NFC playoffs they could beat just about any AFC team, no?
Part of the Bills hype was they were going to break the NFC's SB streak in that they were similar to and NFC team in that Buffalo is a cold weather city, they could run the ball with Thomas and the defense with Bruce Smith was good. In fact, Smith wasn't shy about telling anyone with a mic that he was better than LT and Reggie White.
In addition, Buffalo was 3-1 vs the NFC East that year, with the only loss coming Week 17 at Washington in a game that was meaningless for the Bills as they had already locked up the #1 seed in the AFC. I don't recall if they rested any starters for that game or not though.