1990 Giants v. 49ers NFC Championship Game

[fringe]

Thanks man...I could not remember his name to save my life. From what I remember he was a decent DB on some abysmal teams...and he was a pretty decent defensive coach. I have to Google him to find out where he is now.

yea i think he started as a WR or switched to WR with the giants.

[JMFP]

Definitely....it was some real nasty physical play out there....I think also free agency had a lot to do with the toning down of the aggression...guys were no longer wedded to a team during their careers...and lest we forget...there was a lot of steroid use back then...roid rage was a very familiar thing in the NFL

 

That was the Golden Age of the NFL in my opinion.....you had excellent QBs like Montana going against nasty defenses like the Giants, Bears, etc.

 

The NFL was in great balance (offense v. defense) then....now it's a fucking arena league.

[TaylorBanksCarsonVanPelt]

That was the Golden Age of the NFL in my opinion.....you had excellent QBs like Montana going against nasty defenses like the Giants, Bears, etc.

 

The NFL was in great balance (offense v. defense) then....now it's a fucking arena league.

 

Yup...it was wonderful watching a well executed zone coverage; not seeing an elite QB automatically shredding it; also very interesting was watching the superior level of officiating...seeing officials pick up flags and admit mistakes...the era of Seaman and Markbreit. Seaman was the best...small squeaky voice...later head of the officials. Markbreit started out as a star sucker...if you were the team like the 69'ers and Broke Backs you were guaranteed some homer calling. The second half of his career he became great when he called more even games. It was great to see offensive holding called as well.

[JMFP]

Bump, given next week's matchup.

[Mr. P]

Bill Parcells kept saying the NFC Championship Game at Candlestick Park was a long time ago, his New York Giants against the two-time defending champion San Francisco 49ers, and the more Parcells said it the more the memories came back to him in an all-out blitz.

 

Suddenly he was describing a play on the phone Monday, Ottis Anderson heading for the right sideline on that January day in 1991, and Anderson's coach sounded like he was describing something he'd just seen five minutes earlier.

 

"I saw Ottis stiff-arm Ronnie Lott five yards downfield," Parcells said, "and understand that I've always thought of Ronnie Lott as one of the greatest players in NFL history. And here I'm watching Ottis knock Lott flat with that stiff-arm. I had to say to myself, 'You know, we are really trying to win this game.'"

 

Parcells was only seven days away from winning his second Super Bowl title in another upset, and yet he might've been watching his signature triumph as a head coach. The Niners were 14-2 in the regular season, an apparent death-and-taxes lock to make history as the NFL's first three-peat Super Bowl winner, and to do it with the incomparable Joe Montana and the incomparable Jerry Rice.

 

Montana and Rice on one side, Lawrence Taylor on the other, maybe three of the five greatest players pro football has ever seen. "Some great athletes were playing in that game," Parcells said. "Montana, Rice, Roger Craig, Ronnie Lott, Charles Haley. Great players, Hall of Fame players."

 

The Niners were so good, Steve Young was their idea of a backup. "But we had a couple of pretty good guys ourselves," Parcells said.

 

Yes, there were reasons why years later the longtime ref, Jerry Markbreit, would tell the old Giants coach, "I've refereed 467 games, and that was the greatest game I've ever officiated."

 

Parcells was on the phone a day after watching his former assistant, Tom Coughlin, lead the Giants to a stunning victory over the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field and back to another NFC title game at Candlestick Park. Coughlin was by Parcells' side in San Francisco 21 years ago, and the Giants' wide receivers coach then pulled off a similar upset Sunday of a seemingly immovable defending champ.

 

"It was like watching the first 'Rocky' movie," Parcells said of Giants 37, Packers 20, "where Apollo Creed gets knocked down early and his corner man says, 'You see that SOB over there, he doesn't know it's a show; he thinks it's a fight.'

 

"I don't want to say anything bad about Green Bay, and I'm prejudiced of course. But it's quite apparent the Giants knew it was a fight and not a show, and maybe Green Bay didn't know it was a fight like the Giants did. It's human nature. They were 15-1 and cruising along."

 

In the winter of '91, the Niners were cruising along, too.

 

"We'd lost our quarterback," Parcells said of the injured Phil Simms, "and the big question mark centered around Jeff Hostetler. No one had ever gone to a Super Bowl with a backup quarterback. We were such an underdog, and everything was about them three-peating, and I wanted my players to know that I had confidence in them, which I did."

 

Parcells didn't play any "Rocky" music at practice, but he pushed a couple of human buttons to inspire his own band of longshots.

 

"I told the press that Jeff Hostetler is not going to be the reason we lose," Parcells said, "Jeff later told me he read it and that it was very important to him that I believed in him. And with the Super Bowl only one week after the game in San Francisco that year, I told my players, 'You can either pack for two days, or pack for 10. I'm packing for 10.'"

 

Some Giants later told Parcells he'd hit the right note there, too.

 

It turned out to be a vicious game. Leonard Marshall knocked out Montana in the fourth, just as Jim Burt had knocked him out four years earlier, and Roger Craig fumbled in the final minutes when the ball he was carrying was struck by Erik Howard's helmet, making Howard's the most significant Giants helmet in their pre-Tyree days.

 

Craig's fumble landed in LT's hands, and soon enough Giants kicker Matt Bahr was attempting to go 5-for-5 and send his team to Tampa, from 42 yards out. Bahr had been cut from the Cleveland Browns, and signed by the Giants in September only because Raul Allegre had gotten hurt.

 

But Bahr was the brother of a Super Bowl champion kicker, Chris, and the son of an American soccer legend, Walter, the captain of the 1950 U.S. team that defeated England in the World Cup for a Lake Placid moment 30 years before Lake Placid.

 

"Matt Bahr was rock solid," Parcells said. "He never practiced a kick unless he was in full uniform with his chin strap on. I've had a lot of very good field-goal kickers in my career, but for just one kick, Matt Bahr, that's my guy right there."

 

As his guy lined up on the final play of the game, and as some of his Giants knelt in prayer, Parcells fretted over San Francisco's rush. "They had a very good scheme," he said. "If we didn't have perfect timing, they would've blocked it."

 

The Giants had perfect timing. Bahr put the ball inside the left upright, and a beaming Parcells jumped into the arms of his defensive coordinator, Bill Belichick, before racing onto the field.

 

The moment he realized his Giants had just toppled a dynasty, Parcells said, "is a moment I can't really put into words. It's euphoric. It's why you do this for a living. It's why you tolerate all the other things that aren't so good.

 

"When you get a moment like that, it bonds the people you shared it with forever."

 

Parcells and every other Giant who had packed for 10 days boarded their plane and headed straight for Tampa, Fla., and a date with another unbeatable foe, the Buffalo Bills. At 30,000 feet, the coaches and players drank beer, played loud music and savored the time of their lives.

 

"This night is yours," Parcells told his team on that flight.

 

"And everyone who was there will tell you the same thing," Parcells said Monday. "Without question that was the greatest plane ride we ever had. I'm sure Coach Coughlin remembers it."

 

Coach Coughlin also remembers the party after Scott Norwood went wide right in Tampa. The wide receivers coach was practically in a trance, muttering "world [bleeping] champs" over and over, and Parcells made sure that expression was stitched into Coughlin's souvenir Super Bowl blanket, much to Judy Coughlin's dismay.

 

Those Giants had lost in San Francisco during the regular season, just like these 2011 Giants did. Parcells sees similarities in the physicality and toughness of his team and this one. And sure, he'll be pulling hard for the visiting side Sunday.

 

In his mind, despite his time coaching and GM-ing here and there and everywhere, Parcells is a Giant, and he'll go into the Hall of Fame as a Giant.

 

"Of course," he said. "It's a transient business, but I grew up a couple of miles from Giants Stadium. In my heart I'm a Giant, and maybe in Tom Coughlin's heart he's a Giant, too.

 

"Our styles and philosophies and appreciation for physical football are very compatible, but I would never say he's doing it the Bill Parcells way.

 

"He's doing it the Tom Coughlin way, and that's been plenty good enough."

 

http://espn.go.com/new-york/nfl/story/_/id/7469700/2012-nfl-playoffs-bill-parcells-1991-showdown-new-york-giants-san-francisco-49ers

[UK-Giantsfan]

............thank JM .....great memories !

 

( still remember that fantastic 49-3 drubbing of the 49ers in the Divisional playoffs in Jan 87 ......that was brilliant too )

[fringe]

Brent Jones- TE for the 49ers on that fateful day (teehee) talks about that game and his hatred for the Giants and NY in general.

Start at about 3:00. (The 'Youngster' is Steve Young)

http://www.knbr.com/portals/3/podcasts/murphmac/012012brentjones.mp3

 

"I turned to Lawrence Taylor and said "LT, I'm going back to the Super Bowl baby...."

[TaylorBanksCarsonVanPelt]

Brent Jones- TE for the 49ers on that fateful day (teehee) talks about that game and his hatred for the Giants and NY in general.

Start at about 3:00. (The 'Youngster' is Steve Young)

http://www.knbr.com/portals/3/podcasts/murphmac/012012brentjones.mp3

 

"I turned to Lawrence Taylor and said "LT, I'm going back to the Super Bowl baby...."

 

And you know what...who the fuck remembers Brent Jones...other than a few 69'er loving bandwagoneers...I swear to you the 69'er fans are coming out of the wood work like roaches running from a sprayed apartment next door....one minute there were five admitted fans in the whole State of NY....now there are a half a million who have always...forever...absolutely have been 69'er fans...

[fringe]

And you know what...who the fuck remembers Brent Jones...other than a few 69'er loving bandwagoneers...I swear to you the 69'er fans are coming out of the wood work like roaches running from a sprayed apartment next door....one minute there were five admitted fans in the whole State of NY....now there are a half a million who have always...forever...absolutely have been 69'er fans...

this is what i'm dealing with this week, T. (although, jones was accurate about the game. all hope was pretty much lost after he caught that pass. Mark Collins forever sucks for not falling on Montana's fumble)

but, his vitriole for all things NY is what i'm dealing with. got my car serviced today and the rep outed me as a giants fan- no peace, none.

[Bigblue25]

I have that DVD it's on there.

[Bigblue25]

I was gonna watch it tomorrow. I remember Roger Craig after Super Bowl XXIV, talking about three peating. He had a huge fumble in the championship, that probably cost them the game.

[Nas]

And you know what...who the fuck remembers Brent Jones...other than a few 69'er loving bandwagoneers...I swear to you the 69'er fans are coming out of the wood work like roaches running from a sprayed apartment next door....one minute there were five admitted fans in the whole State of NY....now there are a half a million who have always...forever...absolutely have been 69'er fans...

 

Haha.. just found out one of my in-laws who livs in CA is a ... 9ers fan ... his wife all but admitted he only roots for them when they're winning

[TaylorBanksCarsonVanPelt]

this is what i'm dealing with this week, T. (although, jones was accurate about the game. all hope was pretty much lost after he caught that pass. Mark Collins forever sucks for not falling on Montana's fumble)

but, his vitriole for all things NY is what i'm dealing with. got my car serviced today and the rep outed me as a giants fan- no peace, none.

 

I feel for you Brother....I love San Fran...the Bay Area is great...but this graven worship of the 69'ers (only when they are winning) smacks of the worst kind of homerism. Its one reason why I can never respect 69'er/Broke Back fans; when their teams lose you don't hear shit from them...their jackets, hat, jerseys all stay in the closet. I have tons of respect for Pack, Egals, Native American Epithets, Big Kitty, Football Cubs fans as they don't go into the woodwork when their teams suck. Same as Giants fans...I was a Giants fan during the wilderness years and there were tons of us. It brought joy to my heart after 2002 that the 69'er were irrelevant for 10 years.

[TaylorBanksCarsonVanPelt]

Haha.. just found out one of my in-laws who livs in CA is a ... 9ers fan ... his wife all but admitted he only roots for them when they're winning

 

Yes its sickening....I am praying the Giants win...by a point or 30 points ...just as long as they win. I don't want to see one 69'er Coat in all of NY for the rest of this year. :praying:

[NeMesiS]

Great game... And yes, I still remember my father asking "How did Mark Collins not recover that football."