NFL Recap (Denver-NY Giants)
Posted: Sun December 13, 1998 at 8:11 p.m. EST
New York Giants 20,
DENVER 16
EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey (Ticker) -- The 1972 Miami Dolphins can raise
a glass and toast the 6-8 New York Giants.
In their quest for a perfect season and an NFL record for consecutive
victories, the Denver
Broncos were stunned by the Giants, 20-16. The Broncos (13-1) were
bidding to join the 1972 Dolphins (17-0) as the only team in NFL history to
complete an unbeaten, untied season.
"It's disappointing because it was a goal of ours," Broncos
quarterback John Elway
said. "We just tried to go out and play as well as we could week in and
week out and as it got closer it was something we got excited about."
But a 37-yard touchdown pass from Kent Graham to Amani Toomer with just 48
seconds left lifted the Giants to the improbable victory and snapped
Denver's 18-game winning streak. The Broncos were trying to become the
first team in NFL history to win 19 straight games, dating back to the 1997
regular-season finale and postseason run.
Ironically, the Broncos were to play at Miami next week in a game
which would have received massive hoopla had Denver remained unbeaten. In
1972, the Dolphins completed a 14-0 regular season and won three postseason
games, including Super Bowl VII, completing the NFL's only perfect season.
A 16-game season was instituted in 1978, the Broncos could have bettered
the perfection bar.
"Nick Buoniconti called and told me he was going to the game tonight,"
said Dick Anderson, a safety on the 1972 Dolphins. "So I told him I was
going to bring a bottle of champagne to our alumni suite and share it with
him and all the other members of the '72 team who might be in the suite.
I'm looking forward to sharing a toast at the Dolphin game with Nick and
some of the other players. The longer we have the record, the more
meaningful it becomes."
"It's over with now and hopefully this game will be a wakeup call for
us," said Broncos coach Mike Shanahan. "But I'd like to give credit to the
Giants. They played an excellent football game."
Four other teams in NFL history have won 18 consecutive games,
including the 1972-73 Dolphins. The other three were the 1989-90 San Francisco 49ers, the
1941-42 Chicago Bears
and the 1933-34 Bears.
"I can honestly say, I don't think I have ever been more proud of a
football team in any individual game or anything," said Giants coach Jim
Fassel, a former Broncos offensive coordinator. "Our defense was
unbelievable. To hold that group to that was, an unbelievable,
unbelievable feat."
The Broncos averaged 33.5 points in their first 13 games and never
scored less than 21 points, but were held to just three field goals through
the first three quarters by an inspired Giants' defense.
But the bid for a perfect season appeared alive and well when Terrell Davis scored on a
27-yard run to give Denver a 16-13 lead with 4:08 left.
On the ensuing possession, Graham connected with Chris Calloway on a 36-yard
play to the Denver 38. But on the next play, Gary Brown had the ball
stripped by Broncos safety Tyrone Braxton and
linebacker Bill
Romanowski recovered at the Denver 29 with 3:36 remaining.
The Broncos needed just one first down to virtually seal the victory,
since the Giants had only one timeout left. After a four-yard run by Davis
and an offsides penalty, the Broncos had 2nd-and-1 at the 38. But Giants
linebacker Jessie
Armstead tackled Davis for a two-yard loss and the Giants used their
final timeout with 2:43 left.
On the crucial 3rd-and-3 play, fullback Howard Griffith was
trapped for a five-yard loss by linebacker Marcus Buckley, forcing
the Broncos to punt at the two-minute warning.
"The biggest thing right there was we got the ball with two minutes to
go," said Fassel. "I don't know who would have thought we would have won
this football game if the Giants' offense got the ball with two minutes to
go."
Toomer allowed Tom
Rouen's punt to bounce before he attempted to field it and lost four
yards on the return, giving the Giants possession at their own 14 with 1:49
remaining.
But Graham, who completed 21-of-33 passes for 265 yards and two
touchdowns, engineered a six-play, 86-yard drive in just 61 seconds. He
hit Chris Calloway with a 15-yard pass and scrambled for 23 yards to the
Denver 48. On 3rd-and-10, he rifled an 11-yard pass to Joe Jurevicius with 62
seconds remaining.
Graham then lofted a long pass to the right side of the end zone to
Toomer, who raced under the ball and outleaped cornerback Tito Paul while keeping
both feet inbounds.
"It was just a go route," said Toomer, who entered the day with just
19 receptions. "The corner was way off. I didn't think I had a chance but
I just ran him down. I looked back and saw Kent scramble and he threw it
up there and it looked really big. It looked like the Hindenburg balloon
and I just caught it. I knew I was in."
"I knew it was a touchdown, but he did give Tito a push right at the
end before he caught it," Braxton said.
With 41 seconds left, the Broncos took over at their own 42. A
17-yard pass from Elway to Rod Smith moved Denver to
the Giants 41 with 20 seconds remaining. But on the next play, Elway was
sacked for a nine-yard loss by defensive end Chad Bratzke and Denver
called its final timeout with 12 seconds left.
Elway threw a 20-yard sideline pattern to Willie Green to the New
York 30 with five seconds remaining to set up a "Hail Mary" attempt. But
Elway's long pass in the left corner of the end zone was knocked away by
Giants safety Percy
Ellsworth on the final play.
"We haven't played as well as we would have liked over the last few
weeks," said Elway, who rescued the Broncos last week with the winning
24-yard touchdown to Shannon
Sharpe in a 35-31 win over Kansas City. "We knew we couldn't look past
the Giants. They're a good football team and we just weren't able to get it
done."
Elway was 19-of-36 for 180 yards with an interception, but just
7-of-20 for 94 yards in the second half.
Despite being bothered by the flu, Davis rushed for 147 yards on 28
carries and leads the league with 1,801 yards. He eclipsed his own 1997
club record of 1,750 and is bidding to become only the fourth running back
in NFL history to reach 2,000 yards in a single season, joining Eric
Dickerson, O.J. Simpson and Barry Sanders.
Brown rushed for 112 yards on just 18 carries for his fourth 100-yard
game of the season. Calloway had five catches for 99 yards.
Denver opened the game with a 14-play, 67-yard drive which consumed
nearly eight minutes, but had to settle for a 24-yard field goal by Jason Elam. The Giants
responded with an eight-play, 46-yard drive, capped by a 36-yard field goal
by Brad Daluiso.
The Broncos controlled the ball for more than seven minutes with a
12-play, 62-yard drive. But the Broncos again had to settle for a 38-yard
field goal by Elam early in the second quarter.
The Giants took their first lead of the game when Graham hit running
back Tiki Barber with a
21-yard touchdown on a 3rd-and-8 play with 45 seconds left in the half.
The touchdown capped a 15-play, 80-yard drive and gave the Giants a 10-6
advantage at halftime.
The Broncos put together an 18-play, 77-yard drive in the third
quarter, but it stalled at the Giants 12 and Denver again called on Elam
for a 30-yard field goal to pull within 10-9.
Following an interception by Giants safety Shaun Williams, Brown
broke off a 45-yard run to the 18 early in the fourth quarter. After an
offsides penalty on Broncos cornerback Ray Crockett negated a
fumble by Brown, Daluiso kicked a 19-yard field goal to give the Giants a
13-9 lead with 7:36 left.
© 1998 Sportsticker Enterprises, LP
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