1990 Giants @ Redskins

Week 6

The Setup

Back in 1980s, there were 4 NFC teams who generally represented the best in the conference, particularly from the mid 80s into the early 1990s.  The 49ers in the West.  Bears in the Central.  And in the NFC East it was the Giants and Redskins.  Indeed, between 1984 and 1991, the Super Bowl was won by 1 of those 4 teams (Niners 1984, 1988, 1989), Giants (1986, 1990), Redskins (1987, 1991), and Bears (1985).  The Giants vs. the Redskins.  Parcells vs. Gibbs.  Every game was a battle.  And for some reason in the late 1980s/early 1990s, it was a round-robin between these teams and the Eagles.  The Redskins would beat the Eagles.  The Eagles would beat the Giants.  The Giants would beat the Redskins.  In 1990, the Giants would start off like a machine.  They went 4-0 in the Preseason and started the year 4-0 going into the game at RFK against the Skins.  Meanwhile the Redskins were 3-1, starting second year QB Stan Humphries, in only his second pro start, due to an injury to the #1 QB Mark Rypien.  A Redskins win, and they would be in a first place tie with the Giants at 4-1 and ready the 1990 season for a race to the end for the division crown.  A Giants win would put them at 5-0 and jump out to fast 2 game lead in the NFC East and set up the potential for a run away.

The Giants had won 4 straight games vs. the Redskins going into this one.  The RFK crowd was notoriously loud, so much so that the Giants prepared during the week by having the Giants Stadium speakers pump out loud crowd noise to simulate the conditions that they would face.  [Quick digression: back in my sophomore year at Boston College in 1993, Tom Coughlin prepared for the Eagles game in the Carrier Dome in Syracuse by blaring AC/DC's "You Shook Me All Night Long" over the Alumni Stadium speakers to simulate the noise conditions.  You could hear it all over the lower campus of the school.  It's a trick he learned from Parcells.  BC won the game 33-29.]

The Giants and Redskins were both coming off a bye and the weather was a perfect 74 degrees and sunny in a mid October tilt.  The Giants were beat up early in the season.  Jumbo Elliott and Rodney Hampton were both out due to injuries.  LT was still recovering from a pulled hamstring suffered at the end of the Week 3 win vs. Miami.  Carl Banks dislocated and broke his wrist 2 weeks earlier vs. Dallas and the night before the Redskins game it swelled up and he had to play with a massive cast.  Johnie Cooks started in his place and Banks would come in on passing downs.  Mark Collins was out and replaced by special teamer extraordinaire Reyna Thompson.  But Parcells' teams were always mentally tough and would be ready to play in a big game, on the road, vs. a division rival.

The Game Highlights

The game started with a Giants kickoff and the Redskins wanted to help out their young QB by relying on the "Hogs" offensive line and 2 veteran work horse running backs:  Ernest Byner (known mainly for his time with the Browns) and Gerald Riggs (known more for his All Pro seasons in Atlanta).  After 2 short runs which created a 3rd and long near their own 10, Humphries narrowly escaped a sack by Leonard Marshall and scrambled for a first down.  After 2 more runs by Byner, Humphries hit Art Monk to keep the drive going.  A penalty, and 2 runs by Byner and Riggs brought the ball to midfield.  The Giants defense couldn't keep the Skins offense off the field, and allowed yet another 3rd down conversion, this time to former USFL star Kelvin Bryant.  The Skins march continued on another Byner run down to the 25.  But the Giants defense was finally able to hold thanks to a Skins penalty and LT stuffing Riggs on a sweep.  Humphries missed Gary Clark on 3rd down and the Redskins settled for a Chip Lohmiller 43 yard field goal and a 3-0 lead.  The drive was a marathon, 18 plays, 66 yards and ate up 10:25 of the first quarter.

The Giants finally got the ball and decent field position, thanks to a Meggett return to the 36.  On 3rd and 10, the Giants added a little wrinkle to their game plan, by shifting Meggett to the WR slot and bringing Stephen Baker in the backfield.  The move worked, as Baker got open for a first down to the Skins 45.  After a penalty and a quick pass to Meggett, the drive came to a halt when there was a breakdown on the offensive line and Simms was sacked by Redskins' All Pro DE Charles Mann and forced a Landeta punt, which ended up in the end zone for a touchback.

The Redskins second drive started with a long run by Riggs on a sweep past LT to the 40.  2 plays later, on a 3rd down, Carl Banks was called for holding (even though he had 1 working arm at this point).  At the Giants 49, Humphries hit Monk on a deep pass to the Giants 17 yard line.  After a Riggs run to the 11, LT stuffed Riggs on the next play and then pressured Humphries to force an incompletion.  Lohmiller came in and promptly hooked a 30 yard FG to keep the score at 3-0.  The Giants were very lucky to only be down by 3, as they were totally outplayed for the first quarter and change.

The Giants got the ball at the 20, after 2 plays that went nowhere, it set up a 3rd and 10 from the 20 and the first of several big plays by the Giants' passing game


Talk about a strike out of nowhere.  A relatively short crossing route, which Baker turned up field and out ran the Redskins secondary, including Darrell Green, the fastest man in the NFL.  The play was so unexpected that Pat Summerall didn't really even know how to call it as it was happening.  And this play also highlighted why veteran coaches do not play running backs if they don't know how/are not willing to pick up the blitz.  Dave Meggett, in his second year, took on a blitzing Monte Coleman, and gave up a good 50 pounds, but stuck his nose in there and held him off long enough for Simms to hit Baker.

Bahr, never noted for his distance on kickoffs, managed a touchback.  The Skins again pounded the Giants with a combination of Byner and Riggs, and with the help of a generous spot by ref Tom Dooley, got another drive underway.  A pass to Byner, who faked out Pepper Johnson got the ball to near midfield.  After a Riggs run made it 3rd and 3, the Giants defense made a play


Pepper had great coverage on Bryant out of the backfield, and Humphries threw it right to him for the Skins first turnover of the season.  Bonus points for Pepper as well for whatever trash he spoke to Bryant just moments after the play.

Still up 7-3, the Giants began another drive of their own.  Passes to Carthon and Bavaro moved the ball down inside the 20, where the Giants eventually had to settle for a field goal....however


Madden said he thought it was a botched snap and not a fake.  I'm not sure I agree with him.  If you rewatch it, the Giants had OJ Anderson as one of the edge protectors on FGs and LT was on the other side.  Traditionally, the Giants went with their OLBs for those spots.  Anderson seems to be setting up for a screen and Bahr never really got his steps ready to kick.  Also, right before the snap, Redskins veteran linebacker Monty Coleman (#51) is actually pointing at Anderson before the snap as if to call out a fake.  Additionally, 2 weeks later, when the Giants faced the Skins at Giants Stadium, they did try a fake FG, and a long pass from Hoss to LT, but it was broken up (and LT was interfered with too).  So Parcells and the Giants special teams coaches must have felt there was a weakness in the Skins field goal unit that could be exploited.  However, it was all for naught.  Hoss dropping the snap, and his failed rollout, where he was drilled by Andre Collins kept the score at 7-3 and the Skins took a knee to end the half.

The Giants were lucky to be leading in this game going into the 3rd quarter.  The Skins were moving the ball up and down the field on the defense, but they didn't surrender a TD.  The Giants got the ball first, and after an Anderson run, the Skins defense got the turnover


DT Marcus Koch recovered Anderson's fumble, who was stripped by Fred Stokes in a pile gave the Skins the ball at the Giants 25.  After a pass to Byner got the ball inside the 15, the Skins stalled with 3 straight incompletions and Lohmiller redeemed himself with a 35 yard FG to cut the Giants lead to 7-6.

On the ensuing drive, the Giants got the ball back.  After a reception by Howard Cross was overturned by the booth, John Madden made mention that Mark Bavaro really hadn't done much vs. the Redskins in his career.  Bavaro was about to change that


Being cheered on by Summerall to "turn it on Mark", Bavaro rumbled 61 yards before being caught by Darrell Green at the 19.  Needless to say, Bavaro coming off a series of injuries, knew himself he didn't have the speed to outrun the secondary, let alone the NFL's fastest man, so he covered the ball up to be sure he wouldn't fumble it.  After a Lee Rouson reverse to the 13, the Giants got the ball to OJ.  First was a run down to the 4.  And then he hit paydirt.


Anderson plowed into the end zone, behind a strong push from his interior line, and dragged tacklers along with him.  14-6 Giants lead.

The Skins came right back at the Giants.  A 17 yard conversion on a 3rd down to Kelvin Bryant and a Humphries scramble got the ball past midfield.  Back to back runs by Byner and Riggs got the ball past the 35 yard line, and that's when Gibbs went to his bag of tricks


The Giants defense was completely fooled on this one.  With the success that Byner and Riggs were having in the running game, the Giants secondary was coming up to support.  Reyna Thompson, playing for Collins, bit on the fake and let Rickey Sanders go free where he easily hauled in the 32 yard TD, with only Myron Guyton somewhat in the vicinity.  The score shifted, 14-13.

Now it was the Giants turn to respond.  After a Bavaro catch and a good run by Anderson, the Giants were facing a raucous RFK crowd.  The best way to silence a crowd is to make a big play, and the Giants did just that.


Ok, it's one thing for a speedy WR like Baker to make a catch and run 80 yard TD.  It's another for a TE in Bavaro, bad knees and all to go for 61.  Now Mo Carthon, the blocking fullback, catching a seam pass for 63 yards?  Carthon was caught, again by Darrell Green, down at the 5  yard line.  After an Anderson run to the 2, the Giants went playaction


Still think Bavaro doesn't have big games against the Skins, John Madden?  Bavaro was able to get open, despite being picked by Bob Mrosko coming off the line.  21-13 Giants.

It was again the Skins turn to answer.  After a kickoff return by Brian Mitchell had extra yards tacked on because of a face mask on Matt Bahr (more on that later), the Skins were again moving.  In this drive, there was one highlight I wanted to point out about Thompson


This was really a great play made by Thompson.  Reyna Thompson was a special teams demon, one of the best in the game and probably the best I've ever seen with the Giants.  He was stolen as a Plan B free agent from Miami in 1989 and wasn't expected to contribute much as a corner in 1990 because the Giants had Collins, Perry Williams, and former Cowboy Everson Walls.  But Collins' injury put Thompson out there, who was playing with a dislocated thumb.  Well, Thompson, weighing in at 194 took on a pulling guard in Raleigh McKenzie, weighing 290, and stood him up and then made the tackle on the reverse.  As Madden would say, Thompson was a "card carrying tough guy" in the NFL.

Thompson's impressive play notwithstanding, the Skins kept moving.  A third down conversion to Sanders and a few Giants defensive penalties contributed to the march.  After Riggs was stuffed at the 30, the defense again made a play


Greg Jackson, the 2nd year safety out of LSU, who was brought into the lineup due to a blown ACL in the preseason by starter Adrian White came up with the athletic pick to turn over the Skins and keep them down by 8 points.

The Giants didn't do much with it on the drive following the turnover.  Simms was lucky that LB Kurt Gouveia dropped an easy INT that would have been a TD.  Simms also missed an open Meggett down the sidelines and Landeta had to punt it away where the Redskins return man Walter Stanley took it to the Giants 45.  Another Humphries scramble got the ball down to the 25 yard line.  Meanwhile, Carl Banks was having a difficult time trying to play with one arm


Banks was making tackles keeping his one arm away from contact.  A penalty called on Banks, by mistake, set him off, and he was taken out of the game, where he started yelling at Parcells, with assistant coach Romeo Crennell trying to calm him down.  After a 3rd and 8 pass to Gary Clark down to the 3, that set up the very near goal line stand for the Giants defense


This is one of those defensive stands where you really thought the Giants were going to hold the Skins out.  It also showed the kind of depth, talent, instincts, and toughness the Giants had in their linebacking corps in short yardage and goal line.  Pepper Johnson and Steve DeOssie were both outstanding short yardage players.  Reasons showed what he could do in the snow in Denver in 1989.  Banks, injured in this case, was also a tremendous short yardage LB.  And what else needs to be said about LT.  As Madden noted, the Skins were messing around with him too much.  LT was not just a pass rusher, as his hit on Gerald Riggs showed.  Riggs was able to finally squeeze in past Pepper on 4th down and made the score 21-20.

After a kickoff out of bounds, the Giants used a screen to OJ Anderson, who made a nice move on Wilbur Marshall, and a pass interference on Martin Mayhew got the ball to the 36.  But the Giants were stonewalled again by the Redskins defense, and survived a huge hit on Lewis Tillman on a swing pass which was nearly picked off.  That set up Landeta's punt and the turning point in the game


Again, a few things about this play.  It was a great punt by Landeta to get it inside the 5 (which was one of the main reasons Dan Reeves would eventually cut Landeta in 1993, and bring in his old Bronco punter Mike "coffin corner" Horan).  And, per usual, Reyna Thompson fought his way down the field to get the ball from going into the end zone.  Of course, the bonus was that Johnny Thomas on the Redskins was accidentally hit by the ball and made it a live ball.  Though the ref overzealously pointed the wrong direction on the recovery (which is something I love, when a ref jumps in emphatically to signal a turnover and screws up the direction of the recovering team), it was the biggest play of the game.  Some 22 years later, a similar type play would take place in San Francisco in the NFC Title game, with Devon Thomas playing the role of Reyna Thompson.  Unconfirmed reports are that Jim Harbaugh thought the Redskins didn't touch the ball in 1990 either.

First and goal at the one, the Giants went conservative to run the clock, and OJ Anderson was stuffed 3 times and forced the Skins to use their time outs.  On fourth down, up by 1, while Parcells pondered going for the knockout TD, he decided to go with the conservative play.  Kick the chip shot FG, and tell his defense to keep them from scoring a TD.  Bahr calmly drilled the short FG and made it 24-20.

The Skins immediately came roaring back.  Brian Mitchell returned the kickoff 36 yards to the 45 with 2:20 to go in the game.  A quick pass to Gary Clark and a Humphries scramble put the ball at the 42 with the 2 minute warning.  This is one of those times that all Giants fans dread, watching the opposing team, march down the field and winning the game in the final seconds.  But the Giants defense in 1990 was having none of this


Pepper Johnson's pressure when he did a spin move and hit Humphries, with Banks making another one armed tackle, was a huge play.  (Side note, Pepper's spin move pressure was very similar to the move he made on Joe Jacoby in 1988, when he was playing LT's rush position with LT on drug suspension.  In that game, on the Monday Night opener, Pepper hit Doug Williams and forced a fumble which Jim Burt returned for a TD).  Without his legs under him, Humphries didn't have the zip needed for an out pattern, and Greg Jackson undercut it to pick the pass off for his second INT of the game and sealed the Giants win.


24-20 was the final score.  And I always loved this little cutaway scene, as it showed really how close the Giants were with Parcells.  You've got Pepper headbutting him.  And then Parcells goes over and thanks Banks for his gutty performance, and follows up with a loving slap to Everson Walls' head, who then falls over.  The Giants went to 5-0, Skins fell to 3-2, and the Giants would begin their run away of the NFC East in 1990.

Interesting Tidbits/ the Post Mortem

• This game would be Parcells' final game as coach of the Giants at RFK vs. the Redskins.  In all, Parcells' Giants were one of the few teams who gave Gibbs' Redskins trouble at home.  From 1983-1990 (the Parcells years), Gibbs' Redskins would go 43-12 at home vs. teams other than the Giants, for a .781 winning percentage.  Against the Giants: 4-4, .500 winning percentage.  Twice in this span, in 1986 and 1990, the Skins went 7-0 at home in a season against everyone else, but lost to the Giants.  The Giants won the Super Bowl both of these times.  Parcells won 4 of the his last 5 games at RFK.
• This would end up being Simms' finest game statistically in 1990.  13-22, for 283 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INTs.  It was his most yards that he threw for in a game since their loss to the Niners in 1989, when he passed for 326 yards.  And he would not eclipse that passing mark until he threw for 296 yards in an absolutely brutal loss to the 1991 Bengals, who were 1-11 going into the game.  Yes, Ray Handley was the coach.
• Baker's 80 yard TD was not his career long.  That honor would go to his 85 yard TD which he hauled in from Jeff Hostetler in New Orleans on the Sunday Night game in 1988, which was better known as the game LT dominated with one arm.  Overall, he had 3 catches for 109 yards, his most productive outing of the 1990 season and was the second best total in his career.  Only his 134 yards in that same Saints game in 1988 was better.
• Needless to say, Carthon's 63 yarder was his career long reception.  The next closest reception was for 25 yards, which was accomplished in 1987, also in Washington.  While Carthon was mainly (and correctly) remembered as one of the best blocking backs in the NFL (in his 7 years with the Giants, 5 times he blocked for a 1000 yard back- Joe Morris (3), OJ Anderson (1), Rodney Hampton (1)), people forget, he actually ran for 1042 yards with the 1984 NJ Generals in the USFL.
• Keeping in the career long receptions, Bavaro's 61 yarder was also his career high.  His next longest catch?  41 yards in 1986...at Washington.  Something about RFK bringing out the big plays.
• OJ Anderson's fumble in this game was his only fumble lost in 1990.  That would be 225 carries, and 18 receptions, with only one fumble lost.  Expanding on this, in his entire NYG career of 7 years (granted he sat for much of 1986 and 1987), OJ had 704 carries and 77 receptions. In that span, he lost 3 fumbles.  That was it.  Just one of the reasons the turnover averse coach in Parcells loved OJ so much.
• Banks played hurt, as noted throughout the review.  He originally hurt his wrist against the Cowboys 2 weeks prior.  However, after this game, Banks was shelved due to his wrist, underwent surgery and missed the next 7 games, only to return in Week 14 against the Vikings.  Johnie Cooks held the fort down until Banks was able to come back and be part of the Championship run.
• Pepper Johnson's INT was his only one in 1990.
• John Washington was still starting at LDE, normally Leonard Marshall's spot.  Marshall had sat out most of camp in a contract dispute, and Washington had played well enough in camp to continue to start even with Marshall back on the team.
• The Redskins came into the game with 0 turnovers in 4 games.  They turned it over 4 times vs. the Giants.
• Stan Humphries returned to the bench after Rypien was ready to play.  Humphries did not play at all in 1991, when the Skins rolled to a Super Bowl title and Rypien put up MVP numbers.  The following season Humphries was traded to the Chargers, who had former Redskins GM Bobby Bethard as their GM.  Humphries became the first QB to lead an 0-4 team to the playoffs, as the Chargers made it for the first time since 1982, when they were led by Hall of Famer Dan Fouts.  Humphries would eventually lead the Chargers to their only Super Bowl appearance in 1994, when they were blown out by the Niners.  And Humphries was eventually nominated to the Chargers Hall of Fame.
• Lastly, Mark Bavaro made some news stories in May 2012, when he mentioned that Matt Bahr kicked the winning FG vs. the Niners in the 1990 championship game despite suffering a concussion earlier in the game.  It was later qualified by Bahr himself that he was knocked out on a tackle in the Bears playoff game the week before and was still feeling the effects when he kicked 5 FGs to prevent the 3-peat.  What was Bahr doing in on a tackle anyway to get hurt?  Well, the 5'10", 175 pound Bahr wasn't afraid to stick his nose in there.  Witness his tackle here on Brian Mitchell, and he got a facemask penalty as well.  As Pat Summerall mentioned in the NFC Championship when talking about Bahr "he's not just kicker, he's a player"

Extra Goodies

As I mentioned in my explanation of the blog, I had been able to recover a number of old HBO Inside the NFLs from 1986-1991 that I had taped.  I loved that show, with Len and Nick, the NFL Films music, Harry Kalas.  It was outstanding.  

I also got in the practice, after Giants games, of going to ESPN to tape NFL Primetime, with Chris Berman as the host, and a young Tom Jackson, and the late Pete Axthelm.  Back in the late 1980s, ESPN actually had decent coverage, and focused on the sport, rather than what it's become today.

Anyway, enough editorializing.  Here are some highlights to review from this game:

Inside the NFL's coverage:

ESPN's Primetime