1993 Giants @ Bears

Week 1

The Setup

The 1993 season represented the last gasp of the Parcells' era 1980s championship teams.  Two wasted years under Ray Handley after Parcells retired ruined part of the Giants window.  When Handley was dismissed, the Giants wanted to replace him with a young, up and coming assistant.  George Young's first choice was a former Giants WR coach who went off to coach Boston College after the 1990 Super Bowl.  However, Tom Coughlin decided to stay up at The Heights (coincidentally, at a time that I was a student there as well.).  The next choice was the Dallas Cowboys Defensive Coordinator, Dave Wannstedt.  However, Wannstedt, who knew that the Cowboys were building a dynasty, coming off a Super Bowl blowout of the Bills, didn't want to coach in the same division as Jimmy Johnson and the Cowboys, chose to go to Chicago to coach the Bears.

Though he didn't fit Young's desire for a young, up and coming coach, Dan Reeves, 49, had credentials that couldn't be ignored.  Reeves, a former player for the Cowboys and coached on Tom Landry's staff, where he played in 2 Super Bowls (lost V, won VI), and coached in 3 more (winning XII vs. Denver).  Reeves actually interviewed with Wellington Mara in 1979 for the Giants head coaching job, but the Giants wanted to bring in a GM first to choose the coach.  The Giants brought in George Young, who passed over Reeves to hire Ray Perkins.  Reeves ended up going to Denver, where he put together an impressive resume: Including the post-season, Reeves' Broncos went 117-79-1, won 5 AFC West Championships and won the AFC 3 times.  However, the Broncos became doormats in the Super Bowl, including losing to the Giants in Super Bowl XXI.  In 1992, the Broncos went 8-8, and Reeves was battling owner Pat Bowlen over control of football matters.  Bowlen decided to move on from Reeves and fired him, and elevated Defensive Coordinator Wade Phillips to the head job.  Reeves was out of a job, the Giants were without a coach....enter former Giants great Frank Gifford, who stepped in and lobbied for Reeves to take over the Giants job.  George Young, who battled Parcells in the past in various power struggles, didn't want to bring Reeves in to his set organizational structure, laid out simply: Owners own, GMs GM, coaches coach, players play.  Reeves said he would play by these rules (which lasted about 2 years before he started grousing) and signed a 5 year, $5 million deal.

Going into the Bears game, it was 2 new coaches.  Wannstedt, who bypassed the Giants to replace a legendary coach in Mike Ditka in Chicago, and Reeves, who was replacing an extremely unpopular coach in Handley.  However, Reeves was being questioned by fans and players for his personnel moves, particularly bringing in former Broncos and his treatment of popular Pro Bowl LB Pepper Johnson.  Johnson, who didn't care for the big money spent on Carlton Bailey and Michael Brooks, complained about being moved to OLB and started calling the Giants "the NJ Broncos".  Reeves responded with a bloodletting in the final cuts, including cutting Pepper, Matt Bahr, OJ Anderson, and Stephen Baker.  He benched long time NT Erik Howard for a younger player in Stacy Dillard. Ultimately though, this game was about a new coach, and 2 old war horses for the Giants, Phil Simms and Lawrence Taylor, in their final opening day in the NFL.  Simms, who was benched by Handley in favor of Jeff Hostetler, and LT, coming off a torn achilles tendon vs. the Packers, would play a crucial role in winning the game and getting the Reeves Era off on the right foot, when it could have gone very wrong.

The Game Highlights


Showing an opening kickoff touchback?  Really?  Well, it needs to be noted that Reeves completely switched the Giants kicking game in the final cuts.  The Giants had steady Matt Bahr, a post-season hero for his 5 FGs, including the game winner in SF to stop the Three Peat.  But Bahr, who never possessed a strong leg, was having a tougher time on kickoffs.  The Giants actually drafted Todd Peterson out of Georgia, who was known for his kickoffs and ended up having a pretty long NFL career, staying in the league through 2003 with various teams.  Reeves carried 2 kickers in Denver, David Treadwell and Brad Daluiso.  In the final cuts, the Broncos released both Treadwell and Daluiso, and Reeves scooped them both up and released Bahr.  Treadwell would handle the short to mid range FGs, and Daluiso, who kicked in the 1991 Super Bowl for the Bills, was the kick off specialist.  And Daluiso was initially great at his job.  Daluiso set an NFL record for touchbacks in 1992, with 52.  And in 1993, by the time the season was over, Daluiso again led the league with 39 touchbacks.

After a 3 and out for the Bears offense, the Giants took over and with Phil Simms starting his first opening day since 1990 against the Eagles, helped drive the Giants down the field, spreading the ball around to new WR Mike Sherrard and a few Rodney Hampton runs.  But Simms missed Sherrard in the end zone and set up a Treadwell 19 yard FG and a 3-0 lead.

The Bears, behind free agent acquisition, the late Craig "Ironhead" Heyward, hammered to near midfield, before stalling again and punting the Giants.  Again the Giants drove down the field, with Simms narrowly missing Sherrard for a 53 yard TD, but saw Mark Jackson convert 2 third down passes.  However, a Richard Dent sack stopped the drive and set up another FG for Treadwell, this time from 35 yards out, and a 6-0 Giants lead.

To this point in the game, it was Giants domination, they held the ball for 12:58 and 22 plays, meanwhile the Bears only had the ball for 5:29 and 11 plays.  The pressure was on Jim Harbaugh, who had just signed a new contract and was being booed by the home fans.  After a Harbaugh scramble, he made a mistake:

Pressure in his face from LT, and Myron Guyton stepped in front to pick off Harbaugh's pass.  The Giants took advantage, with Mark Jackson drawing a 38 yard pass interference penalty on Donnell Woolford which put the ball down on the 11.  However, keeping with the theme of the Giants offense, they drove the ball but stalled in the Red Zone (Coughlin wasn't around yet to call it Green Zone), and set up yet another Treadwell FG, this time a 23 yarder and a 9-0 Giants lead, but it could well have been 21-0.

The Bears fans were becoming restless, booing the home team.  On their own 15 yard line, the Bears drive started poorly, a Stacy Dillard sack set them back.  But inexplicably, the Bears suddenly got new life.  A few mid range passes and a long run by fullback Bob Christian set the Bears up and with 6 seconds to go in the half, Wannstedt had his first big decision:

Instead of going for the sure 3, Wannstedt went for the end zone and Terry Obee responded with his first NFL TD.  At the half, the Giants were up 9-7, but it was one of those games where the Giants should have put the Bears away early, but let them stay in the game.

In the third quarter, the Bears had momentum and they took command of the game.  A 3 and out for the Giants and then came yet another Soldier Field nightmare for Sean Landeta


The Giants have been very fortunate over the past 30 or so years at the punter position.  They've had 3 Pro Bowlers (Dave Jennings, Landeta, and Jeff Feagles).  Some pretty good other punters in Mike Horan, Brad Maynard, and now Steve Weatherford.  Rodney Williams boomed a 90 yarder in Denver once.  Unless their name is Matt (Allen and Dodge), the Giants have done a good job with their punters.  But Landeta's house of horrors is in Chicago.  In 1985, he whiffed on a punt out of the end zone in the playoffs vs. the Bears and resulted in a TD.  In 1987, he gave up a 95 yard punt return TD to Dennis McKinnon.  And now, a blocked punt TD by Myron Baker had put the Bears up 14-9.

Another Giants 3 and out and a good punt return by Obee put the ball at the Giants 37.  A pass to Tom Waddle down to the 16 and an Ironhead run put the ball on the 4 yard line, for first and goal.  But the Giants defense held, and forced a 20 yard Kevin Butler FG and the Bears were up 17-9.

The teams traded punts after that, and the Giants finally got a drive together.  A couple of Hampton runs and a swing pass to Jarrod Bunch got the ball to the Bears 40, and Reeves went to the bag of tricks


I'll get to the Jones penalty and the lack of penalty on Jackson's celebration before scoring later on.  But I'll go on record, I love the flea-flicker.  It's my favorite gadget play by far.  The Giants have had some pretty good ones over the years, including an 80 yarder in Indianpolis in 2002 involving Collins, Tiki, and Toomer.  The most famous was in Super Bowl XXI, with Simms, Morris, and McConkey, with McConkey doing a flip and falling just short of the goal line.  To my knowledge, Tom Coughlin has never run a flea flicker in his Giants tenure, but with 2 Super Bowl championships (so far), he gets a pass.  

The long TD helped slow down the Bears, made the score 17-16, and brought the Giants back into the game when it seemed as though it was slipping away.  And after a Bears punt, and when it began to rain in the 4th Quarter, the Giants continued to take control of the game

This play was added because the Giants had not had a WR like Sherrard for many years.  Giants WRs were after thoughts.  The Giants offense was based on a running game and defense through the Parcells years.  Simms only had 2 WRs go over 1000 yards for him (Ernest Gray in 1983, Lionel Manuel in 1988).  Bavaro had 1001 in 1986, but the point is, Simms never had a real go-to horse at WR in his career.  Sherrard had good size, speed, elusiveness, which was on display on this play.  Unfortunately, Sherrard, who battled a severely broken leg in Dallas in the mid 1980s that forced him to miss several season, would later hurt his hip in a game vs. Philly and cost him the remainder of the 1993 season.

A Meggett 23 yard run set up a 36 yard Treadwell FG, making him 4-4 on the day and giving the Giants a 19-17 lead.

The Bears mounted a comeback.  Two third down conversions to Tom Waddle, a few more Ironhead runs got the ball down in the Red Zone for the Bears.  However, pressure from LT forced a throw away from Harbaugh and brought Butler on the field


This was a remote thrower/swear inducer.  I still don't think that FG was good, I don't care about Madden's explanation.  That was a hometown call for the Bears and a 20-19 lead.

The Giants got the ball back and had to drive down the field.  But it started badly, a Chris Zorich sack and a delay of game made it 3rd and 18 from the Giants own 11 yard line.


This was an absolute perfect pass from Simms.  Simms was an underrated passer, with a very strong arm and when he was on, could sling it in there with anyone.  But since the Giants were identified as a running team and defensive team, not to mention bigger name contemporary QBs like Marino and Montana, Simms was left out.  However, this bullet to Calloway for 23 yards was an outstanding pass as the team got to the 2 minute warning.  Another deep pass to Sherrard for 29 yards put the ball on the 26 yard line.  Which set up the Giants to finish off the drive


A second long pass interference call drawn by Mark Jackson, and the very next play, a pass to an open Jarrod Bunch (with Simms taking a huge hit from Alonzo Spellman, who infamously battled bipolar disorder and was later arrested).  The TD put the Giants up 26-20 and it was on the defense to hold the Bears out of the end zone


John Madden said it all, "Lawrence Taylor will never be average".  That was classic LT, showing speed and power, and making the big play with the game on the line.  Even at the end of his career, that was his patented chase down from the blindside and chop forcing a fumble, which he recovered.  Also involved was 2nd year man Keith Hamilton, playing DE at the time, muscling his way into the backfield (note how he throws the guard around) and gets part of the sack.  And more bonus points for Hamilton, Sparks and Corey Raymond taunting the Bears crowd as the clock was winding down.  LT's play ended the game and gave Reeves a victory to start his new career in NY.  And big 4th quarter plays by LT and Simms to win the game was a throwback to the 1980s and something which was sorely missed after the Handley debacle.

Interesting Tidbits/ the Post Mortem

• As noted earlier, this was a big game for Dan Reeves to help win over the Giants team and the fans.  The Giants had stuggled in the pre-season, not scoring a point in the first quarter of any game, when the starters were playing.  Reeves decided to avoid the whole QB controversy and decided to go with Simms and ushered Hostetler over to the Raiders.  In letting go several popular players (Hostetler, Pepper, Banks, OJ Anderson, Baker, Bahr), Reeves had a lot to prove, and by beating the Bears, particularly the way he did, he helped wash away the poor memories of the Handley mistake.
• 1993 was a strange year for free agency and the salary cap.  The Plan B era had ended, and the cap wasn't put in place until 1994.  So in 1993, the Giants opened their wallet to sign several big ticket free agents:  Carlton Bailey from the Bills, Mike Sherrard from the 49ers, and Michael Brooks and Mark Jackson from the Broncos.  In all, the Giants veteran payroll in 1993 was $38,533,500, good for 4th highest in the NFL and some $4 million over the projected 1994 cap. Needless to say, the future would show that George Young never got the hang of the cap and the Giants were forced to make a number of poor personnel decisions due to the cap.
• Rodney Hampton caused one of those poor cap decisions. Hampton held out of camp for a while in 1993, but just before the season signed a 3 year, $6.875 million deal which expired after the 1995 season. The Giants were reeling after a 5-11 season, and Hampton, their lone offensive draw and given a transition tag, signed a contract with the Niners, and it was a 6 year, $16.5 million deal designed for the Giants to pass. However, the Giants famously matched the contract, which was "leaked" by co-owner Bob Tisch who was interviewed at a Knicks v. Warriors game at MSG. Tisch said: "San Francisco didn't make it that difficult. They gave us more annoyance. We're going to meet it." The Giants were going to actually wait a few more days, just to screw with the Niners cap, but once it was out there, it was too late. In hindsight, Reeves drove Hampton to the ground and the Giants should have let Hampton leave, as he later tied the Giants cap up in dead money.
• Lawrence Taylor played the Bears 5 times in his career going into the 1993 opener and had never registered a sack vs. them. In fact, the Giants actually went the span of 3 games between 1985 and 1990 (including 2 playoffs games) and never sacked a Bears QB among the entire defense, and this was a time of Giants defensive dominance. LT wasn't facing Jimbo Covert in his prime though, he had converted interior lineman Jay Leeuwenburg at left tackle. LT ended up with 2 sacks, including the sack/fumble/recovery which clinched the game.
• Jim Harbaugh, like Hampton, also signed a new contract at the start of the season, but this would be his final opener in Chicago. He was released by the Bears in 1994 and landed with the Colts, which is where he got his "Captain Comeback" nickname.
• Where was Pat Summerall? You may have noticed that Madden wasn't with his long time partner, instead he was paired with veteran broadcaster Verne Lundquist. Back in the early 1990s, CBS had the rights to the US Open Tennis tournament and the first week of the NFL season would coincide with the Finals. Summerall would call the US Open Finals and skip the NFL coverage. So Lundquist got the nod in this game.
• Mike Ditka had won 9 straight openers, Wannstedt lost his first one, on his way to a 7-9 season.
• Wannstedt wasn't the only Bear replacing a legend. Dante Jones replaced a retired future Hall of Famer in Mike Singletary. Jones ended up having a great year, registering 189 tackles in 1993.
• This was Jessie Armstead's first NFL game, he saw a great deal of time as a nickel linebacker and special teams coverage.
• Dapper Dan- Reeves carried over a tradition of learned from Tom Landry and brought from Denver in he coached wearing a tie. Since 1983 (Parcells, Handley, Reeves, Fassel, Coughlin), Reeves is the only coach to wear a tie for the Giants while coaching. In recent years, Mike Nolan (a former assistant under Reeves in Denver and with the Giants) wore a suit/tie as a coach, but that was mainly as a tribute to his father, former NFL coach Dick Nolan.
• Mark Jackson's 40 yard TD would end up being the longest pass play of his Giants career.
• This game also represented the first time the Giants used an H-back in their offense.  Before Reeves, the Giants would go with a traditional fullback (Mo Carthon, Jarrod Bunch).  But Reeves brought in 1992 3rd round pick Aaron Pierce to play the H-back slot.  Pierce, drafted in the same draft as first rounder, and ultimate bust in Derek Brown, ended up with a more productive career than Brown.

That would be a penalty/fine/suspension in 2012

One of the amazing things you notice as you go back and watch games from the 1980s and 1990s are some of the hits and celebrations, which today would call for a flag, and in some cases fines and suspensions. No question, the NFL is doing more to tone down the hits to the head, hits on defenseless players, etc. Look no further than the Saints punishment to see how the NFL is cracking down. But going back 20 years ago, it was all fair game. So, without further ado...

Let's take the last one first, the Flea Flicker TD. Dick Hantack did throw a flag on Jones' dirty hit at Simms' knees. The Giants and Simms are very lucky his legs weren't planted (like Tom Brady's in 2008) and blew out his knee. However, there was no fine for Jones after this game. Had this happened today, he'd easily be looking at a $20k hit. And no flag on Jackson's Nestea Plunge in the end zone. That one easily draws a taunting penalty today.

But now let's get to Richard Dent. Dent hit Simms in the head, not once, not twice, but thrice. Not one flag. On the second one, Simms was bloodied and Kent Graham had to come in for one play. Dent was one of the top defenders in the NFL and was elected to the Hall of Fame. But if he played today, he'd have gotten 3 flags on each of those plays, a hefty fine, and with the media attention, quite possibly have had to go to the Principals' office and Goodell would have him take a seat for a game.

Now, I'm not saying Dent was a dirty player...but look at this clip I found from an Inside the NFL highlight in 1989 against the LA Rams

Richard Dent leapt over the Rams fullback and speared Greg Bell in the face with the crown of his helmet! If that had happened today, refs who were not even at the game would have thrown a flag. You'd have every station replaying the hit and Dent would be up there with the James Harrison's of the world, the poster boy for headhunting. Again, in 1989, this was not a penalty. It was fair game, so it's tough to hold it against Dent. Still, Dent should be thrilled he came a generation early, as he'd have lost a ton of money to fines.