1991 New York Giants season

1991 New York Giants season
Head coach	Ray Handley
General manager	George Young
Owner	Wellington Mara Robert Tisch
Home field	Giants Stadium
Results
Record	8–8
Division place	4th NFC East
Playoff finish	did not qualify

The 1991 New York Giants season was the 67th season for the club in the National Football League. The Giants entered the season as the defending Super Bowl champion but failed to qualify for the playoffs. They were the eighth team in NFL history to enter a season as the defending Super Bowl champion and miss the playoffs, and became the first organization in NFL history to do so twice; the Giants missed out on the playoffs a season after winning Super Bowl XXI as well.

The 1991 season marked the first season that the Mara family did not have total ownership of the Giants. Wellington Mara's nephew Tim, who had inherited the half-stake in the team that his grandfather and namesake had given to Tim's father Jack, decided that he no longer wanted to be involved with the team after twenty-six years, most of which had been spent feuding with his uncle over the team's operations. On February 2, 1991, shortly after Super Bowl XXV, Tim Mara announced he had sold his family's stake in the team to businessman Bob Tisch, the co-founder of Loews Corporation and former United States Postmaster General. Tisch did not take an active role in the operations of the team, instead choosing to focus on the team's finances; this enabled the Maras to keep control of the football side of the team and allowed Wellington Mara's son John to take a more active role with the Giants.

The 1991 season also marked the first time since 1983 that the Giants entered the season with a new head coach. Bill Parcells decided to retire following the Super Bowl victory and general manager George Young chose to promote Ray Handley, the team's running backs coach, to the position instead of promoting defensive coordinator Bill Belichick; Belichick would leave the Giants soon after to become head coach of the Cleveland Browns.

During the Giants' previous season Phil Simms entered the year as the starter and started the first fourteen games of the season. In the course of that fourteenth game, where the Giants hosted the Buffalo Bills, Simms suffered a severe foot injury and backup Jeff Hostetler took over and led the Giants through the playoffs and to their Super Bowl victory over those same Bills.

Simms did recover from his injury and was expected to regain his starting position, but Handley decided to make Simms and Hostetler compete for the position. Handley made his decision prior to the Giants' week one matchup with the San Francisco 49ers on Monday Night Football and gave the starting job to Hostetler amid some controversy. Hostetler led the Giants to 6 wins in his eleven starts, but broke his back during a week 13 win against Tampa Bay. Simms returned to finish the game, but went 2–3 as Giants starter the remainder of the year and the Giants fell out of the playoffs.

Offseason

After the 1990 season, in which the Giants won the Super Bowl, the Giants lost several members of their coaching staff. In addition to Parcells and Belichick, wide receivers coach Tom Coughlin took the head coaching position Boston College; he was said to have been the first choice to replace Parcells and would have done so had he not left the Giants.

NFL Draft

1991 New York Giants draft
Round	Pick	Player	Position	College	Notes
1	27	Jarrod Bunch	RB	Michigan
2	55	Kanavis McGhee	LB	Buffalo
3	83	Ed McCaffrey *	WR	Stanford
4	111	Clarence Jones	T	Maryland
5	139	Anthony Moss	LB	Florida State
6	67	Corey Miller	LB	South Carolina
7	195	Simmie Carter	DB	Southern Miss
8	223	Lamar McGriggs	DB	Western Illinois
9	250	Jerry Bouldin	WR	Mississippi State
10	278	Luis Cristobal	G	Miami
11	306	Ted Popson	TE	Portland
12	334	Larry Wanke	QB	John Carroll
Made roster    †   Pro Football Hall of Fame    *   Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

Regular season

Schedule

Game	Date	Opponent	Result	Giants points	Opponents	Record	Attendance
1	Sept. 2	San Francisco 49ers	Win	16	14	1–0	76,319
2	Sept. 8	Los Angeles Rams	Loss	13	19	1–1	76,541
3	Sept. 15	at Chicago Bears	Loss	17	20	1–2	64,829
4	Sept. 22	Cleveland Browns	Win	13	10	2–2	75,891
5	Sept. 29	at Dallas Cowboys	Loss	16	21	2–3	64,010
6	Oct. 6	Phoenix Cardinals	Win	20	9	3–3	75,891
7	Oct. 14	at Pittsburgh Steelers	Win	23	20	4–3	57,608
8	Bye Week
9	Oct. 27	Washington Redskins	Loss	13	17	4–4	76,627
10	Nov. 4	at Philadelphia Eagles	Loss	7	30	4–5	65,816
11	Nov. 10	at Phoenix Cardinals	Win	21	14	5–5	50,048
12	Nov. 17	Dallas Cowboys	Win	22	9	6–5	76,410
13	Nov. 24	at Tampa Bay Buccaneers	Win	21	14	7–5	63,698
14	Dec. 1	at Cincinnati Bengals	Loss	24	27	7–6	45,063
15	Dec. 8	Philadelphia Eagles	Loss	14	19	7–7	76,099
16	Dec. 15	at Washington Redskins	Loss	17	34	7–8	54,722
17	Dec. 22	Houston Oilers	Win	24	20	8–8	63,421

Game summaries

Week 7: at Pittsburgh Steelers

	1	2	3	4	Total
Giants	7	6	7	3	23
Steelers	0	0	3	17	20

at Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

• Date: Monday, October 14
• Game time: 9:00 p.m.
• Game weather: 47°F, wind 10 mph
• TV: ABC
• Pro-Football-Reference.com

Game information

First Quarter Giants – Howard Cross 12-yard pass from Jeff Hostetler (Matt Bahr kick) – Giants 7–0 Second Quarter Giants – Matt Bahr 45-yard field goal – Giants 10–0 Giants – Matt Bahr 40-yard field goal – Giants 13–0 Third Quarter Giants – Dave Meggett 30-yard run (Matt Bahr kick) – Giants 20–0 Steelers – Gary Anderson 26-yard field goal – Giants 20–3 Fourth Quarter Steelers – Gary Anderson 39-yard field goal – Giants 20–6 Steelers – Louis Lipps 16-yard pass from Neil O'Donnell (Gary Anderson kick) – Giants 20–13 Steelers – Eric Green 5-yard pass from Neil O'Donnell (Gary Anderson kick) – Tie 20–20 Giants – Matt Bahr 44-yard field goal – Giants 23–20 Giants Jeff Hostetler 14/25, 116 Yds, TD Rodney Hampton 25 Rush, 96 Yds Dave Meggett 4 Rec, 34 Yds Steelers Neil O'Donnell 11/21, 152 Yds, 2 TD Merrill Hoge 8 Rush, 73 Yds Dwight Stone 2 Rec, 78 Yds

Standings

NFC East
	W	L	T	PCT	PF	PA	STK
(1) Washington Redskins	14	2	0	.875	485	224	L1
(5) Dallas Cowboys	11	5	0	.688	342	310	W5
Philadelphia Eagles	10	6	0	.625	285	244	W1
New York Giants	8	8	0	.500	281	297	W1
Phoenix Cardinals	4	12	0	.250	196	344	L8

Roster

1991 New York Giants final roster
	Quarterbacks  6 Matt Cavanaugh 15 Jeff Hostetler 11 Phil Simms Running backs 24 Ottis Anderson 33 Jarrod Bunch FB 44 Maurice Carthon FB 27 Rodney Hampton 30 Dave Meggett KR/PR 34 Lewis Tillman Wide receivers 85 Stephen Baker 82 Mark Ingram, Sr. 81 Ed McCaffrey 88 Joey Smith 83 Odessa Turner Tight ends 87 Howard Cross 84 Zeke Mowatt		Offensive linemen 76 Jumbo Elliott T 68 Clarence Jones T 61 Bob Kratch G 60 Eric Moore G 65 Bart Oates C 72 Doug Riesenberg T 66 William Roberts G 59 Brian Williams C Defensive linemen 77 Eric Dorsey DE 93 Mike Fox DE 75 Lorenzo Freeman NT 74 Erik Howard NT 70 Leonard Marshall DE 69 Greg Meisner DE 73 John Washington NT		Linebackers 51 Bobby Abrams ILB 58 Carl Banks OLB 99 Steve DeOssie ILB 52 Pepper Johnson ILB 96 Kanavis McGhee OLB 57 Corey Miller OLB 55 Gary Reasons ILB 56 Lawrence Taylor OLB Defensive backs 46 Roger Brown CB/S 25 Mark Collins CB 41 Anthony Greene CB 29 Myron Guyton FS 47 Greg Jackson SS 38 Lamar McGriggs SS 21 Reyna Thompson CB 28 Everson Walls CB 36 Adrian White FS 23 Perry Williams SS Special teams  2 Raul Allegre K  9 Matt Bahr K  5 Sean Landeta P		Reserve lists Practice squad Rookies in italics Active, Inactive, Practice squad

See also

• List of New York Giants seasons

References

• New York Giants on Pro Football Reference
• Giants on jt-sw.com