1991 New York Giants season

The 1991 New York Giants season was the franchise's 67th season 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,[1] 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).

1991 New York Giants season
OwnerWellington Mara
Robert Tisch
Head coachRay Handley
General managerGeorge Young
Home fieldGiants Stadium
Results
Record8–8
Division place4th NFC East
Playoff finishDid not qualify
Pro BowlersC Bart Oates

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.[2]

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.

[3]

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,[4] 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

[5]

Roster
1991 New York Giants final roster
Quarterbacks

Running backs

Wide receivers

Tight ends

 Offensive linemen

Defensive linemen

 Linebackers

Defensive backs

Special teams

 Reserve lists


Practice squad



Rookies in italics

Regular season

Schedule
Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Recap
1 September 2 San Francisco 49ers W 16–14 1–0 Giants Stadium Recap
2 September 8 Los Angeles Rams L 13–19 1–1 Giants Stadium Recap
3 September 15 at Chicago Bears L 17–20 1–2 Soldier Field Recap
4 September 22 Cleveland Browns W 13–10 2–2 Giants Stadium Recap
5 September 29 at Dallas Cowboys L 16–21 2–3 Texas Stadium Recap
6 October 6 Phoenix Cardinals W 20–9 3–3 Giants Stadium Recap
7 October 14 at Pittsburgh Steelers W 23–20 4–3 Three Rivers Stadium Recap
8 Bye
9 October 27 Washington Redskins L 13–17 4–4 Giants Stadium Recap
10 November 4 at Philadelphia Eagles L 7–30 4–5 Veterans Stadium Recap
11 November 10 at Phoenix Cardinals W 21–14 5–5 Sun Devil Stadium Recap
12 November 17 Dallas Cowboys W 22–9 6–5 Giants Stadium Recap
13 November 24 at Tampa Bay Buccaneers W 21–14 7–5 Tampa Stadium Recap
14 December 1 at Cincinnati Bengals L 24–27 7–6 Riverfront Stadium Recap
15 December 8 Philadelphia Eagles L 14–19 7–7 Giants Stadium Recap
16 December 15 at Washington Redskins L 17–34 7–8 Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium Recap
17 December 21 Houston Oilers W 24–20 8–8 Giants Stadium Recap

Week 7: at Pittsburgh Steelers
1 2 34Total
Giants 7 6 7323
Steelers 0 0 31720

at Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

  • Date: Monday, October 14
  • Game time: 9:00 p.m.
  • Game weather: 47 °F (8.3 °C), wind 10 miles per hour (16 km/h; 8.7 kn)
  • Referee: Red Cashion
  • TV announcers (ABC): Frank Gifford, Al Michaels, and Dan Dierdorf
  • Pro-Football-Reference.com

Standings
NFC East
W L T PCT DIV CONF PF PA STK
(1) Washington Redskins 14 2 0 .875 6–2 10–2 485 224 L1
(5) Dallas Cowboys 11 5 0 .688 5–3 8–4 342 310 W5
Philadelphia Eagles 10 6 0 .625 5–3 6–6 285 244 W1
New York Giants 8 8 0 .500 3–5 5–7 281 297 W1
Phoenix Cardinals 4 12 0 .250 1–7 3–11 196 344 L8

See also

References
  1. NFL 2001 Record and Fact Book, Workman Publishing Co, New York, ISBN 0-7611-2480-2, p. 256
  2. NFL 2001 Record and Fact Book, Workman Publishing Co, New York, ISBN 0-7611-2480-2, p.287
  3. https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D03EEDB113CF931A25753C1A961958260
  4. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2007-06-02. Retrieved 2007-04-23.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/nyg/1991_draft.htm
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