On This Date in Sports January 27, 1991: Wide Right
In collaboration with the Sportsecyclopedia.com
In the greatest Super Bowl to date, the New York Giants stunned the Buffalo Bills 20-19 in Super Bowl XXV in Tampa. The Bills came in with an unstoppable offense. The Giants played with backup quarterback Jeff Hostetler and decided the best way to stop the Bills was not to allow them to get the ball. The Giants, with a time of possession over 40 minutes, succeeded as Scott Norwood missed a potential game-winning field goal. Otis Anderson, with 102 yards rushing with one touchdown, would be named Super Bowl MVP.
The Buffalo Bill had every look of a champion. They posted a 13-3 record for coach and were coming into the Super Bowl like a locomotive. The Bills scored a record 95 points in their previous two playoff games, beating the Miami Dolphins 44-34 in the Divisional Playoffs and annihilating the Los Angeles Raiders 51-3 in the AFC Championship Game. The Bills K-Gun offense was hitting its stride as James Lofton and Andre Reed were providing a deep threat while Thurman Thomas, with his pass-catching ability, was a dual-threat as Jim Kelly appeared ready to lead the Buffalo to the promised land.
The New York Giants had their great season four years earlier. They had won Super Bowl XXI and restored a franchise that had been down for two decades to greatness. After missing the playoffs in 1987 and 1988, the Giants suffered a heartbreaking loss in 1989 and appeared to be nearing the end of their championship window. With Bill Parcells leading the way, the Giants won their first ten games in 1990. However, they split their final six games as Phil Simms suffered a foot injury in a 17-13 loss to the Bills on a cold rainy day in the Meadowlands. In the playoffs with Jeff Hostetler under center, the Giants beat the Chicago Bears 31-3 in the Divisional Playoffs and ended the San Francisco 49ers' quest for a three-peat with a 15-13 win in the NFC Championship Game.
The 1990 NFL season was the first in 20 years to feature a bye week, but there was no week between the championship games and the Super Bowl. It was the Super Bowl's silver anniversary, and the world was focused on the Persian Gulf as the United States was leading Operation Desert Storm to drive Iraq out of Kuwait. This gave a patriotic atmosphere at Tampa Stadium, as Whitney Houston, a native of Newark, New Jersey, delivered a National Anthem for the ages. An anthem that gave everyone watching goosebumps that would last the entire game.
With no week between games, the Giants packed for two weeks on the way out to San Francisco, as they planned to go directly to Tampa. It was then that the Giants began focusing on how to stop the unstoppable Bills offense. Bill Parcells and defensive coordinator Bill Belichick, who was soon leaving to coach the Cleveland Browns, figured if they could control the clock, they can control the game.
The Giants' defense was successful in stopping Buffalo on the game's first possession. New York, meanwhile, took their first possession and took six minutes off the clock as Matt Bahr nailed a 28-yard field goal. The Bills showed their potential explosiveness on the next possession as Jim Kelly hit James Lofton on a pass that went 61 yards. The Giants would stiffen and held Buffalo to a 23-yard field goal by Scott Norwood. The Giants would get the ball back into Buffalo territory but stalled near midfield.
As the second quarter began, the Bills took control of the game as Don Smith crashed into the end zone to take their first lead of the game. Both teams stalled on their next possessions, but the Bills, with a perfect punt by Rick Tuten, pinned the Giants deep. Bruce Smith would take Jeff Hostetler down in the end zone for a safety, as the game began to slip away from the Giants, who now trailed 12-3. On the ensuing possession, Carl Banks made a key stop on Andre Reed to prevent the Bills from continuing a drive into Giants' territory. The Giants got the ball with just under four minutes left in the half and used most of that time to get momentum back in the back, as Stephen Baker, the touchdown maker, caught a 14-yard pass from Hostetler to give New York hope heading into halftime.
The Giants got the ball first in the third quarter and employed their ball possession strategy. New York held the ball nearly ten minutes, with Otis Anderson scoring from the one-yard line. The two combined drives that gave the Giants a 17-12 lead took nearly 15 minutes off the clock. Adding in halftime, the only time the Bills touched the ball was to kneel down on the last 20 seconds of the first half. In real-time, with halftime added in, it was more than an hour since the Bills had the ball and tried to make a play. The Bills would get the ball into Giants' territory but were thrown back on a sack by Leonard Marshall. After a poor punt by Rick Tuten, the Giants were poised to smother the Bills. However, on fourth and two, Anderson was stuffed at the Bills 35.
Down 17-12, as the fourth quarter began, the Bills got the big play they were looking for as Thurman Thomas rumbled 31 yards for a touchdown. Thomas did all he could to lead Buffalo to the Lombardi Trophy as he had 135 yards on the ground with 55 receiving yards. Had the Bills won, he would have been the easy choice as the game's MVP. The Giants did not worry. Instead, they stuck to the plan with a seven-minute drive, settling for a 21-yard field goal by Matt Bahr. After each side punted the ball, Buffalo had the ball with 2:10 left, starting a drive at their own ten. Trailing 20-19, the Bills just needed a field goal to win. Thomas did his part with runs of 22 and 11 yards. The Bills made it down to the New York 29. With eight seconds left, they decided to kick the field goal, having no time outs. The problem was that Scot Norwood never made a kick longer than 40 on grass. The 47-yard try sailed wide right as the Giants won 20-19.