#2 Super Bowl 25
A clash of contrasting styles is usually a reliable indicator of a highly competitive contest, and Super Bowl 25 was one of the best Irresistible Force vs. Immovable Object matchups in NFL history. The Buffalo Bills, fresh off a 51-3 pasting of the Los Angeles Raiders in the AFC Championship game, were the premier offensive force in the NFL. Leading the league in points scored and point differential, the Bills featured a Hall of Fame trio in Jim Kelly, Thurman Thomas, and Andre Reed. Their #2 receiver was James Lofton, a player with a strong Hall of Fame case himself. But the New York Giants had already shown that they were up to the task of dealing with a powerful offense, holding the San Francisco 49ers to just 13 points at home in a 15-13 shocker in the NFC Championship game. The Niners, bidding to become the first three-peat Super Bowl champions in history, could not get on track despite their own formidable firepower led by Hall of Famers Joe Montana and Jerry Rice.
While the Bills stars shined brightest on offense, the cream of the Giants’ crop was on the defensive side of the ball. Hall of Fame OLB Lawrence Taylor anchored a defense replete with star defenders:Taylor, ILB Pepper Johnson, and NT Erik Howard all made the 1990 Pro Bowl, with Johnson earning All-Pro First Team Honors. CB Everson Walls had made the Pro Bowl multiple times throughout the 1980s. LB Carl Banks was an All-Pro in 1987. DE Leonard Marshall was twice an All-Pro in his career. And the coordinator of this star-studded unit was none other than Bill Belichick. The Giants defense led the league in scoring defense and were second in yards allowed.
The Bills and Giants were meeting for the second time that season in Super Bowl 25; their first matchup took place on December 15, 1990 at the Meadowlands. The Bills won 17-13 and, in the process, knocked out the Giants’ starting QB Phil Simms. He would miss the rest of the season, meaning the Giants would have to try to win the rematch without their starting quarterback of the previous six-plus seasons. And this time it would be for all the marbles.
AFC WEST
Kansas City @ NY Giants – Andy Reid’s teams are money after a bye
Cincinnati @ Denver – The skid has to stop sometime
New England @ Oakland (Mexico City) – There’s one AFC team that can beat the Pats, and this ain’t the one
Buffalo @ LA Chargers – switching to a rookie QB won’t work on the road
PREGAME
Okay, so it turned out that this performance of the national anthem wasn’t live. So. Bloody. What. Does anyone think that Whitney Houston couldn’t have nailed it live? Everyone who watched that day was positively floored. Unbelievably, sadly, more than half her life was already behind her then, at just age 28.
AFC NORTH
Tennessee 17 @ Pittsburgh 40 F (11/16)
Baltimore @ Green Bay – Sorry OMWC, but I don’t trust your guys on the road. Hope you have fun, though
Cincinnati @ Denver
Jacksonville @ Cleveland – This week’s Upset Special
FIRST QUARTER
Ponder this: the Giants kicked off to start the game, and Buffalo’s Don Smith returned the ball 20 yards to the Bills’ 34 yard line where he was brought down…by the kicker, Matt Bahr. The Bills went three-and-out, and their punt was returned by New York’s Dave Meggett for 20 yards to the Giants’ 31 yard line where he was brought down…by the punter, Rick Tuten. Both Smith and Meggett wore #30. Both men were born on the 30th (Smith in October, Meggett in April). This was Super Bowl 25 – Smith was drafted in the 2nd round, Meggett in the 5th. ILLUMINATI: CONFIRMED
The first quarter was very much a Giants-style quarter. Low scoring, field-position battle, Giants controlling the clock. There was a bit of excitement when Buffalo’s James Lofton hauled in a tipped pass and went 61 yards with it, but the Giants kept the Bills offense out of the end zone.
New York 3, Buffalo 3
AFC SOUTH
Tennessee 17 @ Pittsburgh 40 F (11/16)
Jacksonville @ Cleveland
Arizona @ Houston – two backup QBs, take the home team
SECOND QUARTER
The game could have gotten away from the Giants if not for a private lapdance from Lady Luck. With six minutes gone by in the second quarter and the Bills leading 10-3, the Giants were backed up to their own seven yard line on second down and ten.Then this happened.
Yes, the Bills did increase their lead to 12-3. But how many times does a play like that NOT result in a stripped ball? How on earth did backup QB and 70’s pornstar Jeff Hostetler hang on to that ball? After the safety and a few punts later, the Giants got back into the game just before halftime with a 10-play, 87 yard touchdown drive that consumed just 3:24 off the clock. It was their quickest scoring drive on the day, mostly because it had to be – the drive started with 3:49 left in the half.
Buffalo 12, New York 10
AFC EAST
Buffalo @ LA Chargers
New England @ Oakland (Mexico City)
Tampa Bay @ Miami – I wish I could pick against both
HALFTIME
Wikipedia, you got this:
The halftime show was titled “A Small World Salute to 25 Years of the Super Bowl”. It was produced by Disney and featured over 3,500 local children from different ethnic backgrounds and a performance by boy band New Kids on the Block, with special guest Warren Moon.
NFL EXECUTIVE #1: All right, we’ve got that cool new band to perform at halftime.
NFL EXECUTIVE #2: Great – let’s do bigger. We’ll have Disney do a thing with a bunch of random kids.
NFL EXECUTIVE #1: Even better. How about we round up some Super Bowl legends – you know, for the 25th anniversary? Bart Starr, Mean Joe Greene, Don Shula, guys like that?
NFL EXECUTIVE #2: We could do that…ORRRRR, how about instead we get one current player who’s never played in a Super Bowl?
NFL EXECUTIVE #1: (beat) That…that is gold. Gold, Roger, gold!
NFC WEST
Atlanta @ Seattle – something something General Sherman
Arizona @ Houston
LA Rams @ Minnesota – The Rams are due for a humbling
THIRD QUARTER
The Giants shut out the Bills in the third quarter, largely by keeping the ball for the entire quarter: out of the fifteen minutes available, the Giants held the ball for 12:07, including a then-record TD scoring drive of 9:29 to open the second half.
If the Hostetler safety-that-somehow-wasn’t-a-
New York 17, Buffalo 12
NFC NORTH
Baltimore @ Green Bay
LA Rams @ Minnesota
Detroit @ Chicago – Detroit has a lot more to play for
FOURTH QUARTER
Just eight seconds into the fourth, the Bills reclaimed the lead on a 31-yard Thurman Thomas run. The Giants responded in characteristic fashion, holding onto the ball with a miser’s grip. Their first drive of the fourth quarter put New York back on top with a 21-yard field goal, draining another 7:32 from the game clock. After a swap of punts, the Bills took possession on their own 10 yard line with 2:16 left in the contest. The Buffalo Bills, the masters of the no-huddle but stymied all game by the Giant defense, had just one timeout and the two minute warning left with a championship on the line.
Jim Kelly scrambled twice for nine yards. On third down, Thurman Thomas scampered for 22 yards but an inbounds solo tackle by Everson Walls kept the clock running. Back to the air, Kelly hit Andre Reed, vacuum-sealed by the Giants defense all game, for four yards. Next play, Kelly had all the time in the world against a three-man rush but nowhere to throw it, so he tucked the ball and ran for nine. Timeout Bills, 48 seconds left. On the ensuing play, TE Keith McKellar did what he could to be a hero,snatching a low throw out of the jaws of an incomplete pass. The gain was only for six yards and the clock continued to move, but yards were hard to come by all game long. Play stopped with 30 seconds left for an official review of McKellar’s catch, and after confirming the call the Bills resumed their drive. Thurman Thomas gained eleven more yards on a run to get the Bills to the Giants 29 yard line before Jim Kelly spiked the ball on first down, stopping the clock with eight seconds left in the ballgame.
New York 20, Buffalo 19
NFC SOUTH
Atlanta @ Seattle
Washington @ New Orleans – No one in the NFC wants to tangle with the Saints right now
Tampa Bay @ Miami
Here now, the final play of Super Bowl 25.
(technically, the final play was a Hostetler kneel-down in victory formation*, but whatevs)
*Not a euphemism
NFC EAST
Washington @ New Orleans
Kansas City @ NY Giants
Dallas @ Philadelphia – with Elliott out and Philly at home, take the Eagles in a barnburner
AFTERMATH
– It was a well-played game: just eleven penalties combined, with no turnovers by either team
– There was a precedent for awarding the game MVP to a player on the losing team (Chuck Howley, Super Bowl V), and it should have happened in this game. Thurman Thomas (15 carries, 135 yards, 1 TD; 5 catches, 55 yards) outperformed every other player on the field. The actual winner, Ottis Anderson, had a good game (21 carries, 102 yards, 1 TD; 1 catch, 7 yards), but it was not up to Thomas’ level. Consider also that Thomas achieved this against THAT defense, whereas Anderson played against a lesser defense that was on the field for over 40 minutes…come on now.
– The Bills would make the Super Bowl in each of the next three seasons, but got drubbed in all of them. The next-closest loss in their Super Bowl history would be in their last (or most recent for you optimists): a 30-13 loss in Super Bowl 28
– Winning on an opponent’s missed field goal is good luck, and the Giants have had more than their share of good luck in Super Bowls. The Hostetler safety was surely the best stroke of luck a team could have in a championship game, but David Tyree’s shining moment is in the same zip code
– One way to stop an offense is to keep the ball out of their hands: the Giants kept the ball for 40:33 in a 60-minute game
– This Sports Illustrated writeup about the game is fantastic – I encourage reading it in full, but I’m going to select one passage just to demonstrate how attitudes have changed about the game:
After Seals leveled Hostetler, the Giants…gave Hostetler an ammonia cap to sniff. He later admitted that much of the first half was “kind of a blur”. Hostetler’s older brother Ron…said in the postgame locker room “If the three knockdown rule had been in effect, they would have stopped the fight. He still isn’t sure where he is.“
Yikes! Today, they would have carted Hostetler off the field in that condition and the writeup would have, without fail, reminded us how risky and potentially life-shortening this game is, and that the NFL will surely address player safety issues, blah blah blah. In a sense, I’m glad for all these national anthem protests, because before the media and the left in general realized that woke players could be influential political allies, they all wanted football gone. Now football’s great – at least if you ask them.
Football has never not been dangerous, risky, or life-shortening. It’s brutal. It’s large, powerful men in body armor colliding repeatedly at high speeds. But they have chosen to accept those risks. Some have chosen not to take those risks, many have. It can be sad to see former players as broken-down old men. But that sight will always be with us as long as they play football, and when the For Your Own Good crowd starts talking about banning football, I get irritated. It’s not their choice to make.
This series concludes next week. Here’s a sneak preview:
This is part two of our series The Two Best Super Bowls, Ranked
PICKS
Week Ten: 8-5
Total: 60-47
Comments
94 responses to “The Two Best Super Bowls, Ranked – Part One: NFL Week 11”
Asian porn is weird.
I bet she’s thinking, “Beige. I’ll paint the ceiling beige.”
I thought of you about halfway through this song
I could barely fap to that.
It’s amusing that he clearly knows that dance routine better than she does.
I don’t feel weird now. I was worried I might be the only one that noticed that.
Enthusiastic though
http://new2.fjcdn.com/gifs/Asian+girls+wowowow_814881_5531799.gif
Thank you for the cheerleaders.
How about a little surf music for a lazy Saturday afternoon? https://youtu.be/XIJQMZ-1QCM
Guantanamo Baywatch. New album out now. Pretty good.
Nice, thanks!
Cincinnati @ Denver – The skid has to stop sometime
Which skid are you talking about? They both big brown ones in their bed.
*have* big brown ones
Big Brown Eyes by dB’s https://youtu.be/y9vnIghFrUU
It was taken away from us last year, but we still have the chance for the parade this year.
They’ll let you down one last time by going 1-15.
That’s what happened last year, if they do, all funds raised go to the Cleveland Food Bank. The Browns had at least enough class to match the donation last year, and one of the players publicly tossed some of their own money in. As terrible as the team may be on the field, I have to give them some credit for that.
Apropos of nothing, just let me say…. Bill, Louis and Francis are retards. Ever heard of finding a defensible position and holding it? Not those jackholes. They’re gonna jump around like kangaroos on meth, busting out the barricades over the windows, jumping off the deck into the river, running into the woods when they hear a smoker, whatever. It’s like we’re working to mission parameters. My goal: survive the zombie apocalypse. Yay! Their goal: get incapacitated in the spot that is geographically furthest away both the rescue point and any useful cover, to lure me out of my position and into the zombie gang bang that they’re hosting, and get me turned into a walking-dead Sasha Grey. How about this: I’m going to cover you with my rifle from my position, and if you get too far away, or get boomed, pounced and tanked, too bad. If I’m the only one that makes it to the boat, I’ll plant a fucking flower in your memory.
That is all.
…
…
you’re been playing “Left4Dead” for 48 hours straight and have begun to lose grip on reality?
Still would.
Left4Dead bots are still infinitely better than someone who doesn’t know how to play.
I’m catching up on the news, and saw that Malcolm Young died. RIP.
That moment when your grandparents rock harder than you.
Yeah, I wore their first 3 albums out in high school especially this one.
https://youtu.be/bAjV3o0FaUU
It’s a Long Way to the Top If You Want to Rock and Roll.
on my playlist, always AC/DC
RIP Malcom, the brains of the outfit
*the moment you remember that angus young is 5’2″
i think the schoolboy outfit was actually “the only shit that fit him”.
Malcolm was only 5’3″
Too bad. Angus got all the attention, but the only reason he was able to play all those solos was because Malcolm was holding things together on rhythm.
Damn, tough last few weeks for the Young family.
Damn it. I knew he was never going to be able to play with the band again… but damn it.
No mention of a Giants spy stealing Thurman’s helmet at the start of the game? Also buffalos D was no slouch, the did have the best defensive player on the field in that game with Bruce and a half dozen near-hall of famers on that D. I still hate Scott Norwood btw
https://www.buffalorumblings.com/2014/6/20/5818634/thurman-thomas-helmet-worst-moments-in-bills-history
The helmet thing happened in SB26. And I wasn’t trying to downplay the Bills D, but the league’s best offense vs. the league’s best defense was the angle I was highlighting.
You’re right. Good write-up.
Here you are Sloopy
https://i.imgur.com/bfCPQhE.jpg
Here’s one from 2 years ago. MSU stunned scUM with a game ending field goal. http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/5622de1e9dd7cc01308b754d-538/espn-mich-game.png
Yeah I remember that:)
That’s the Surrender Cobra meme.
I may have been too optimistic when I said they’d go 8-8, back when they were 5-2.
The qb change should be a good thing. They still have dolphins twice and the colts.
We will probably lose at least one of those 3 games.
Maybe but they’ll pull off one of the chargers, patsx2, chiefs
Taylor has held this team back badly this year. And what little we’ve seen of Peterson looks like it will be a lateral move at worst but probably should improve the running game and keep the D off the field as much.
I’m not convinced that is true. I mean, it’d be great to have a great QB, but it just isn’t ever going to happen for us. I don’t think he has really held the Bills back, maybe with the exception of the last game.
Start counting up the number of 3 and outs and you will change your mind. And he seems to get less accurate and more timid as time goes one. He has gotten tough to watch. I’m optimistic with Peterman, he will be the first one since the drought that is actually accurate, we shall see.
Taylor has held this team back badly this year.
With all those weapons? Sure. He’s the 8th rated out of 17 in the AFC, ahead of Phyllis Rivers and Andy Dalton and Elite Joe Flacco.
My alma mater is getting publicly humiliated in Stillwater today.
No Big 12 champ game for OKState this year. Sniff.
Oh, and I don’t have hardwood under the hideous carpet. So much for that.
Time for a cocktail.
My hogs are 4-7 and fired the athletic director earlier this week. The head coach should be toast in a week or so, and that’s the good news.
I guess there’s always “next year.”
Good luck with whoever the new leadership is.
Betting everyone wishes they were still in the Southwest Conference.
Noisy punky garage from St, Louis: The Brainstems! https://youtu.be/33kKHCJthQo
Lolwhut? I guess I feel better now…but I think that’s the booze starting to kick in.
Bummer about the floors. We were lucky: bought a house in September and the whole main floor had hardwood under the carpet.
Schweet deal! You going to DIY or hire a pro?
“Oh, and I don’t have hardwood under the hideous carpet. So much for that.”
Those euphemisms.
I regretted the phrasing as soon as I posted it. I am surprised it took so long for someone
to go thereto pipe upI give up.
Eagles-Cowboys is in Dallas.
Doesn’t matter. We’ll still win. Because fuck Dallas.
Cal Stanford today. Fortunately, I’ll be at a wedding, far far away from the internet.
Sabre Toothed Squirrel for the next beer for tonight. A kind glib might or might not have sent it to me.
I have always thought that the time period when humans and Saber tooth tigers were both living in the same areas must have been the most stressful time to be a human.
Try it now Sabre tooth! Ha, what ya say now! Kitty?
BTW Killer design on the wood burner, Hydronic? or forced air?
Short faced bears, giant hyenas, cave lions half again bigger than modern lions, dire wolves…
Our Cro-magnon and Neanderthal ancestors must have been some series badasses to survive and eventually dominate in that environment
And So they found Beer, and went on to Rule the World!
Was it Niven and Pournelle that said in one of their books that if a species lasted long enough to reach space it is because the species is the toughest, meanest species on its planet?
Actually, despite those dangers the fossil record shows human males from that time to be an average of 6 feet tall and living to around 70 years. Being semi-nomadic, living in tribes and following large herds of food around seems to agree with us. By the time the ice age ended and we began living a more agrarian lifestyle people got much smaller, sickly and lived much shorter lives. As my history prof was fond of saying “It is no accident that the word ‘toil’ and ‘soil’ are so similar.”
So, is it pass the craziest beer I can find, so I don’t have to try it?
Crazy Glibs, you’re all drunk….. hic
I picked up the Troeg’s Blizzard of Hops to give myself a break from all of the holiday ales. I’ve also got a saison and nut brown on tap that just needs to last past Thanksgiving.
On tap? at Home? Jealous, You Dog,
Take up homebrewing… you quickly learn that the true bottleneck isn’t how frequently you can brew, it’s how much beer can you go through before it goes stale.
or you could get one of these. they’re affordable, esp if you drink / entertain a lot. my brother and i had a full bar in our shared apt on the upper est. the deli on the corner had 5L mini kegs of Spaten, Paulener, Heiny, and some other european beers.
https://learn.kegerator.com/mini-keg-beers-for-the-mini-kegerator/
So they finally fired Marvel’s Editor-in-Chief, Axel Alonso.
And apparently they’ve replaced him with Juvenile Bluster.
I think you were the one who turned me on to that channel. I loved Marvel comics. I had no idea what a mess the company was turned into. Screw the SJWs.
Admins, How come no matter how I rotate my Current avatar it still comes out sideways?
The guitars are hanging on a wall, but not in Zero G, IYKWIM
I think it looks cooler this way.
Is that a Les Paul ukulele hanging there?
No, a Telecaster, I collect them, and I play Uke as well as other stringed instruments, I WANTED IT!
🙂
Speakinf Telecasters… and Les Paul’s too! https://youtu.be/vHdu_WAaAKo
Forcing me to relive the Bills superbowl history? You monster. You’re going to drive me to drink.
Who the fuck am I kidding? I started drinking hours ago.
I started drinking hours ago.
Smart move.
We’ve started our pregame at the hotel. There’s about a dozen baby showers going on, which is getting me hot.
This place. I swear.
Really? I’d think even you would wait until they’re out of the womb first.
It’s like veal.
The cuter the calf, the better the veal tastes.
This place. I swear.
We try.
If I had a lawn, I would tell you to get off of it
I like The Babies: Slow Walking https://youtu.be/7yRHO8X2-2o
Played this one, back in the day,chicks dig it,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBUsKcFCKCk
Good band. ??
Christ, what an asshole.
Ein Maß Oktoberfestbier <a href="https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/22512/62023/"aus von Trapp.
oops. Let me try again.
Ein Maß Oktoberfestbier aus von Trapp.
I love the color and head, but 5.6% is a bit weak for me, YMMV I would never turn it down, good Beer is Good,
Anyone fly R/C? I’m taking my Zivko Edge540 out Tomorrow early, to get some XP. I haven’t flown this year at all, which is sad, but Shit happens. I have a nice fleet of 3d aircraft, that I fly, 3d because everything else is boring. I do own a twin B-25 at a 5 foot WS, but honestly. i’m afraid of wrecking it, but She is ready to go, wish me luck. I need to use the “official” field for my Big planes, which also means I have to fly “official” Lines and in a certain direction, not good for 3D flying, but whatever.
You can’t do this with a drone,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zi6pJOqzeeU