Super Bowl XXI (Broncos vs. Giants): An Ultimate Recount of the Game

Today we have Super Bowl XXI, which was held on January 25, 1987, between the second-time AFC champion Denver Broncos and the first-time NFC champion New York Giants at the beautiful Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, just a short drive up from my former home of Los Angeles.

If you’re looking for the full story of this 1986 season, pick up my Great Eighties book and you’ll learn more than you ever wanted to know about that year and the rest of the eighties.

As always, we have a pop quiz, and then homework at the end of the episode. The pop quiz question for today is: What famous catchphrase was coined for the first time at the conclusion of this game? The answer will come at the end of the podcast.

Prelude to Super Bowl XXI

After a season-opening loss to Dallas, the New York Giants had one of the most amazing runs in NFL history. They won 14 of their final 15 games. Their largest margin of loss all season was five points to the Seattle Seahawks. This included a nine-game winning streak to end the season. The Giants got a couple of heart-stopping victories over Minnesota and Denver later on in the season, and they finished the season at 14-2 and with the #1 seed in the NFC.

The Giants beat San Francisco 49-3 in one of the worst moments in 49ers history. Quarterback Joe Montana was injured in the middle of an all-out rout. In the NFC Championship Game, the Giants won a game in which the Redskins never kicked off once. Giants head coach Bill Parcells wanted the wind, so Washington got the ball at the beginning of both halves. His plan worked; New York won 17-0, to advance to their first Super Bowl and first appearance in a league championship game since 1963.

Quarterback Phil Simms had an amazing season, throwing for 3,487 yards and 21 touchdowns. However, he did throw for 22 interceptions and only completed 55% of his passes. His inaccuracy remained a real question mark going into the Super Bowl. Running back Joe Morris ran for 1,516 yards and 14 touchdowns, and tight end Mark Bavaro was far and away Simms’s favorite receiver, catching 66 passes for just over 1,000 yards. The Giants also had one of the most frightening defenses of all time.

Linebacker Lawrence Taylor had an almost unthinkable 20-and-a-half sacks. Defensive tackle Leonard Marshall had 12 sacks, and linebacker Carl Banks picked up another six-and-a-half. With Taylor breathing down the neck of every quarterback, the Giants were quite the fearsome bunch.

As for their opponents in the Super Bowl, the Denver Broncos played in one of the most competitive divisions in the league. They finished one game out in front of both the Chiefs and the Seahawks. The Broncos started their season 6-0, then stumbled to a 5-5 homestretch. Eventually, the Broncos ended up winning the AFC West and getting the #2 seed in the AFC.

The New England Patriots were quite possibly a better team than the one that made the Super Bowl a year before. However, the Broncos beat them 22-17 to advance to the AFC Championship Game. Down 20-13 late in the fourth quarter, quarterback John Elway led “The Drive” that covered 98 yards in 15 plays over a five-minute span.

His completion to receiver Mark Jackson and kicker Rich Karlis’s ensuing extra point tied the game. Elway then led another drive for the game-winning field goal in overtime. The Broncos won, 23-20, to win the AFC and advance to their first-ever Super Bowl.

Elway threw for 3,485 yards and 19 touchdowns, and he spread the ball around well. No fewer than eight players had at least 20 catches. Those included running back Gerald Willhite, who totaled nearly 900 scrimmage yards, led the team in catches with 64, and scored eight times. Receiver Steve Watson caught 45 for just under 700 yards, and Mark Jackson caught 38 for a team-leading 738 yards.

Running back Sammy Winder was the main man behind Elway, as he rushed for 789 yards and scored 14 touchdowns rushing and receiving on the season. Defensive end Rulon Jones and Karl Mecklenburg anchored the defense, piling up a combined 23 sacks.

Super Bowl XXI: First Quarter

Starting at the 22, Elway scrambled for ten yards on the game’s first play. Three plays later, Elway fired long for Jackson, who hauled it in for a first down at the Giants 39. Winder caught a pass for five and ran for three more, but he was stuffed on third down. Karlis made a 48-yard field goal, which tied the Super Bowl record set by the Chiefs’ Jan Stenerud in Super Bowl IV.

The Giants responded with a fantastic drive. Simms started it with a pass to receiver Lionel Manuel for 17 yards. He then threw to Bavaro for eight, before handing off to Morris, who ran for 12 more. Morris ran for another first down, or he would have, but not for Bavaro getting flagged for holding. Morris came back with an eight-yard run, and Simms found receiver Stacy Robinson for a first down.

Next, Simms went to Bavaro for an 18-yard gain down to the 6. But of all receivers to catch the touchdown pass, it was little-used tight end Zeke Mowatt, who had only ten catches all year! New York took a 7-3 lead with kicker Raul Allegre’s extra point.

Elway started the next drive with a 14-yard pass to Winder. He then found tight end, Orson Mobley, for an 11-yard gain. A screen to Winder picked up another nine, then the Giants shot themselves in the foot. First, a late hit penalty, then an unsportsmanlike conduct flag on Taylor for throwing the flag. Denver moved all the way down to the 6 as both fouls were enforced. Elway hit receiver Vance Johnson to get down to the 4, then he ran a draw up the middle for a touchdown to put the Broncos up 10-7 at the end of one quarter.

Super Bowl XXI: Second Quarter

The Giants got only one first down before having to punt. Starting at his own 20, Elway threw a bomb for Johnson, completing the pass for a 54-yard gain. Next, he went with a little screen to Winder, who got six. He found Mobley for a first down, then running back Gene Lang got two touches for seven yards. Elway hit running back Steve Sewell for seven yards all the way down to the 1.

That’s when the Giants made a goal-line stand even greater than the one the 49ers made five years prior. First, they stuffed Elway on another draw play, making him lose a yard. Running back Gerald Willhite followed with a run for no gain. Finally, linebacker Carl Banks hit Winder for a loss on a toss play. The Broncos were forced to try a 24-yard field goal. But Karlis pushed it to the right! It was the shortest missed field goal in Super Bowl history, a mark that would only last two years, but still an embarrassing moment. The Broncos were one yard from being up by ten. Now they were only up by three.

The Giants got one first down after a nine-yard pass to Robinson and a plow straight ahead by Morris. They then were forced to punt. Elway got the ball back deep in his own end, and on the first play, he got brought down by Marshall. Next, he tried finding tight end Clarence Kay, but the pass was ruled incomplete.

On third down, Elway made the cardinal sin of spinning back into his own end zone while trying to avoid a sack. If he hadn’t spun, he would have been sacked near the 1. But by going back into the end zone, he allowed defensive end George Martin the chance to sack him for a safety. That closed the gap to 10-9.

The Giants figured to have great field position after the free-kick, but defensive back Tom Flynn misplayed the ball, and they ended up starting at their own 24. They then went three-and-out, and Denver got the ball back at their own 38. With little time left before the half, it was time for the clutch drive master Elway to go to work.

He fired to Watson for a first down at the Giants 32, then he threw a little shovel pass to Willhite to pick up another 11 yards. The Broncos got down inside the 20, but with time running out, head coach Dan Reeves sent on Karlis. He missed again, wide to the right! The Broncos should have been leading 16-7 during the “Salute to Hollywood’s 100th Anniversary” halftime show, but instead, they led by just one.

Super Bowl XXI: Third Quarter

Running back Lee Rouson took the opening kickoff of the second half back to the 37. Morris ran for three, running back Maurice Carthon caught a pass for four more, and Morris ran for two more on third down. This brought up fourth down, where Parcells decided to run a fake punt.

He had backup quarterback Jeff Rutledge go under center, and he took the ball on a quarterback sneak and picked up the first down. This was the spark that ignited the Giants’ explosion in the second half. Simms threw to Morris for 12 yards, then he hit Rouson for another first down inside the 20.

Morris got three on a toss, then Simms threw to Carthon for another yard. Facing third down, Simms fired over the middle to Bavaro for a 13-yard touchdown, and the Giants took a 16-10 lead.

The Giants defense forced a three-and-out. Receiver Phil McConkey returned the punt 17 yards to the Denver 36. Morris ran for gains of seven and nine yards, then Simms fired to Manuel for a first down at the 12. Morris did get stopped by the Denver defense a yard shy of the first down, but the Giants got a 21-yard Allegre field goal to extend their lead to nine points.

Another three-and-out for Denver gave the Giants the ball back at their own 32. Simms found Manuel on second down for a first down beyond midfield. Morris took a handoff for a short gain, and it looked like he was taking another one.

Only this time, it was a fake! He flipped it back to Simms, who completed the flea-flicker with a 44-yard pass to McConkey down to the 1. Morris scored on the next play, and the Giants extended their advantage to 26-10 entering the fourth quarter.

Super Bowl XXI: Fourth Quarter

Elway was in panic mode now, and he threw an interception to defensive back Elvis Patterson in desperation. Simms then threw a long pass to Robinson to get a first down at the Denver 16. The Broncos got called for pass interference to give New York another first down.

After Morris took it down to the 1, Simms was sacked by defensive end Freddie Gilbert. On Simms’s next pass, he tried throwing to Bavaro, but the pass ended up being deflected and landing right in the arms of McConkey! The six-yard touchdown gave New York a 33-10 lead, and the Giants could taste the Gatorade now.

Elway had to pass on nearly every play now. He found Johnson and Jackson for first downs, then he hit Willhite for five more. Jackson caught a pass off a deflection, and that was a first down. Sewell got a rare carry, and he took it for a first down at the 26.

Elway scrambled for another first down at the 15. But Banks tackled Sewell on a reverse for a five-yard loss. The Broncos soon faced fourth-and-five. Since there were no two-point conversions at the time, the Broncos were down by four scores. This is why, when their drive stalled at the New York 10, Reeves opted for the field goal instead of going for it on fourth down. Karlis’s 29-yard kick cut the deficit to 20 points. Three touchdowns, yes, but it would have been three scores regardless.
The Giants easily recovered the onside kick, and then they easily pounded the ball right down the field Rouson ran for a first down, then Simms scrambled with the ball all the way down to the Denver 2. Running back Ottis Anderson got the honor of scoring a two-yard touchdown; he’d turn up in another Super Bowl still to come. Allegre missed the extra point wide left, but it didn’t matter. New York now led 39-13.
The only drama left was over who would get doused by the Gatorade bucket. The first bucket went to Simms, who was named Super Bowl MVP after completing 22 of 25 passes for 268 yards and three touchdowns, with no interceptions, for a passer rating of 150.9. Next, it was Harry Carson’s time to get Parcells, and he got him good. Then some teammates went and gave Parcells another bucket. The Gatorade tradition was born this season, and it’s stuck around all these years.
Elway threw a garbage touchdown pass to Johnson from 47 yards out, but the only thing that did was ensure that this game would end up as a Scorigami. What’s a Scorigami? Created by Jon Bois, it is a final score of a football game that has never happened before. To this day, the score of 39-20 has never happened in an NFL game since Super Bowl XXI.

Super Bowl XXI: Aftermath and Awards

After the game, Phil Simms was asked what he was going to do after he won the Super Bowl. His response: “I’m going to Disney World!” This commercial became standard in every Super Bowl since. That’s the answer to today’s pop quiz question. Sometimes the commercial is edited to “I’m going to Disneyland” for the West Coast crowd. Simms did not miss on a single pass in the second half of this game, so he definitely deserved his trip down Main Street U.S.A.

I gave the second-best player award to Leonard Marshall. He had two sacks and was in Elway’s face all game long. George Martin could have gotten it as well for his safety sack. And really, any player on the defense, especially Lawrence Taylor, could have deserved this honor. The Giants defense was really amazing, and they proved it in this game.

As for the best player on the losing team, I’ve got to go with Vance Johnson. He caught five passes for 121 yards and made catches of 54 and 47 yards. Out of six targets, he only failed to catch one. On an ugly day for the Broncos, his performance was certainly noteworthy.

The Least Valuable Player is not Elway. No, he threw for 304 yards and a touchdown, and he ran for a touchdown too. He played well enough for his team to have a chance. Instead, I’m going to give it to Karlis. If Karlis nails those two field goals, one an easy one and the other a super-easy one, the Broncos go to the half with a seven-point lead and all the momentum. Instead, they lost the lead immediately coming out of the locker room, and they never recovered. There was no excuse for either miss by Karlis; those were easy kicks to make.

The best player you’ve never heard of? How about tight end Zeke Mowatt? He had a six-yard touchdown catch early in the game. He had only ten catches all season, but his one catch in this game was as big as it gets. He deserves recognition for his small, but crucial, role in this win.

The biggest play of the game was the fake punt by Jeff Rutledge. If Rutledge doesn’t get that first down on that quarterback sneak, the Broncos get the ball in New York territory. Instead, he did, and the Giants went down and scored a touchdown. That’s the turning point right there. Parcells had the guts to call it, and it worked spectacularly. I’m a big believer in “fortune favors the bold,” and it certainly did here.

The biggest play no one remembers is Elway getting stuffed on a first-down draw play from the 1 in the first half. Remember, because Karlis missed the chip shot, that play ended up being worth seven points. Who knows what happens if Denver would have led 17-7? Who knows what would have happened had they led 17-9 if the fake punt had failed? Denver was left forever asking those questions. Sadly, linebacker Tom Jackson, who later joined ESPN, went out with a loss in his final game.

Homework

Finally, here’s some homework for you. Go pick up Hard Nose: The Story of the 1986 Giants by Jim Burt with Hank Gola. It’s a story of this Giants team told from the perspective of a defensive tackle, in this case, Jim Burt. Great stuff there.

Then go ahead and get Simms to McConkey: Blood, Sweat, and Gatorade by McConkey, Simms, and Dick Schaap. It tells the story of the rise to fame of these two players, who eventually hooked up in Super Bowl XXI for two of the most memorable plays of the game.

The Giants were world champions for the first time since 1956. It was their fifth league championship in franchise history. And they weren’t done quite yet! Four years later, the Giants would be back in the big game, against a very different opponent. Denver wasn’t going away either; they’d appear in two of the next three Super Bowls.

Next time, we have one of the most heartwarming stories in Super Bowl history. Quarterback Doug Williams of the Washington Redskins tries to become the first black quarterback to win a Super Bowl. How about doing so by scoring 35 points in a single quarter?

And watch as Super Bowl records fall by the wayside. That’s coming up in two weeks. If you’d like to read about it now, hop on over to tommyaphillips.com and pick up my book Great Eighties: A Journey Through Another Amazing Decade in Pro Football History. Until then, this is Tommy A. Phillips, signing off. So long!

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Lombardi Memories is a show that takes you back in time, into January or February, to the greatest one-day spectacle in all of sports. This is the every-other-Tuesday podcast that looks back at each and every one of the 50-plus Super Bowls and tells the story of who won and why. Tommy A. Phillips is your host on this Super Journey. He’s an author of multiple NFL books. You can purchase below.