NFL Old School Game of the Week: Giants End Broncos' Undefeated Season

Amani Toomer catches the game-winning touchdown pass in the Giants' 20-16 upset of the 13-0 Denver Broncos.

After upsetting the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl XXXII and finally winning his first Super Bowl title, Denver Broncos quarterback John Elway could have walked off into the sunset, but came back to make a run at another Super Bowl title.

What he did not envision was that the Broncos had a chance to become a team for the ages as running back Terrell Davis had a chance to rush for more than 2,000 yards in the season as well as the team winning their first 13 games of the season and had a chance to join the 1972 Miami Dolphins as the only undefeated teams in NFL history.

The Broncos were going to go to Miami to face the Dolphins in Week 16, but first had to go to the Meadowlands and face the 5-8 New York Giants.

The Giants had been going through a disappointing season after having won the NFC East title the previous season.

Following a 3-7 start, head coach Jim Fassell replaced starting quarterback Danny Kanell with Kent Graham, who led the Giants to wins in two of the team’s previous three games to keep New York’s slim playoff hopes alive.

Most experts believe that the Broncos would easily dispatch of the Giants, since they believe Denver had received a wake-up call the week before as they had to score two touchdowns in the final minutes to pull out a 35-31 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs.

Both teams would kick field goals on their opening drives of the game as Broncos kicker Jason Elam drilled a 24-yarder to end a 14-play, 67-yard drive for the Broncos, while Brad Daluiso made one from 36 yards out to culminate a 8-play, 46-yard drive for the Giants.

Denver would get another field goal early in the second quarter as Elam kicked a 38-yard field goal that put the Broncos back ahead, 6-3 with 10:31 to go in the second quarter.

After both teams went three-and-out on their ensuing possessions, the Giants would get the ball at their 20-yard-line but were soon faced with a 3rd-and-2 at the 28-yard-line.

That is where Graham found Joe Jurevicius for a seven-yard-gain and a 1st down, the first of four 3rd down conversions on the drive.

The last 3rd down conversion went for a touchdown as Graham connected with running back Tiki Barber for a 21-yard touchdown to climax the 15-play, 80-yard drive where Graham completed 8 of 11 passes for 84 yards as New York took their first lead of the game at 10-6 as the first half came to a close.

Kent Graham went 21-of-33 for 265 yards and threw two touchdown passes in the Giants' upset over the undefeated Broncos.

The score was still 10-6 when Denver began its second drive of the second half at their 10-yard-line and drove to the Giants’ 23-yard-line where they faced a 4th-and-1.

Despite still being in the third quarter and easily being in field goal range, Denver head coach Mike Shanahan decided to go for the 1st down.

Elway faked a handoff to Davis and threw a screen pass to Howard Griffith, who made the catch for 8 yards and a 1st down.

However, the Broncos would get two more yards and faced with a 4th-and-8, Shanahan put Elam in to kick a 30-yard field goal that cut the Giants lead to 10-9 with 1:48 to go in the third quarter.

The Giants had the lead going into the 4th quarter but after playing a nearly perfect game for 3 quarters, they made their first mistake on the opening play of the 4th quarter as wide receiver Ike Hillard lost the ball following a catch.

The fumble was recovered by Broncos linebacker John Mobley at the Giants’ 47-yard-line and the Broncos were in prime position to take the lead.

But five plays later, the Broncos would turn the ball back over to the Giants as rookie defensive back Shaun Williams intercepted a Elway pass at the New York 36-yard-line.

On the very next play from scrimmage, running back Gary Brown exploded for a 45-yard run that put the Giants at the Broncos’ 19-yard-line.

Three plays later, the Giants had a 1st-and-goal at the seven-yard-line when the Broncos appeared to force another turnover as Denver cornerback Darrien Gordon stripped Brown of the ball, forcing a fumble that was recovered in the end zone by linebacker Bill Romanowski.

However, Ray Crockett lined up in the neutral zone, drawing an offsides penalty and negating the turnover.

The Denver defense would hold the Giants out of the end zone and force a 19-yard chip shot field goal by Daluiso that increased New York’s lead to 13-9 midway through the fourth quarter.

With their undefeated season on the line, the Broncos would drive 76 yards in seven plays for the go-ahead score as Davis raced for a 27-yard touchdown that gave Denver its first lead of the game, 16-13 with over four minutes to play in regulation.

Terrell Davis puts the Bronocs in the lead with his 27-yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter as the eventual MVP would finish with 147 yards on 28 carries.

Following the Davis touchdown, the Giants took over at their 26-yard-line when following a dropped pass on the first play from scrimmage, Chris Calloway caught a deep pass from for a 38-yard gain, that put New York at the Broncos’ 36-yard-line and in great shape to get at least a field goal to tie the game.

But on the very next play from scrimmage, the Giants lost the ball when Brown was stripped of the ball by Tyrone Braxton with Romanowski falling on it at the 29-yard-line, giving the ball back to Denver with 3:30 to play.

All the Broncos needed to do was get a few 1st downs and they would escape with the victory, keeping their undefeated season alive and setting up their showdown with the Dolphins.

However, the Giants defense forced a three-and-out from the Broncos to get the ball back and one last chance to either send the game into overtime or possibly pull out the huge upset.

Starting at his 14-yard-line with 1:49 to go and no timeouts, Graham found Calloway for a 15-yard gain on the drive’s first play, then followed it up with a 22-yard scramble that put the Giants in Denver territory.

After his scramble, Graham spiked the ball at the Broncos’ 49, stopping the clock with 1:11 to play.

Following an incomplete pass on 2nd down, Graham connected with Jurevicius for 11 yards, who went out-of-bounds at the Denver 38-yard-line with 57 seconds to play.

Then, Graham lofted a deep pass toward the right corner of the end zone, intended for Amani Toomer, who jumped in front of Denver’s Tito Paul, to snatch the ball away from the cornerback and make the catch.

While one official signaled touchdown, another came in and ruled the pass incomplete, believing that Toomer did not make the catch inbounds.

But with replay not available until the following season, the referees had to confer with each other to make the call.

After a brief conference, the referees came out of the huddle and signaled touchdown, sending the Giants Stadiums crowd into a frenzy as the 38-touchdown catch by Toomer had given New York a 20-16 lead with 47 seconds to play(double-click to play).

Even though they had the lead, the Giants could not rest because of Elway and his 47 career 4th quarter comebacks, including the one from the previous week against the Chiefs.

Elway and the Broncos would get the ball at their 42-yard-line and drive to the Giants’ 30-yard-line where Elway launched a Hail Mary pass on the final play of the game.

However, the ball was knocked away and the Giants had completed a stunning 20-16 upset of the Broncos.

The win kept the Giants in the playoff race as New York moved to a 6-8 record.

The Giants would win their next two games to finish the season at 8-8, but it was not enough to make the playoffs.

Graham would go into the following season as the starting quarterback but he would be replaced by Kerry Collins, who ended up taking the Giants to the Super Bowl following the 2000 season.

While the Broncos did not go undefeated, they still earned a piece of immorality as they would go on to defeat the Atlanta Falcons 34-19 in Super Bowl XXXIII for their second straight Super Bowl title.

Elway would earn MVP honors in the game in what turned out to be the final game of his 17-year career.