NFL Old School Game of the Week: Jets Derail Giants' Playoff Hopes With Win in Regular Season Finale

 

Al Toon makes what would be the game-winning touchdown in the Jets' 1988 victory over the Giants.

The rivalry between the New York Giants and the New York Jets is an unusual one as the teams often do not play each other because they represent different conferences as the Giants are in the NFC and the Jets are in the AFC.

While they do meet annually in the preseason ever since 1969, the two teams have only met only 15 times as of the 2023 season.

But in 1988, the two teams met in the final week of the regular season where one team needed a win to secure a spot in the playoffs while the other could play spoiler.

The Giants came into the game with a 10-5 record needing just one more victory to clinch the NFC East division title and return to the playoffs after missing the previous year.

"Big Blue" was led by head coach Bill Parcells who along with quarterback Phil Simms and linebacker Lawrence Taylor helped led the Giants to a 39-20 win in Super Bowl XXI on January 25, 1987 for the franchise's first NFL title since 1956.

Standing in their way were their crosstown rivals, the New York Jets, who had already been eliminated from the playoff race as they came in with a 7-7-1 record under head coach Joe Walton.

It had been tumultuous year for "Gang Green" as defensive end Mark Gastineau, part of the famed "New York Sack Exchange" retired seven weeks into the season to be with then-fiancee Brigette Nielsen, who was going through a health crisis at the time.

Having been eliminated with a loss two weeks earlier, the Jets came into the regular season finale hoping to prevent the Giants from making the playoffs as a Jets victory plus wins by the Philadelphia Eagles and the Los Angeles Rams would keep the Giants from reaching the postseason as the two teams met in Giants Stadium with the Jets as the designated hometeam.

The Giants would get the ball to start the game as they would drove from their 25-yard-line to the Jets' 13-yard-line in 13 plays to set up a 31-yard field goal attempt by Paul McFadden, only for the kick to sail wide left to keep the game scoreless as the Jets would take over at their 20-yard-line with just over nine minutes left in the first quarter.

The Jets would run the ball four straight times, picking up 31 yards to drive into Giants territory when O'Brien completed a 28-yard pass to Al Toon to put New York at the Giants' 21-yard-line when the drive stalled as the Jets would settle for a 41-yard field goal by Pat Leahy to give the Jets a 3-0 lead with 4:31 to go in the first quarter.

Following a Giants three-and-out, the Jets would get the ball back at their 46-yard-line for their second possession of the game which started with a 37-yard pass from O'Brien to Wesley Walker to give the Jets a 1st down at the Giants' 17-yard-line.

From there, the Jets would run the ball four straight times for a total of 12 yards to put them at the Giants' five-yard-line when O'Brien found tight end Mickey Shuler in the end zone for the five-yard touchdown to increase the Jets' lead to 10-0 with 82 seconds to go in the opening quarter.

The Giants would get the ball back at their 25-yard-line as they would turn to running back Joe Morris to get them to drive down the field as he carried the ball six straight times for 46 yards to put the Giants at the Jets' 29-yard-line when Simms scrambled for 12 yards to give New York a 1st down inside the Jets' red zone.

That is when the "Sack Exchange" rose up as they sacked Simms on back-to-back plays to force another field goal attempt from McFadden, this time from 49 yards out.

Once again, McFadden would fail to make the field goal as his kick fell short of the uprights to give the Jets the ball at their 32-yard-line with a chance to increase their lead.

Giants quarterback Phil Simms threw for 230 yards and three touchdowns while running for 57 yards.

The drive would begin with a 10-yard pass from O'Brien to Shuler, which was followed by a three-yard run by Roger Vick to set up 2nd & 7 when O'Brien connected with Walker for 49 yards to give the Jets a 1st & goal at the Giants' six-yard-line.

That is when the "Big Blue Wrecking Crew" rose to the occasion as they would allow three yards on the next three plays to force the Jets to settle for a 20-yard field goal by Leahy which pushed the Jets' lead to 13-0 with 5:58 left in the second quarter.

The two teams would trade punts until the Giants got the ball at the 50-yard-line with 81 seconds left before halftime when Simms scrambled for 16 yards, then hit three straight passes for 29 yards to give the Giants a 1st & goal at the Jets' five-yard-line.

After throwing two incomplete passes, Simms would throw a five-yard touchdown pass to Stephen Baker to cut the Jets' lead to 13-7 with 10 seconds left in the first half as the Jets would take a knee to run out the clock on the first half.The Jets got the ball to start the second half but would go three-and-out to punt the ball to the Giants only to have Phil McConkey muff the punt, leading to a recovery by Kurt Sohn to give the Jets the ball at the Giants' six-yard-line.

It would take one play for the Jets to cash in on the turnover as Freeman McNeil ran it in for the six-yard touchdown to push the Jets' lead back to 13 points at 20-7 almost two minutes into the second half.

Following another exchange of punts, the Giants had the ball at their 33-yard-line as Morris would get his hands on the football on back-to-back plays, picking up 12 yards which was followed by an incomplete pass and a six-yard run by Ottis Anderson to bring up 3rd & 4 as Simms ran for 17 yards to give the Giants a 1st down at the Jets' 32-yard-line.

From there, Simms hit tight end Mark Bavaro for 21 yards, then handed the ball off to Morris who picked up two yards to bring up 2nd & 8 when Simms found Baker in the left corner of the end zone for the nine-yard touchdown to make it an one-possession game at 20-14 with 20 seconds to go in the third quarter.

The Jets would hold the ball for four minutes before they punted the ball back to the Giants who took over at their 20-yard-line with 11:08 left in the fourth quarter.

After Simms was sacked on 1st down by Jets linebacker Alex Gordon for a 10-yard-loss, Simms would complete a 19-yard pass to tight end Zeke Mowatt to set up 3rd & 1 when he handed the ball off to Anderson who picked up the single yard to give the Giants a fresh set of downs at their 30-yard-line.

Following an incomplete pass on 1st down, Simms handed the ball off to Anderson, who gained 14 yards to give the Giants another 1st down at their 44-yard-line when Simms hit Lionel Manuel for 36 yards to put the Giants at the Jets' 20-yard-line.

Three plays later, Simms would find Manuel for a nine-yard touchdown that with the extra point gave the Giants their first lead of the game at 21-20 with 4:54 remaining in the game.

The Jets would get great field position to start their ensuing possession as Bobby Humphrey would return the ensuing kickoff 37 yards to the Jets' 48-yard-line, giving O'Brien a short field as the Jets needed only a field goal to retake the lead.

The drive would begin with O'Brien completing back-to-back passes to Vick for 18 yards to give the Jets a fresh set of downs at the Giants' 34-yard-line which was followed by a  four-yard pass from O'Brien to Toon.

O'Brien would then hand the ball off to Johnny Hector who gained three yards to set up 3rd & 3 when  O'Brien found Shuler for 16 yards to give the Jets a 1st down at the Giants' 11-yard-line.

Clearly in field goal range, the Jets seemed poised to milk as much time off the clock before attempting the field goal as McNeil would carry the ball on the next two plays to gain six yards to set up 3rd & 4 from the five-yard-line

That is O'Brien surprised the Giants and his coach as he called an audible from a running play to a pass as he lofted a pass for Toon, who was in man-to-man coverage, in the left corner of the end zone.

Toon would outjump Giants cornerback Tom Flynn to make the catch for the five-yard touchdown that with Leahy's extra point gave the Jets a 27-21 lead with 37 seconds left in the game.

Jets quarterback Ken O'Brien would complete 16 of 26 passes for 214 yards and throw two touchdowns.

With their playoff hopes on life support, the Giants would begin their next possession at their 24-yard-line needing a touchdown and an extra point to win.

Simms would complete a nine-yard pass to running back George Adams, then hit Manuel for 20 yards to give the Giants a 1st down at the Jets' 47-yard-line as they spent their last timeout with 15 seconds to go.

After Simms couldn't connect with Maneul on 1st down, he lofted a "Hail Mary"pass down the left side of the field only to have Jets cornerback James Hasty knock it down as time expired with the Jets coming away with the 27-21 victory.

The loss to the Jets was the start of a chain of events that did not go in the Giants' favor as it came to their playoff hopes as the Eagles defeated the Dallas Cowboys 23-7 to win the NFC East title as Philadelphia won both regular season games with the Giants to win the head-to-head tiebreaker.

Then, the  Rams knocked off the San Francisco 49ers 38-16 to clinch the last Wild Card spot, thus ending the Giants' season despite a 10-6 record.

The Giants would recover the following year to win the NFC East division then followed it up in 1990 with their second Super Bowl title in five years.

As for the Jets, the win over the Giants gave them a winning season as they finished with a 8-7-1 record for the team's fifth winning season in the past eight years.

However, the Jets would go into a decline the following season as they would go 4-12 which resulted in the firing of Walton as head coach as "Gang Green" would not have a winning season again until 1997.