• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

No one could blame Parcells for that decision. Simms and Rutledge were each five-year veterans; Hostetler was a rookie. Except the next week, Parcells told him that he would play the game’s last ten minutes against Indianapolis. He never took a snap. He never took a snap the following week against the Jets. And in the final preseason game against Pittsburgh, he watched the entire game from the sidelines.

“It was Penn State all over again,” Hostetler later said.

Being told he would play in the exhibition portion of his rookie season irritated Jeff Hostetler. But keeping a rookie quarterback on the sidelines—even during the preseason—is not unheard of. And Parcells’ reasoning was sound: four months removed from college and with only a few weeks of training camp, he simply wasn’t prepared. He didn’t take a single snap at quarterback in 1984.

Not playing the next season also bothered Hostetler. But away from Giants Stadium and the team’s practice facilities, far greater concerns held his attention. In June 1985, Vicky Hostetler gave birth to the couple’s first child. The following morning, the entire family was stunned to learn that Jason Hostetler suffered from pulmonary stenosis: one of his heart valves was too narrow to pump a sufficient amount of blood from the heart to the lungs.

Doctors performed surgery on the one-day-old child and over the next eleven months, he endured four more operations to correct the problem.

“Now he’s doing real well. He has a lot of fun, and he’s becoming more active. The doctors are pleased with the way he’s doing. Only time will tell if everything will be good,” Hostetler said when Jason was seventeen months old. “This puts everything in perspective. I know what my priorities are—what’s important and what isn’t. That little boy is important. This makes you realize how lucky you really are and how trivial all the other little worries and disappointments are.”

Compared to the painful uncertainties caused by Jason’s health crisis, not seeing action as a quarterback during those first two seasons was “trivial.” But by 1986, with Jason’s health improving, Hostetler was once again ready to focus on football. Contributions on special teams (blocking that punt against Philadelphia) and as an emergency wide receiver seemed to make his coaches take notice. Bill Parcells personally told him he would compete for the job as Simms’ backup.

Unfortunately, his fourth season in the NFL, 1987, got off to the worst start yet. A bruised kidney suffered in a preseason game against Cleveland landed him in the hospital, then on the injured reserve list for a month. Jeff Rutledge retained the second-string job.

“I knew it was do-or-die when I went to camp in 1988,” Hostetler said. “I had worn Giant blue for four years, and when Bill Parcells said again that he wanted to know what I could do, I figured I would have to show him something or make room for someone else.

“I had a good preseason camp, and they told me I had earned the No. 2 job. They were keeping [Rutledge], too, at least for now. But I was officially the backup to Phil. At least I was moving in the right direction. It wasn’t where I wanted to be, but maybe I was on my way at last.”

Hostetler finally earned a chance at quarterback later that season. In a November loss to Philadelphia, Eagles defensive end Reggie White slammed Simms’ left shoulder into the ground, forcing him out of the game. With Jeff Rutledge on injured reserve, Hostetler was the only other quarterback on the roster. In his first prolonged quarterback action in fifty-nine months, Hostetler struggled, tossing a pair of interceptions, including one in overtime that set up Philadelphia’s game-winning score.

With Simms still sidelined, Hostetler started the following week against New Orleans.

“If Hostetler plays,” Parcells said, “we will use our full game plan. He should be able to handle our offense by now.”

Despite that statement, the Giants utilized a conservative, run-heavy approach to hide the inexperience of their quarterback. On one of the few pass plays,