Super Bowl Monday_ From the Persian Gulf to the Shores of West Florida - Adam Lazarus [21]
Still, Parcells chose Jeff Rutledge (who was activated from the injured list the day before) to begin the third quarter. On the opening two plays of the second half, New Orleans sacked Rutledge, who fumbled the ball each time; he finished the game with an interception and virtually identical statistics to Hostetler. The Giants eked out a 13-12 victory.
“The reason I changed quarterbacks is that I felt Rutledge had a bit more experience. I thought Hostetler did a good job and I told him that.”
Hostetler, infuriated at having been removed, lashed out to reporters after the game, saying, “I’m hot, did you ever see anything like that?” Once again, false promises bothered him more than did watching from the sideline.
“I’m through here,” he told reporters. “[Parcells] told me that I had done a good job, but that he wanted to make a change. He said he’d get me back in there. But he didn’t say anything to me after that.”
Hostetler instructed his agent to demand a trade. Giants General Manager George Young consulted with the head coach.
“George asked me, ‘You want to keep him?’ I said, ‘Of course,” Parcells responded.
With unrestricted free agency for NFL players still several years away, Hostetler needed Parcells and the Giants. And with starting quarterbacks made of mere flesh and bones, the Giants and Parcells needed Hostetler.
“The rule of thumb is, people don’t get rid of good players. This isn’t fantasy football. That’s for the fans,” Young later said. “The best thing to do is pick the young players and develop them the way you want.”
The Giants were not going to trade him. That didn’t stop Hostetler from storming into Bill Parcells’ office.
“I went in and Bill and I had a knock-down, drag-out discussion and it wasn’t very friendly. But it was a situation where I got off my chest what I wanted to say. And if you know Bill, Bill’s not going to sit there and take anything; he had his comments to say,” Hostetler said years later. “I left there and was coming out to practice later in the day and he comes up beside me and says ‘You feel better?’ And I just looked at him. And from that point on, I knew exactly where I stood with him and he knew where he stood with me.”
“I thought he was a bright young guy,” Parcells said two decades later. “I think Jeff as a young player was a little sensitive and certainly frustrated. Because he was there a long time and he really wasn’t getting an opportunity to play and as any competitive guy would be he wanted that opportunity. I understood his sentiments, but yet, we weren’t in the habit of trying to get rid of good players.”
Hostetler set aside his frustration from the New Orleans game—what he called “the lowest point of my whole football career, lower than the Fiesta Bowl”—and returned to the Giants, awaiting his next chance to play. It came a year later.
With Simms injured in the first quarter of a game against Minnesota, Hostetler contributed to a Giants comeback victory: his mobility outside of the pocket produced key first downs. Simms remained inactive for the Giants’ next game at Phoenix and Hostetler made his second start in six years. Unlike the Saints episode a year earlier, Parcells did not experience any “gut feeling” that prompted him to make a halftime switch. Hostetler scrambled for two touchdowns and again converted several first downs through the air in the 20-13 win. New York improved to 8-1.
“I thought Jeff handled the game well,” said Parcells. “We ran the ball real good. We played within ourselves.”
Although Simms returned for the next week, Parcells and the Giants players had a growing trust in Hostetler.
“I think our guys have confidence in me now. Before [the Cardinals game] some of them said that you’ve waited a long time, so take advantage of it,” he said afterwards. “I’m just trying to get the job done. Maybe I’ve helped myself for the future, knowing the team has confidence in you and you’re able to perform better. You expect to