Super Bowl Monday_ From the Persian Gulf to the Shores of West Florida - Adam Lazarus [22]
That confidence grew much more the following autumn.
Three consecutive victories to open the season established New York as the early front-runner for the 1990 NFC East title. In Week Four against Dallas, Simms’ three touchdown passes built a 24-10 advantage early in the fourth quarter. Parcells surprised the Cowboys, his offense, and especially his second-string quarterback, when he inserted Hostetler to close out the game.
“I wanted him to run the offense without running out the clock,” Parcells said. “I wanted him to drive the ball down the field and try to score.”
A fifteen-yard run along with a twelve-yard pass completion pushed the Giants into Dallas’ red zone. With less than ten minutes remaining, Hostetler capped off an eight-play, sixty-six-yard drive by eluding Cowboys defenders Ken Norton Jr. and Tony Tolbert, then racing into the end zone for a twelve-yard touchdown.
“I think [Parcells] was testing me, I think he was testing my preparation, he was testing me whether I was ready to go at a moment’s notice.”
Two weeks later, Hostetler was again thrust into the Giants lineup, and this time with three full quarters remaining. On the final play of the first period, two Phoenix Cardinals high-lowed Simms, knocking him out with an injured ankle. Hostetler took over and produced a short scoring drive that put New York in front 10-3, five minutes before halftime. But after that field goal, neither the Giants offense nor the defense could do anything right, and Phoenix surged to a 19-10 edge with just over five minutes remaining in the game.
Shaking off four sacks as well as a fumble and an interception (both of which preceded Cardinals scores), Hostetler floated a perfect post-corner touchdown pass to a diving Stephen Baker. Trailing 19-17, the defense then forced a punt with one minute to play. Two completions by Hostetler moved New York from their own twenty-nine-yard-line into field-goal range. On the game’s final play, the Giants kicker nailed a forty-yarder to complete a spectacular comeback.
“I thought it was an outstanding comeback and a great job by Hostetler,” Parcells said. “I’m glad he’s been around for the time he has because I don’t know if a guy with less experience could have done what he did.”
Once again the following Sunday, Simms was under center when the Giants took on Washington.
Although being relegated to second-string and not playing on Sundays bothered, even angered, Hostetler, he could understand it. For nearly seven full seasons, the Giants had thrived under Simms, who won fifty of eighty-three starts from 1984 to 1990, a stretch in which New York earned five playoff berths and a Super Bowl title.
“I didn’t have a guy in front of me that was stinking out the place,” he said. “[Simms] was throwing the lights out of the ball, playing really, really well. So there just weren’t the opportunities there that you normally get as a backup quarterback.”
Not being given opportunities to take snaps—even in practice—was Hostetler’s true frustration. He knew that the first, and really the only, objective of the Giants coaching staff was to prepare the team to win football games. And if the Giants believed Simms gave the team their best shot at victory, then he was the logical choice to quarterback every down. Still, to best serve the team—and himself—the backup felt he needed some level of regular participation.
During the first six seasons of his NFL career, Hostetler played only four games at quarterback. And aside from the outrage that seeped through after being pulled at halftime against New Orleans in 1988, he quietly endured his frustration.
“Jeff is the kinda guy that he is such a competitor, he said, ‘Coach, I don’t even have to shower, I never get in. I don’t do anything. It’s just murder,’” Don Nehlen remembered.
But twice in 1990, he had tasted the so-called crunch time of the fourth quarter. And now, near the end of that season, Hostetler’s patience quickly evaporated.
“Seven, eight weeks go by and I’ve just had it. You think about it, six-and-a-half years, how long [that]