Sunday, January 15, 2012

1991

Twenty years ago, I saw the best defense of my lifetime. In 1991, the Philadelphia Eagles led the NFL in rushing, passing, and overall defense. Despite having one of the worst offenses I’ve ever watched, the Eagles won 10 games on the strength of that defense. This post was supposed to celebrate the season the defense had that year. Instead, I’ve found that I can’t discuss them without going into detail about the offense. Overall, I think it reads as an indictment of that offense, which is, in fact, an indictment of Buddy Ryan’s offensive talent evaluation and Rich Kotite’s coaching.


Eagle fans had high expectations for 1991. Sure, they had fired Buddy Ryan, but he hadn’t won a playoff game anyway. No one really knew much about Rich Kotite, but he had been hired as the offensive coordinator prior to the previous season, and the result was Randall Cunningham becoming, as Sports Illustrated would call him, The Ultimate Weapon. Randall threw for 3,400 yards with 30 touchdowns against only 13 interceptions while also collecting 942 rushing yards. That was in his first season in a new offensive system. And, because Mike Quick’s career ended only 9 receptions into 1990, the Eagles’ starting wide receivers that season were Fred Barnett and Calvin Williams, both of whom were rookies. It was only going to get better, thought everyone in Philly. 4,000 yards passing with 40 touchdowns and 1,000 rushing by the quarterback was not out of the question. Then Bryce Paup happened. On the first play of the second quarter of Rich Kotite’s first game as a head coach, Paup hit Randall just as he released the ball and tore the quarterback’s ACL (17 years later, Bernard Pollard would hit Tom Brady in the exact same fashion and become the catalyst for an NFL rule change). I remember playing Lakers vs. Celtics with my friend Mike during halftime of the Eagles-Packers game when we heard the news over the radio that Randall was out for the season. We thought the Eagles were done. We ALL thought they were headed for 3-13. Sure, the same players from Buddy’s defense were still there, but neither Ryan nor his coordinator, Jeff Fisher, was around anymore. Bud Carson, the fired Browns head coach, ran the defense in 1991. Who knew that unit could get better?

Because of their superiority in the secondary, I rate the 1991 Eagles defense above the 1985 Bears and 2000 Ravens, in that order. Neither of those other defenses was handicapped by poor offense as much as the Eagles were—to fully appreciate how great the 1991 Eagles defense was, you have to understand exactly how bad the offense was. I know what you’re thinking: the 2000 Ravens offense went 5 consecutive games without scoring a touchdown, so there’s no way the Philadelphia offense was worse. Au contraire mon frère. The Ravens actually scored very well compared to the Eagles. 5 consecutive games without a touchdown, but Baltimore scored nearly 21 points per game in 2000; the 1991 Eagles scored just shy of 18 per game. 3 points per game difference may not seem like a lot, but look at it this way: since 1979, only three 10-win teams have scored fewer points than the 10-6 Eagles of 1991.

That Philly offense was pitiful. It had already been pitiful, but Randall Cunningham masked it. A few weeks ago on Twitter, someone noticed that the Eagles’ leading rusher in 1991 only gained 440 yards. That’s bad, but that statistic alone doesn’t give the entire picture. It doesn’t tell you that the Eagles played 1991 without their man who had been their leading rusher for years. Randall Cunningham was the Eagle running game. Look at this:
  • In 1986, Buddy Ryan’s first season as head coach, Randall played all 16 games while starting only 5, yet only trailed the team rushing leader by 37 yards. Randall had 540 yards and 5 rushing touchdowns. Keith Byars led the team with 577 on 3.3 yards per carry. Also, Cunningham was the only Eagle with more than 1 rushing touchdown that season.
  • In 1987, as the full-time starter, Randall led the Eagles in rushing. He had 505 yards while Anthony Toney finished second with 473 on 3.7 yards per carry.
  • In 1988, as the full-time starter, Randall led the Eagles in rushing. He had 624 yards while Keith Byars finished second with 517 on 3.4 yards per carry.
  • In 1989, as the full-time starter, Randall led the Eagles in rushing. He had 621 yards while Anthony Toney finished second with 582 on 3.4 yards per carry.
  • In 1990, as the full-time starter, Randall led the Eagles in rushing. He had 942 yards while Heath Sherman finished second with 685 on 4.2 yards per carry.
If we look at the entire Buddy Ryan-Rich Kotite era, which stretches from 1986 to 1994, there was only one season, 1992, in which an Eagle other than Randall Cunningham ran for more than 750 yards. That season, Herschel Walker gained 1070 yards on the ground, and the Eagles, not so coincidentally, won their only playoff game during that timeframe.

The lack of running game in Philly was a disgrace, and the 1991 season illustrates how bad it was without Randall’s contributions. In the 28-team NFL, the Eagles had the 13th most rushing attempts, but ranked only 21st in rushing yards. Unsurprisingly, they finished 20th in rushing first downs. It should come as no shock to you that the 1991 Eagles were dead last in yards per rush. Since 1980, only 7 teams were worse than the 1991 Eagles’ 3.13 yards per carry average. Four of those teams had top ten passing offenses quarterbacked by the likes of Drew Brees and Dan Marino; the other 3 were at the bottom of the NFL in points scored (2 of those 3 are the 1999 and 2000 San Diego Chargers, who drafted LaDainian Tomlinson in 2001). Point is, the Eagles were a historically bad rushing team. Because of Randall Cunningham, the Eagles 2nd in the NFL in rushing yards, rushing first downs, and yards per carry in 1990.

What a difference one man made between 1990 and 1991, and we haven’t even discussed the Eagles’ passing game yet. The 1990 Eagles, quarterbacked by Cunningham, were 13th out of the league’s 28 teams in passes thrown. For their efforts, they finished 7th in passing yards & first downs and 2nd in touchdown passes. In 1991, those ranks fell to 20th, 27th, and 12th, respectively, while attempting the 7th most passes in the league. Overall, the Eagles fell from 3rd in points scored to 18th and 8th in yards per play to 25th. Randall Cunningham may not have been anywhere near the quarterback as Peyton Manning was, but his absence had a nearly identical effect on the team’s offense.

A team having the 13th most rushing attempts in the league and finishing 21st in yards sounds really, really bad, but it also sounds almost somewhat plausible. Finishing 20th in passing yards while throwing the 7th most passes is unfathomable to me. How does that happen? These statistics are an condemnation of the quarterback play.

I know your first question: who was the Eagles’ backup quarterback? The answer is: 32-year old Jim McMahon. McMahon wasn’t completely awful—he was serviceable, just a little bit below average—but he was brittle even as a young pro. There was no way he was going to survive as a 15-game starter in his 30s. Coming into 1991, McMahon had only three times played as many as 10 games in a season, but he actually turned in one of his healthier seasons that year. He started eleven games and finished six of them (some unfinished due to benchings). All told, McMahon was responsible for only 60.6% of the Eagles’ 513 pass attempts that season. His numbers won’t wow you (60.1% completions, 12 TDs, 11 INTs, 80.3 rating), but he was infinitely better than the guys who backed him up.

Jeff Kemp threw the second-most passes for Philly in 1991. Kemp actually began that season as he had the previous four, serving as Dave Kreig’s backup in Seattle. Kemp played in 7 games, starting 5, as a Seahawk. In his final two games with Seattle, Kemp started and went a combined 26-56 for 351 yards, 1 touchdown, and 6 interceptions. He was released a few hours after that last start. Two weeks later, he made his Eagles debut after the 49ers knocked out McMahon. Jack Kemp, the quarterback’s father and member of George Bush’s Cabinet, was Eagle owner Norman Braman’s guest that day. I soon felt sorry for the old man. Jeff Kemp’s stat line for that game reads 1 incomplete pass and 1 rush for 7 yards. What you can’t see from the box score is that the 7-yard scramble ended with Kemp sandwiched between two defensive linemen. Kemp fell to the ground face down and stayed there. No movement at all, not even a twitch. I thought he was dead. Jack was pale as a ghost. Jeff was out cold. That’s the first time I can remember seeing a player’s facemask removed with his helmet left in place.

Kemp came back 5 weeks later and played in four more games, starting two of them. His stat line as an Eagle: 57-114, 546 yards, 5 TDs, 5 INTs, 60.1 rating. At 32 years old, Jeff Kemp retired at the end of the season.

The archaic Pat Ryan (any Jet fans older than 30 are probably vomiting at reading his name) played in four games. He only threw 26 passes, but that was enough to complete 4 to the other team and post a 10.3 rating. He threw, by the way, zero touchdown passes.

Brad Goebel, the man I consider the face of the 1991 Eagles offense, started two of the 5 games he played. Those two starts resulted in 23 combined first downs, 375 yards of total offense, 10 turnovers, and not a single offensive touchdown. Goebel finished that season with 6 interceptions. He only threw 3 passes the rest of his career, which ended without a touchdown pass.

If you were keeping track, you noticed that Eagle quarterbacks combined to throw 17 touchdown passes against 26 interceptions (27 if you include the pick thrown by Keith Byars). Their rating for the season was 63.2. Ouch.

Overall, the Eagles turned the ball over 43 times in 1991. 43 turnovers. 43 turnovers. In one season. 16 games. 43 turnovers. And they went 10-6. In the early 1990s NFC East. 10-6. With 43 turnovers.


It’s difficult to explain how handicapped this defense was to someone who did not see them play. The best way I can do it is to take a look at the 6 games the Eagles lost in 1991. First was Week 2 at home against Phoenix. The Eagles allowed 80 yards on the ground, but it took the Cardinals 33 carries to gain them. The leading rusher picked up 54 yards on 19 carries. And Tom Tupa only completed 6 passes on the day. Still, the Eagles lost 26-10 (the touchdown came 2 plays after Seth Joyner picked off a pass, returned it to Phoenix’s 5-yard line, got up, and shoved the ball into Jim McMahon’s gut while telling him, “Score.”). The Eagles offense turned the ball over 6 times that day, one of which was a fumble returned for a Cardinal touchdown.

The defense responded by shutting out the Cowboys in Texas Stadium. A few weeks later, they played in RFK on Monday Night Football. The Redskins were still undefeated. It was the defense’s worst performance of the year. They allowed 184 yards through the air and 173 on the ground (41 carries), although they did force 4 turnovers. But it’s hard to offer any type of resistance without any rest. The offense only managed 4 first downs and 89 total yards. 35 passing yards. 4 first downs. In an entire game. Pitiful. It was a performance that makes LSU’s offensive performance against Alabama look less pathetic.

The next Sunday, the Eagles went to Tampa to play an 0-5 Buccaneers team that finished 3-13. This is the most memorable Eagles game from my high school years. Of all the games I wish I had on DVD, this is at the top of the list. The Eagles held the Bucs to only 12 first downs and 193 total yards. They also forced 6 turnovers. And, yes, the Buccaneers won. How? Rich Kotite.

The game in Tampa was Brad Goebel’s first career start. He was facing a Buccaneer defense that would finish the season ranked 5th in passing but only 25 in rushing—you can probably attribute much of that to the fact that the offense stunk and, therefore, the Bucs were trailing throughout just about every game—so Kotite went into the game refusing to let Goebel lose it for him. The Eagles just ran and ran and ran. They ran so much they gained 117 yards on the ground. On 41 carries. 2.85 yards per carry. And that includes a reverse to Kenny Jackson and 2 carries by the punter. The Eagles’ true ground game (running backs and quarterback) picked up an even hundred yards on 38 carries (2.63). That’s just ugly. The big guy that day was Heath Sherman, who gained 89 yards on his 35 carries (2.54). Kotite did let Goebel throw it 20 times; those passes resulted in 62 yards and 2 interceptions.

Check out these nuggets from Paul Domowitch’s game story in the next day’s Philadelphia Daily News:
  • “They’ve got the type of running game that you can shut down,” said [Jesse] Solomon, whose unit held the Eagles to 117 mostly insignificant yards on 41 carries in the Bucs’ 14-13 come-from-behind victory. “They’re not very sophisticated. They’re not going to do a lot that’s going to pull you away from what you know.”
  • “I’ve played against Philadelphia on a number of occasions and they’ve never really had a strong offensive line that they felt confident with,” Solomon said. “Today was further evidence of that.”
Yes, that was a linebacker from a 1-5 team talking.

In The Philadelphia Inquirer, Bill Lyon wrote the following:
  • The Eagles’ failure to run with any degree of success, whether it is the fault of the offensive line or because the lack of backs with acceleration, has been well-chronicled. It didn’t change yesterday.
  • On the sole occasion the Eagles’ offense actually generated its own momentum, it drove 47 yards. Unfortunately, it needed 48. On first and goal at the Tampa Bay 3, Sherman was stopped for no gain, with the defense massed in the middle, simply waiting for him. Keith Byars was flagged for illegal motion on the play, and the Eagles tried again from the 8. They tried, to no one’s surprise, Sherman. He got 2 yards. Plus a ringing in his ears that wouldn’t go away. They tried him again. He got 2 more. Plus a contusion, a welt and a limp. The Eagles called time. They conferred. Trick play? No, Sherman again. For 3 more, to the 1.
As you see, the Eagles were unable to move the ball against Tampa Bay. And they were unable to score an offensive touchdown against the 25th ranked team in scoring defense. They were able to score a pair of field goals, though. And Seth Joyner recovered a fumble for a touchdown. Philly led 13-0 heading into the 4th quarter. Then Kotite grew even more conservative. Goebel only threw 1 pass, which fell incomplete. Other than that, it was 12 Heath Sherman runs, and you already know how they turned out. To quote Lyon’s colleague, Mark Bowden, “With rookie Brad Goebel at quarterback yesterday, the offense looked like a porcelain stork, afraid to move for fear it might break.”

Kotite, Kotite, Kotite. This is what the head coach had to say about his conservative attack: “I was running Sherman up the middle and off tackle; I was alternating, mixing it up that way. What I was trying to do was burn the clock and punt it.” That’s such a losing mentality. And it backfired when punter Jeff Feagles dropped a snap and gave the Bucs possession at the Eagles’ 7 (this went as a -12-yard run for Feagles; he’d previously successfully run a fake punt for 11).

Tampa converted that into a touchdown as they did the short field after the ensuing 3 & out by the Philly offense. 14-13 was the final score. In the Washington and Tampa Bay games, the offense gained a total of 89 passing yards.

Bowden: “As a unit, the defense had done all it could and more: intercepted three passes, scored a touchdown, sacked Tampa Bay quarterbacks three times for 24 yards, forced four fumbles and recovered three.” Those guys were not happy with their coach. Seth Joyner said, “How do you play like that?” Jerome Brown called it, “the worse I’ve ever felt.” Bowden’s game story closed with this: “‘It hurts,’ said [Wes] Hopkins, who contributed six tackles, two sacks, an interception, a forced fumble and two recovered fumbles. ‘Hell, I don’t know if we can do any more. We’re gonna try.’”

You would think the Eagle offense would have come out the next week and put some points on the board. Against the 6-0 NFC West-leading Saints, they did not. They ran the ball better than they did in Tampa (53 yards on 17 carries, 3.12 average), but Goebel and Pat Ryan threw 5 interceptions. The defense was brilliant again (2.1 yards allowed per rush, 40% completions, 162 total yards allowed, 2 turnovers forced), but the offense just couldn’t score. This time they lost 13-6.

The loss to the Saints stretched the losing streak to 3 games. The defense’s totals for those three games are: 39 first downs allowed, 712 yards allowed, 415 yards passing, 297 yards rushing, 12 turnovers forced, and 50 points allowed. For the offense: 27 first downs gained, 464 yards gained, 240 yards passing, 224 yards rushing, 13 turnovers given up, 19 points scored. The closest comparison I can come up with is Randy Johnson’s 1999 season, which featured a 4-game stretch during which he went 0-4 with a 1.41 ERA and his team’s offense totaled 0 runs and 6 hits.

The following week was the aforementioned 49ers game. What I did not tell you earlier was that Jeff Kemp’s 7-yard rush was the Eagles’ longest run of the game. As team, they gained 29 yards on 14 carries. They also turned the ball over 5 times. But they did score an offensive touchdown, a feat they’d not accomplished during the previous 3 games. But they didn’t put any other points on the board. The defense held Jerry Rice to 2 receptions for 4 yards, Steve Young to 96 yards in the air, and held the 49ers running game to less than 3.5 yards per carry. But it still wasn’t enough. In the Lehigh Valley Morning Call, Terry Larimer wrote, “The Eagles, who have now lost four straight games, used pretty much the same formula for failure as they have in the past—no running game, no pass protection, too many mistakes, too many penalties and too many broken bodies at quarterback.”

Jim McMahon came back early from his injury to start that game. He was knocked out, but returned after Kemp was concussed. Regarding the 29 yards the Eagles earned on the ground, Larimer wrote, “eight of which were contributed by a pair of quarterbacks—one of whom got carried off on a stretcher and the other who probably shouldn’t have played in the first place and certainly shouldn’t have come back to play again in the second place.”

It didn’t matter who played quarterback, the offense was just pitiful. Also from Larimer’s game story: “[Rod] Harris bobbled a pair of punts, including a controversial one that nearly ended in a San Francisco TD, while [Keith] Jackson foolishly tried to lateral to Byars after one of his catches and instead coughed up a fumble. Asked what he thought of that play, Kotite said, ‘I didn’t see it. I didn’t have my glasses on.’” Since Kotite once lost his play chart on a rainy day because he forgot to laminate it, I wholeheartedly believe that explanation.

The loss to the 49ers was the 3rd consecutive game that no Eagle running back had a carry that went for 10 or more yards and the 6th in a row in which no back had a carry go for more than 12 yards. That’s unreal.

At that point in the season, the defense started playing even better and led the team to a 6-game winning streak that ended when Dallas visited the Vet for a matchup of 9-5 teams. The winner was going to make the playoffs; the loser would be out. Dallas’ first points came on a safety. Their winning points came on a Kelvin Martin punt return for a touchdown. Once again, the Eagle defense balled out. The Cowboys rushed for less than 2.5 yards per carry and Steve Beuerlein completed only 9 of 31 passes. And yet, the Eagles offense couldn’t do better.

So yeah, that great defense won 10 games with that offense. The numbers are amazing. 3,549 yards, 3.9 yards per play, 206 first downs (133 in the air, 56 on the ground), 206 completions, 2,413 passing yards, 6.0 yards per pass, 44.1% completions, 52.1 passer rating, 55 sacks, 1,136 rushing yards, 4 rushing touchdowns, 3.0 yards per rush, 48 turnovers. Every single one of those led the NFL. The Eagles picked off 26 passes, which was good for third in the league. And they gave up only 244 points (15.2 per game), 5th in the league, despite that poor, turnover-prone offense.

Not once all season did an opposing offense tally 20 first downs in a game. 10 times in 16 games they held their opponent for less than 200 yards passing and 85 yards rushing. They gave up 300 yards of total offense exactly one time, at eventual Super Bowl champion Washington.

They could blanket you in coverage and they were impenetrable versus the run. What had been missing in previous seasons had been a second cornerback to play alongside Eric Allen. Prior to 1990, that guy had been someone we used to call “I Smell” Izell “Stinkin’” Jenkins (if you ever see highlights of Joe Montana’s comeback at the Vet in 1989, it’s Jenkins’ #46 that you see chasing John Taylor and Jerry Rice into the end zone). In the first round of the 1990 draft, most thought the Eagles were going to draft Georgia running back Rodney Hampton. Instead, they chose his teammate, cornerback Ben Smith. Smith was very good as a rookie and played outstandingly in 1991. Unfortunately, he suffered a non-contact injury on the painted dirt in Cleveland and was never the same again. Eric Allen is, in my opinion, a Hall of Fame cornerback. What a great, great player.

Both outside linebackers were versatile: strong against the run, excellent blitzers, and could smother an opposing tight end. Seth Joyner is, along with Wilber Marshall and Derrick Brooks, one of the three best 4-3 outside linebackers I’ve ever seen. In 1991, he was unreal. 6.5 sacks, 3 interceptions, 6 forced fumbles, 4 fumble recoveries, and 2 touchdowns were his numbers, but they don’t tell the whole story. He was an enforcer. On a team with Reggie White, Clyde Simmons, Jerome Brown, Wes Hopkins, and Andre Waters, Seth may have been the most feared defender. William Thomas was just a rookie and wasn’t inserted into the starting lineup until midway through the season. But he was fast and proved to be an above average defender in pass coverage and a great blitzer.

The man in the middle was Byron Evans. B & E wasn’t spectacular and he wasn’t quite on the level of Mike Singletary. But he made all the calls and held down the middle. Most importantly, he didn’t miss tackles. He was the one the men on the defense saw as the leader.

The front four. Far and away the best four-man line I’ve ever seen (my football memories begin in 1982). Reggie. Clyde. Jerome. Mike Pitts is the forgotten man, but he was also a beast. Mike Golic and Andy Harmon also took reps as tackles. How good were they? You don’t always see defensive linemen near the top of a tackling leaderboard, but Simmons, White, and Pitts all had 100 or more tackles in 1991. The 4 starting linemen totaled 39 sacks. That never happens.

Often, you see great defenses have their best seasons after a collective realization that their offense wasn’t going to be able to help them. You know about the Ravens. The 1985 Bears played with the memory of being shut out in the 1984 playoffs by the 49ers, who taunted them with, “Bring your offense next time.” The Giants’ best defensive season came a year after they were shut out in the playoffs. In 1991, the Eagles defense rallied around Cunningham’s injury and knew that winning football games was going to be their responsibility.

What they did that season was both awe-inspiring and unprecedented. Nobody before or since was that good against the run and the pass. I don’t just mean finishing best in the league in both categories—the Eagles were historically great in both. Since I started watching football in 1982, only four defenses held quarterbacks to a lower passer rating than the 1991 Eagles’ 52.1: the 1985 (7th in the NFL) and 1986 Bears (2nd), 1988 Vikings (7th), and 2002 Buccaneers (8th). All of them allowed at least 3.4 yards per carry. Since the NFL-AFL merger, only four defenses have held opposing teams to fewer than the 1991 Eagles’ 2.97 yards per carry: the 1998 Chargers (3rd in the NFL), 2000 (3rd) and 2007 Ravens (24th), and 2006 Vikings (5th). None of them had a defensive passer rating below 62.5. Overall, the Eagles allowed 3.922 yards per play. Since the passing rules changed in 1978, that number has only been bested by the 1979 Bucs (3.891) and 2008 Steelers (3.896). They were also historically great at forcing turnovers. They forced 48 that year, tied for the league lead with New Orleans. In the years since, only the 2000 Ravens have surpassed that number (Baltimore force 49), and only the 2007 Chargers have tied it. These numbers are unbelievable, especially considering they were posted by one team.

You’ve already seen the statistics, but what do they mean? The measure of the defense’s greatness is that they won 10 games against a schedule that was not at all easy. The Eagles’ 1991 opponents had a combined 129-127 record. That may not seem all that tough to you, but look at year-by-year NFL schedules. Most playoff teams don’t play a schedule that strong. 7 of the 16 games were against teams with 10 or more wins on the season. They went 3-4 in those games, allowing 112 total points. 1991 was also year 6 in a decade-long period during which the NFC East won the Super Bowl 7 times (it was also year 2 of a four-in-a-row stretch). As such, there were 6 games against teams that were within a season of winning the Super Bowl (keep in mind this is the pre-free agency era when rosters did not change drastically from season to season). They went 4-2 in those games (91 total points allowed).

The offense’s 1991 performance was criminal. That defense should have been in the playoffs. The season they had was special. Despite their offense, the Eagles went 3-4 against 10-win teams and 3-3 against playoff teams. That shows how great they were. But instead of shining in January, their destiny is to be forgotten by all but the die-hards.

Sunday, January 1, 2012

The End of an Era

It is currently 7:04am on January 1, 2012. As I wait for my wife to wake up, I am sitting in my living room eating a bowl of oatmeal, drinking a cup of tea, and watching the Cowboys @ Giants game from January 1994. The NFL Network labels it “Emmitt’s Gutsiest Game”. You know the one—Emmitt Smith separated his right shoulder near the end of the first half, yet he remained in the game and carried Dallas to an overtime victory in the regular season finale. It is a similar situation to the game that will take place tonight: Cowboys at Giants, winner wins the NFC East. The stakes of that 1994 game were significantly higher—the winner would earn home field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs and the loser would have to go to San Francisco in the second round—but what strikes me more right now is that the game marked the end of an era.

Only two weeks earlier, CBS lost its NFC broadcast rights to Fox. January 2, 1994 marked the last CBS broadcast of a regular season NFL Game until 1998. Back then, though, CBS meant the NFC. The network has never really recovered from that lost. Football still isn’t right on Fox, and the AFC just doesn’t carry the same cachet for CBS now that the NFC did back then.

Due to conflicting egos, this game was also the last regular season game for Jimmy Johnson as head coach of the Cowboys. Special circumstances are required for a coach to get fired weeks after winning a championship. Even Paul Westhead kept his job with the Lakers for more than a year after winning the NBA title. We may never see anything play out like the Jimmy and Jerry saga ever again.

Lawrence Taylor. Phil Simms. This was the final regular season game in the careers of both legendary Giants. No two players symbolize the Bill Parcells era in New York like those two. They are just two of the players who made the NFC East what it was.

Speaking of my favorite division, this game, which appropriately went to overtime, was the last great moment of the old NFC East. Sure, Dallas went on a win a Super Bowl a couple of years later under Barry Switzer, but the rest of the division wasn’t the same. 1993 was the last year that the entire division (I mean, who really considered the Cardinals part of the division?) were contenders.

This game was the perfect end to the era. It was close, hard-hitting, and legendary. And it was called by John Madden and Pat Summerall.