Killer Giants

The real turning point came with the Giants' opening drive in the third quarter, when backup quarterback Jeff Rut-ledge shifted out of punt formation to sneak two yards for a first down on a fourth-down play at the Giants 46. "They knew something was up," said Parcells, "but they just didn't know what we were going to do." Simms made the gamble pay off five plays later by hitting tight end Mark Bavaro for a 13-yard touchdown against double coverage. "I probably should not have thrown it, but I saw this little opening," Simms said.

He got his longest completion of the day, 44 yards to Phil McConkey, off a flea-flicker that set up the Giants' second touchdown of the second half. The Broncos had come into the game as the masters of trick plays—"gotchas," they call them—but they tried none, while the Giants connected on two of them, the flea-flicker and Rutledge's sneak. And the Broncos were wearing down in the 76° heat, while the Giants were getting stronger on both sides of the line.

Simms found Robinson for 36 yards, laying the ball perfectly in the hole in the double zone, on the way to the third touchdown of the half. He bootlegged for 22 yards to set up the last one. "Every time I hand the ball off," he said, "I look to see if the bootleg opportunity is there."

Nine of Simms's completions were to running backs, a high number for a quarterback who has always avoided the "dink" philosophy. "He's not a nickel-and-dime type of quarterback," Parcells had said before the game. "He's not going to dump the ball off. He can be whatever we want him to be, and I want those cornerbacks not sleeping too well the night before our game because they have nightmares of guys running by them." But in the Super Bowl, a game played under a magnifying glass that captures and enlarges every mistake, you take the safe road, which is what Simms did.

His three incompletions were on a hurried sideline pass to Robinson, a slight overthrow of Bavaro on a seam pattern straight downfield and a post pattern to McConkey on which the little receiver lost his footing downfield. McConkey more than made up for it, though, when he caught a touchdown off a rebound on a pass to Bavaro in the end zone. Said Simms, "I told Phil, 'You owed me that one after falling down.' "

The Broncos had put up a hell of a fight for two periods but were simply overcome. "We threw everything we had at them," Elway said. "I thought I did everything I could do. That's all one could ask. These playoff games helped make me a better quarterback ... this whole five-week period."

Karlis mercilessly blamed himself, saying, "I thought about all the people I let down, all the guys who had put their hearts and souls into this game, guys like Tom Jackson, who'll probably retire and will never have another chance at a Super Bowl." But as Mecklenburg said, "The way the Giants moved the ball in the second half, six points wouldn't have made a difference."

The Super Bowl also justified the Giants' decisions on draft day last April, when they shocked the NFL by fortifying an already powerful defense with six high defensive picks. On Sunday, New York had fresher legs than Denver. Pepper Johnson was a situation linebacker on passing downs. Mark Collins was the nickelback. Eric Dorsey, the No. 1 choice, relieved the 33-year-old Martin on the series before Martin sacked Elway for the safety. Howard, another rookie, was a key man in the goal-line stand. Greg Lasker, the dimeback when the Giants went to six defensive backs, threw the spring block on a 25-yard McConkey punt return that set up Raul Allegre's 21-yard field goal with 3:54 remaining in the third quarter.

"The real area where all those defensive rookies make themselves felt," general manager George Young said, "is special teams." The Giants are very sturdy in that department.

Parcells, who had never before tasted a Super Bowl, as an assistant or a head coach, gave his team a terrific two weeks of practice. In the first week he ran them hard, six 100-yard sprints one day, six 60s on another.