Super Bowl XXV

AFC:  Buffalo Bills

NFC:  New York Giants

Date:  January 27, 1991

Location:  Tampa Stadium

 

Scoring:

Team                1          2          3          4          Final

BUF                 3          9          0          7            19

NYG                3          7          7          3            20

 

AFC playmakers:

RB Don M. Smith, DE Bruce Smith, RB Thurman Thomas

 

NFC playmakers:

WR Stephen Baker, RB Ottis Anderson, QB Jeff Hostetler

 

Network:  ABC (NFL Network rebroadcast)

Announcers:  Frank Gifford, Al Michaels, Dan Dierdorf

 

Pregame:  Yes

Halftime:  No

Postgame:  Yes

Commercials:  No

 

Grade:  95/100.  NFLN did some very light editing to keep the running time down, but nothing major was cut.  The crawl at the bottom detracts a little, but overall it’s excellent.

 

Notes:  The NFC champion New York Giants won their second Super Bowl in five years with a 20-19 victory over AFC titlist Buffalo.

 

New York, employing its ball-control offense, had possession for 40 minutes, 33 seconds, a Super Bowl record. The Bills, who scored 95 points in their previous two playoff games leading to Super Bowl XXV, had the ball for less than eight minutes in the second half and just 19:27 for the game.

 

Fourteen of New York's 73 plays came on its initial drive of the third quarter, which covered 75 yards and consumed a Super Bowl-record 9:29 before running back Ottis Anderson ran one yard for a touchdown.

 

Giants quarterback Jeff Hostetler kept the long drive going by converting three third-down plays – an 11-yard pass to running back David Meggett on third-and-eight, a 14-yard toss to wide receiver Mark Ingram on third-and-13, and a 9-yard pass to Howard Cross on third-and-four-to give New York a 17-12 lead in the third quarter.

 

Buffalo jumped to a 12-3 lead midway through the second quarter before Hostetler completed a 14-yard scoring strike to wide receiver Stephen Baker to close the score to 12-10 at halftime.

 

Buffalo's Thurman Thomas ran 31 yards for a touchdown on the opening play of the fourth quarter to help Buffalo recapture the lead 19-17. Matt Bahr's 21-yard field goal gave the Giants a 20-19 lead, but Buffalo's Scott Norwood had a chance to win the game with seconds remaining before his 47-yard field-goal attempt sailed wide right.

 

Hostetler completed 20 of 32 passes for 222 yards and one touchdown. Anderson rushed 21 times for 102 yards and a touchdown to capture most-valuable-player honors.

 

Thomas totaled 190 scrimmage yards, rushing 15 times for 135 yards and catching five passes for 55 yards.

 

Running time:  2:14  (2 discs)