Jerry Barca
Oct 3, 2016, 09:00 AM ET
Every championship season has a turning point. For the 1986 New York Giants it happened in Minnesota. It happened when a quarterback found his confidence. It happened when a crack-addicted wide receiver made a catch and converted a late-game fourth down and forever. From his new book, "Big Blue Wrecking Crew: Smashmouth Football, A Little Bit of Crazy, and the '86 Super Bowl Champs," Jerry Barca tells the story of the men of this moment.
On an autumn Sunday night in northern New Jersey, Phil Simms sat at his kitchen table and didn't say anything. His wife had made a big meal. She always cooked after games. The Giants had beaten the Cowboys 17-14 that day, but the couple sat in silence.
"The Dallas game was as bad as it ever got. We won the game, but, my God. I was shot. Just shot. I couldn't concentrate on the plays because I couldn't trust the players. I didn't trust the receivers."
Simms had posted a 22.2 quarterback rating. It was -- and always would be -- the worst rating in his 164-game career.
The Giants beat the Eagles 17-14 in Philadelphia the next week. Simms didn't fare much better than the week before. Receivers dropped fives of his passes. He threw two interceptions and posted a 29.6 passer rating, completing 8 of 18 attempts for 130 yards.
"Even though we won and were 8-2, I couldn't have cared less. It felt like we were 2-8."
Giants head coach Bill Parcells could see Simms's confidence was shaken. Parcells called the quarterback into his office. "You've got your team in first place," he said. "I just want you to go out there and be aggressive. Take chances, and let's try to win this thing."
Late in the day, when only a few people were still at the Giants facility, Bill Belichick, the team's defensive coordinator, went out of his way to stop Simms in the hallway outside the locker room. Belichick told Simms he saw the quarterback putting work in every day. "You're a really good player. I have great faith in you. Just do your job."
The Giants headed to Minnesota to play a 6-4 Vikings team that was eyeing a playoff berth.
From the Giants' first possession of the game, Simms looked different. He moved with fluidity in the pocket. Stepping up in the face of pressure, he took hits and delivered passes. He completed 11 of 15 throws in the first half for 173 yards. He even rushed for 16 yards on two carries.
Up 9-6 with 55 seconds left in the half and the ball at their own 22-yard line, the Giants and Simms stayed aggressive. Simms completed three straight passes and pushed the hurry-up offense, running up to the Vikings' 37-yard line. "Same play! Same play!" he yelled amid the din of the Metrodome.
Left tackle Brad Benson took this to mean the ball would be snapped on the second sound, just as it had been on the play before. As Simms came to the line of scrimmage, he yelled, "Same play!" again and Benson moved, drawing a false start penalty.
When the refs marched off the penalty, Parcells started screaming at Benson, "F--- you." And Benson gave it back to him. The penalty forced kicker Raul Allegre into a 60-yard field goal attempt, which he missed as time ran out in the half.
Parcells and Benson had to be separated at halftime. Benson stood in the showers, away from the head coach and out of the offensive meeting.
Down 20-19 with 1:12 to play, Simms took a sack on third down and eight. The Giants called timeout to discuss their options on 4th and 17 from their own 48-yard line. They picked: Half Right W-Motion 74 X In.
"I was just supposed to run like a clear out," said wide receiver Bobby Johnson. "I actually wasn't in the play."
As the offense broke the huddle, Simms told Johnson to be alert. He might have to throw to him late.
The crowd noise forced Simms under center. Simms dropped back. He looked left. Nothing. He scanned the middle of the field. Nothing. The Vikings rushed three, running a stunt with nose tackle Mike Stensrud looping outside on a bull-rush. Stensrud hit Simms just as the quarterback released the ball to the right.
The ball spiraled toward the sideline. Twenty-two yards down field, Johnson had found an open spot and made the catch at the Vikings 30-yard line.
The Metrodome fell quiet. Johnson didn't offer any big celebration. He clapped his hands together as he jogged back to the huddle.
By now, Johnson, a third-year undrafted free agent out of Kansas, had become a full-fledged crack addict.
Sometime early in the offseason, Johnson had a teammate and couple of women to his apartment in Hackensack, N.J. One of the women brought some cocaine.
She combined it with water and baking soda and boiled the mixture in a spoon. Rocks emerged. She had made crack cocaine. "You have to try this," she said, looking at Johnson. She lit the pipe, and Johnson took a hit.
"It was just overwhelmingly good," he said.
He thought he was mentally strong enough. He thought he'd do this a couple of times and be done with it. "But it don't work like that."
By the time the season started, it had gotten to the point where crack was the first thing he needed after practice and the last thing he needed to do before he went to sleep.
A few plays after Johnson's fourth-down catch, Allegre hit a 33-yard field goal with 12 seconds to play. The Giants won 22-20.
"We wouldn't say it aloud. We wouldn't say it in public, but it was almost like divine intervention from that point on. We knew that we were destined to win," said defensive end George Martin.
After the game, in a whooping and cheering locker room, Parcells touted his quarterback to the media. He even kissed Simms on the cheek.
"It was like the only endorsem*nt he gave me in his whole career. He never did that," Simms said.
Simms finished the day with 310 yards passing, connecting on 25 of 38 attempts. He threw two interceptions in the game, but he didn't let the miscues dull his confidence. "Let's go out there and fight them again. It was a very physical game. I took some hellacious hits in the game, and it's just the way I wanted to play. That's who I wanted to be every week."
Later that season, Simms completed 22 of 25 passes in Super Bowl XXI. He won the game's MVP and he still holds the Super Bowl record for completion percentage, but the game at Minnesota ranks higher for him.
"It's my favorite game in my career, not because of the fourth and 17, but because I played the way I really wanted to play."
While boarding the plane from Minnesota back to New Jersey, Brad Benson and Parcells exchanged glares. Benson sat in the back, drinking a beer with Simms. A trainer interrupted them to let Benson know Parcells wanted to see him. Simms offered Benson some luck as the left tackle walked up to the front.
Parcells greeted Benson with, "Sit down. Want a drink?"
"No. I'm all right," said Benson, thinking he didn't want to stay that long.
"Listen, I was a little rough today. I'm willing to say I'm sorry," Parcells said.
"Well, I'm sorry, too."
"You know you're one of my guys. You're one of my lunch pail guys."
They spoke for 10 minutes. Benson did take a seat. He felt like it was a great pep talk from his coach.
"We're okay, right?" Parcells asked, closing up the chat.
"We're okay."
Benson stood up to leave. Parcells took his hand. "Oh, one more thing. You ever jump offsides like that in a crucial situation, I'll cut your ass."
As time ran out in the Giants 39-20 Super Bowl XXI win over the Denver Broncos, Bobby Johnson cried. He knew his time was up with the Giants. No one had said anything to him, but they didn't need to. He knew his drug-fueled behavior would no longer be tolerated. Johnson never played another down in the NFL.
After football ended, his drug use worsened. He became homeless. He slept on park benches. In June 1994, the man who caught the most important pass in the Giants' 1986 season lost three fingers on his right hand in a work accident at a pencil factory. A couple of years after that, he walked into his mother's home in Smyrna, Tennessee. "Son, you look terrible. You look terrible," she said, and she started crying.
Johnson never went to rehab, but he ended his drug use after that visit. He has been sober since. He doesn't look back at his time in the NFL with any bitterness. He loves the Giants and Parcells. He calls it a happy ending "because I'm alive."
