1989 Week 12 - N.Y. Giants at San Francisco

[Applause] candlestick park on a beautiful northern california evening a perfect night for football a sellout craft 65 000 on hand for the battle at the top of the national football conference for san francisco 49ers and the new york giants hello again everyone i'm frank gifford happy you're with us we think we have a great match-up for you tonight the giants coming in with a 9-2 record of course the 49ers also nine and two and the team that wins tonight will go two games up in their division and only four games remain at the regular season and they'll have a long leg up for home field advantage in the playoffs if the giants win tonight they will go two up on the philadelphia eagles a team that they will meet sunday in the meadowlands a team that they have lost to three times they would dearly love to take a two-game edge over the eagles into next sunday's game meanwhile the san francisco 49ers are looking to the south they don't feel they have this division locked up because they know the los angeles rams are coming on they were the winners in overtime last night of a comeback victory over the new orleans saints and they know now the rams are hot they'll meet them on december the 11th in a game we will also bring you but if they win tonight there'll be two games up on the rams and incidentally the rams i'm sure are looking on tonight but we will also as i said bring you that game december the 11th and i know al that the 49ers would love to take a two-game edge against atlanta next week and then go into los angeles and play them two games up frank the 49ers have been an incredibly resilient team of course everybody knows bill walsh is gone george seifert is here they have barely missed a beat they've been able to withstand a lot of injuries i think you all know jeff fuller has gone for the season michael carter is still out the great nose tackle and offensively joe montana has missed two and a half games and didn't practice much this week because of sore ribs jerry rice didn't practice much this week because of sore ribs they are without doubt the key components in the 49er attack and you might say the 49ers last week against green bay beat themselves because they turned the ball over four times they suffered six sacks and ten penalties several of those were key as green bay wanted 21 to 17 and a lot of the 49ers now admit they were looking ahead to this game tonight against the new york giants biggest game of the regular season day and the giants come in like the 49ers nine and two what do you think of the giants at this point well obviously they're a darn good team at nine and two but i don't know that they're the equal to san francisco 49ers talent wise but yet you've got to love this giant squad because they win and they win the old-fashioned way they do indeed earn it they do it by running the football they run the ball more times than any other team in the league and when you talk to the giants you get the impression that they don't think they can win tonight's game doing so they know they've got to open it up so look for the wide receivers and especially tight end zeke moa to play a big part in the in the giant offense tonight ron earhart their offensive coordinator says we will spread the field okay defensively how do you attack joe montana and the 49ers very simply you cannot pressure him from the corners you must come right up the middle look for lawrence taylor the game's premier defensive player to attack montana between between the guards tonight and we'll find out about taylor right away because the giants will be on the field defensively after the kickoff as the 49ers win the toss they will receive and with raul allegre on the injured reserve list bjorn nickmo who was born and raised in sweden and then was an exchange student went to high school in alabama to college at appalachian state in boone north carolina signed by the giants and he is their kicker for the second week and he puts it in the air and it bounces into the end zone for a touch back so not particularly artistic but it gets the job done and the 49ers will start at the 20-yard line now statistically joe montana is having the best season of his career and that is really saying something and look at that completion percentage 70.4 and also the key figure there 9.10 yards per attempt the league average is 7.2 craig and rachman the running backs taylor and rice the great wide outs and brent jones the tight end and there's the offensive line paris mcintyre sapolo collie and barton from the 20-yard line the first play of the game is roger craig getting only to the 21 and the 49er running attack this season has not been nearly as proficient as in years past so craig has picked it up of late washington howard and marshall the front three for the giants banks reasons cooks and lt the linebackers and the secondary really coming into its own collins having a fine season with williams guys and the rookie out of eastern kentucky and the veteran canard are the safety second to nine from the 21. [Music] fake to raffin montana has time then shoots it out to rackman who is their leading receiver and he takes it to the 38-yard line they love to go to the fullback that's his 57th catch of the season and a first down a 17-yard gain but it was also vintage joe montana chased out of the pocket he stepped up he's looking deep at this point now he steps up pulls it down as he spots bratman and picks off ratman who gets the first down rathman with more receptions than any other running back in the league this year from the 38-yard line after the game's initial first down this is craig again behind rachman but marshall slows him down and then williams and pepper johnson come in to finish him off out of the 39-yard line after a short game well there's a guy really coming on strong especially when the giants need him at this stage of the season is leonard marshall got eight and a half sacks on the year so far had a sack for a safety in their game with seattle last week and there's leonard number 70 fighting off the block not giving an inch off the line of scrimmage and then coming in making the play on roger craig they need the dominating play on the line of leonard marshall to be successful tonight the new york giants dude they need that too dan and they also say and they'll tell you and there's bill belichick the defensive coordinator we can't let him get the ball out to taylor and rice and let them make big runs with it we can't let him throw the rats in craig and let him run with the ball second and nine the play face the pump and then going deep and there is jerry rice and he is finally tackled at the 24 yard line again vintage montana the run fake the pup and there's rice for a 37-yard gain and a first down at the giant 24-yard line well how often do you see it frank with that pumpkin uh one thing about a pump fake it takes tremendous pass protection at the line of scrimmage because the quarterback has got to hold the ball for a long time and look how long montana has and that time the redskins secondary sheldon white number 39 the giant defender closest to rice just totally mesmerized by montana and that ball first and 10 at the 24 yard line craig in motion so everybody out into the pattern and craig makes the cash and goes out of bounds at the 20-yard line run out by myron guyton after a gain of seven correct me if i'm wrong guys but we've seen this before we're here just a couple of weeks ago and this is exactly the way the 49ers opened up a game against the new orleans saints i mean just precision offensively and they'll never show you the same play or barry sullivan the same play in the first quarter and a half of play they were given the offensive team last night 15 16 plays that they were going to run almost no matter what so you won't see the same thing twice in this opening drive walls and jones in a double-sided set up second down and six from the 20. montana over the middle that's the tight end brent jones that's the 49ers from inside their 20s lead the league in touchdowns long drives the giants meanwhile have not given up a point this season on their opponent's first drive that's four different receivers already in this drive now your head is spinning if you're out there defensively the thing you want to do is try to shut the 49ers down early in the game if you can because they come out and they always give you these high percentage plays they break a tackle they get the good yardage out of going underneath and again a different look here with a double slot they send jones in motion on first down from the 11-yard line jones makes the catch and takes it to the five and a saving tackle is made by lawrence taylor that's a five-yard line boy that's exactly where the san francisco 49ers would like to see lawrence taylor being forced into pass coverage this time he's locked up man on man with brent jones nothing more than a simple five yard out by jones and lt a little late to react a little late getting there and has to make a tackle around the ankles or you're right that is a 49er touchdown and there it is the giants as we mentioned the only team that has not allowed a touchdown on the opponent's first drive of the game this season in fact they haven't allowed a point on second and four it's trey getting to the four yard line and again it's taylor making the tackle it's going to be third down and a short three reasons also went on the play a point to be made here guys there's been a lot of wet weather here in the bay area and they've had to re-sod a lot of the field and so far i've seen a couple of giants go down that time terry canard slipped when he's trying to make a tackle pepper johnson slipped a couple of plays ago making uh a cut on some pass protection there's a good look at how some of the sod is coming loose the 49ers appear to be adjusting better to the loose traction feels clumping as it did last week third in a short three montana on a roll and a fake chase and then throws touchdown by taylor a great patch in the end zone whoa boy not bad todd fan 80 yards and they didn't use one play twice montana rolling out he does that so well rolling to his right over the years we've seen him complete that so many times you get the feeling walsh left the playbook on sheeford's desk don't you seemingly nothing has changed let's take a look at him he sprints to the right and you know that he can pull this thing down and run with it if he has to and there is a slip in the end zone mark collins but nevertheless taylor comes down and puts the niners on the board mike copert developing into one of the best kickers in the league barry nelson holds the extra point is good that's the 15th time this season the 49ers have driven 80 or more yards for a touchdown by far the most in the national football league and it takes them five minutes and 14 seconds to do it [Applause] [Music] so a brilliant beginning for secrets 49ers at cable stick park they lead the giants seven to nothing it transamerica pyramid in the center of your shot right there on a crystal clear night it is just gorgeous temperature in the upper 50s [Music] and candlestick park as it has been for every game since the middle of the 1981 season filled the capacity from the end zone now a look at the 49er touchdown i want you to watch closely number 25 mark collins he'll be at the upper right part of your screen he slips and falls back you'll actually see a hunk of sod that has come up right there right in the into your picture look at collins already down on the ground in no position to make a play on john taylor three times in that first drive we saw giant defenders flip and fall and that time the slip cost them a touchdown it's the 49ers that appear to know how loose this sod is keeping their feet underneath them better able to maintain an upright position go for his kick fielded at the three by the brilliant rookie dave megan out of towson state and he gets it back out to the 18-yard line and he is tackler by the bullion bill romanowski so megan for the moment coming off the field but bill farcells is saying that he is going to use maggots on a lot of first down players tonight in a change for the giants as you look at phil shims and his numbers and again he hurt his ankle in the monday night game against minnesota they missed the whole phoenix game in his back anderson and tarkin the running back turner emmanuel the white house moe at the tight end with bavaro on injured reserve and the huge giant front from the 18-yard line sins goes right to the air and it is howard cross who drops the ball now he's the rookie out of alabama who caught a touchdown pass against seattle last year and again with bavaro injured we see moat and cross taking over a tight end defensively for the 49ers holt coogler and we'll also see a lot of jim burton nose tackle with fagin then you've got haley the pass rush specialist millen the former raider michael walter and tina turner back he was hurt and the secondary powered and dripping the corners brooks and ronnie lot to safety second and ten from the 18-yard line and with megan in the backfield it is moat who makes the catch drops the ball but recovers it himself at the 28-yard line the difference there might be since the ball was alive it could have cost him the first down when it squirted out giants looking for a big game from moat tonight they know with the 49ers defense that they can free up the tight end you usually lock him into a linebacker as they do right here turner is there trying to cover zeke moat now that was the bavaro who of course is the ir as you can see it did come out it would be a different story that the 49ers feel that they can stay with moa and howard cross with a linebacker third down and a long one [Music] from the 27-yard line and plowing ahead goes maurice coffin and that's a role that he handles so capably short yardage specialist takes it out just past the 30-yard line and phil sims uh trying some protection on that ankle in the last couple of weeks but uh he's not going with that tonight he said it was encumbering him but it was actually bothering his knee a great deal i asked him how it felt he said well i'll worry about it at the end of the decision that's going to bother me the rest of the year first and ten a new set here for the giants with nagit on first down to seoul back lucian split to the right it's megan on the draw taking it out to the 33-yard line if you follow the giants you know that otis anderson has been there featured back this season but he uh at least statistically is wearing down a little bit lewis tillman has been spelling him and tonight in a new wrinkle it's megan make it deadly out of the backfield he has 23 receptions this year the little rookie from towson state he's only five 780 but he's averaging over 15 yards on each of those receptions second and seven from the 33. under pressure he sacked at the 26 guideline by bill romanowski who just made that play on the kickoff so two big plays for romanowski well there's a linebacker's dream unblocked unaccounted for to the blind side of the quarterback i mean that's that's as easy as this game of football gets for a linebacker you are totally unblocked here's romanowski watch the blitz from the back side and observe that no one in a white jersey even looks at it and phil sims being a right-handed quarterback never sees him until he already wraps him up a flaw in the pass protection scheme of the giants third and 14 the 49ers show blitz but back off rush four sims under pressure anyway has to step up and fire and the catch is made by odessa turner and he fights for a first down across the 40 he has stopped by pollard and lot and they needed 14 and get [Music] the cowboys visited washington in the 1983 season opener to take on the defending super bowl champions but a john riggins touchdown and three field goals by mark mosley gave the skins a 16-3 lead as halftime approached the ball was at the cowboys 41-yard history in 1985 the bears were 12-0 and looking to equal the feet of the 1972 dolphins the only team in nfl history to go undefeated through both the regular season and the playoffs on monday night december the 2nd the bears went to miami to face a different group but even in defeat there was a silver lining for the bears it came as walter payton reached triple figures in rushing yardage for the chicago 24 it turned out to be the only blemish on the bears record as they finished the season 15-1 and won the super bowl okay now to enter your votes just call one night inside as we look at it had a clearer shot after further review the play stand [Applause] so it's a touchdown it's the ninth of the season for anderson and now nitmo to try to tie it well this ought to give us our definitive look at it right here of course trying to find otis anderson in the jumble of red shirts there's the ball [Applause] and nipple boots it through so the personal foul gives the giants an opportunity to penetrate that's the longest drive of the season against the 49ers 221 to go in the quarter as new york answers san francisco [Music] san francisco we played 12 minutes and 39 seconds the goodyear blind columbia piloted by charles russell providing the spectacular shots tonight we'll stick mark where the 49ers oddly have lost their only two games of the season they are 6-0 on the road 1-0 at stanford and two and two at candlestick it most kick is a much shorter kick this time at the nine yard line spencer tillman up the middle he comes gets by rousson cuts to the outside gets behind nickmo into giant territory and finally run out of bounds by perry williams and a flag goes down perry williams goes ahead and runs spencer tillman way out of bounds and that's going to attack another 15 yards onto this already impressive return and you got to give bjorn nitmo some credit unnecessary roughness lead hit out of bounds number 23. 15 yards first down you've got to give some credit here to nitmo because he's going to force tillman back towards the sidelines and that's the only way that williams is able right there nitmo forces tillman to the sidelines and that allows perry williams to come over but watch him follow through out of bounds and then that shove and knocking tilt around is what draws another 15. [Applause] impressive blocking up front though by the 49ers and their special teams oh tillman look at tillman he's actually got the face mask of barry williams well that kind of explains williams and his response [Applause] could very well have been off setting yeah tillman got away with one that time his left hand clearly had a hold of the face mask to perry williams the old adage is true they always see the second one 60-yard run back plus 15 first down at the 16-yard line dean side that much time left in the quarter montana great protection and nobody is there and uh one of the rare times you'll see miscommunication between montana and rice there's craig rice was the man who had stopped at the five-yard line jerry rice just took it down and did a turn in he read the defense differently than montana obviously he turns in right here and montana at that point has already released the ball and figuring that rice was going to make the out which he didn't and as you said al they don't do that very often by the way if you're wondering in regard to that penalty that is a non-reviewable play that facemask situation that we just saw on the run-back it's a judgment call and that's not subject to review craig in motion second and ten montana quick boss over the middle of the jones who almost broke it he takes it to the four yard line and a saving tackle is made there by myron guyton you know the giants come with a blitz from the outside lawrence taylor comes from the outside but the quick set the quick release of joe montana in the very short pattern just dumping off to the tight end it's just removing lt from the game so far blitzes from the outside by this guy are really not going to have a great deal of effect against this 49er in their short passing game with the three step and a release he's hard to reach rice and taylor both set up on the right side split back formation from the four yard line and montana looks to the right side there is rice and he's in with a [Applause] [Music] touchdown [Music] seven consecutive games the jerry rice 15 touchdown receptions this season in only one game this season has he not caught a touchdown pass what an athlete he is too now this skirt very easily he could have been kept out of the end zone by terry canard he's strong but gary rice makes it look so fluid so easy and yet nevertheless he's a great athlete what a brilliantly conceived pattern just outstanding gopher's extra point is good and so far this game's very much living up to the pregame expectations terry canard is put in a position where he really has very little chance here's rice here in the slot but watch john taylor drive up field and then rice goes in behind him and canard has to try to stay with him look at the break to the outside terry canard it has to break underneath it and that's almost impossible how are you going to keep rice from catching it and then how do you keep him out of the end zone a job nobody wants [Music] and a little trivia for you the giants have not won a kickoff back for a touchdown since 1972 and that's a thousand kickoff returns rocky thompson wasn't he the guy that did the last one he was a man opening day 72 number one draft pick didn't stick around very long so long ago the lions were playing at tiger stadium lee rousson runs back to kick from the five and get banged down at the 22 and it's now a thousand and one quick returns 108 to go we'll keep you posted here one away left in a wild opening quarter stay tuned ibm presents you make the call bill sims of the giants loses the ball as he's hit preparing to pass against the chicago bears the ball goes forward and contacts the ground now you make the call is this a fumble or an incomplete pass make because sims did not have possession of the ball when his arms started forward the resulting loose ball is considered a fumble so it is anderson and he breaks free for a first down out to the 37-yard line he is tackled there by matt millen so the first play on this drive for the giants picks up first down number six for them and that's a 14 yard pickup that's really a capability of otis anderson as you see his totals for the year 19 receptions coming in that's number 20. and and really stop a thing about this this is a guy that when he was with the then st louis cardinals had a 70 plus reception year so he's got skills coming out of the backfield utilized primarily as a runner though with new york from the 37-yard line sims pressured and down he goes at the 32 he is dragged down by pierce holt who was developing into one of the fine defensive ends in the league and that's six and a half sacks for holt this season and he could give haley an assist the leading soccer for the 49ers who can really put the pressure on a quarterback here is holt coming from the inside to his outside comes charles haley that forces sims to step up [Applause] and down goes phil sims yeah charles haley coming from the far side is really the guy that that caused it all to happen it's pierce holt that ends up falling on it but charles haley may have knocked down phil sims even if holt doesn't get there in time one of the premier pass rushers in the nfl charles bailey adds to his total end of the quarter 14-7 49ers and abc's monday night football returns after this message in a word from our ebc station abc's monday night football brought to you by ford and your ford dealer have you driven a forward lately [Music] and we're back at candlestick park and up in the blimp our guys up there sending best wishes to the bay area you're coming back and aren't they ever and looking great spectacular shots from the goodyear blimp columbia tonight second and 14 and phil sims under pressure again stepping up and running it out to the 39-yard line where michael walter makes the tackle about eight yards short of the first down kevin fagan also in on the play michael walter getting credited for the tackle and there are the numbers to 15 minutes relatively even i guess the only difference is the big kickoff return by spencer tillman which gave the 49ers the opportunity just have a short drive to a touchdown third and eighth the giants come up with four receivers and rusan stays in the block and then he goes into the pattern and sims fires to the 50 and odessa turner makes the catch first down to the san francisco 45-yard line tackled by pollard and down on the ground is the giants william roberts very slow and getting up the big guard out of ohio state appears to be all right simple pattern by the giants they lined up with the four wide receivers they all went down hooked up at about 9 10 yards just enough for a first down and the man who came open the more quickly of the four wide receivers was turner ryan williams comes in as roberts comes out williams the number one draft choice of the giants this season the 300 pounder out of minnesota and there he is that huge offensive front for the giants but it was it was funny the graphic they put up in the ohio state michigan game the other day the buckeyes and the wolverines have bigger lines [Applause] from the 45-yard line sims shoots it out to anderson and then he's taken down by bill romanowski at the 38-yard line after a gain of seven point phil sims tonight at least so far here in the first half extremely accurate throwing the football opened up the game with a dart to howard cross that he dropped and from then on every pass has been just like that right between the numbers of his receivers brian williams having to sub now at left guard he's the guy that eventually you're going to look at as this guy targeted the center and william roberts has come back into the game so robert's only missing one play big number 66 back at left guard second in a short four with a double tight end set for new york quas goes in motion and a flag goes down and i think the play was whistled dead before its inception as anderson is stopped and then we'll get the call from mcelwee [Applause] five yard penalty against new york [Applause] george seifert in his first season uh an assistant under phil walsh of course for several years bill parcells hopeful of winding up in the super bowl for a second time let's take a look up front they're calling william roberts the left guard for moving early he moves before the rest of the lineman but i'm not so sure that he's not moving right with the football he certainly moved with the center bart oates john elliott on his outside did not move and roberts gets the call second and eight new york at the san francisco 43 yard line 1304 to play in the first half 49ers on top 14 to seven [Applause] sims on the second and eight going deep for manuel he's covered well and the pass is incomplete staying back there with him is don griffin [Applause] lionel manuel funny thing about manuel he and sims through their careers have linked up for 21 touchdown pass receptions and none this year good coverage by grip and he gave manuel the pop before he passed a five yard marker and sims was under a lot of pressure he had to release it before manuel could do anything after he broke away from griffin emmanuel only has the one touchdown catch and that was in our minnesota game and jeff hostetler through third down and eight niners show blitz and here they come through the middle comes lot and the pass is errant intended for steven baker on the far side so ronnie lock coming right up the middle but sims goes to the outside and not there and it's fourth down well that's an interesting technique that time by the 49ers they come up and show the blitz ronnie lot comes but they still only bring four people because then they drop charles haley back into pass coverage so you give the look of an all-out blitz but really you're just bringing four people and dropping seven and it'll definitely change the pattern as the quarterback sends is reading with his receivers they're reading blitz all the way and changing their pattern and it was very effective and the 49ers take a timeout not having the right people on the field they have to spend the time out here before the giants get set to fight the biggest thing was for me was being a pittsburgh steel fan at that time they had gone through some ups and downs and then planning to see them having a lot of success best monday night memories come from watching the steelers and probably especially carrie bradshaw on monday night football [Music] and back we come and there is the bay bridge closed for a month reopened on the 17th of november and a lot of traffic that's a nice sight to see a lot of traffic on the on the bay bridge after that 30-day period sean landeta who leads the league in net hunting angles this one but he doesn't get it to the corner and it bounces into the end zone for a touch back and now it comes to the 20-yard line miners will take it there and we can tell you that coming up this saturday an exciting double-header college basketball there's digger phelps who's fighting irish to take on louisville and you'll see it at 2 eastern time and 11 in the morning pacific and the hoosier dome in indianapolis and then the second half features either lasalle against depaul or the wildcats of arizona coming off their win over michigan the other day taking on oregon state in corvallis where it's always tough for the opposition from the 20-yard line the play fake montana throws to taylor and taylor for 18 yards to the 38 and a first down [Applause] it's uh it's not really premier duty to have to play cornerback against the san francisco 49ers at that time mark collins was really giving a lot of ground watch the cushion that he gives to john taylor when taylor makes his move back to the inside colin's slow to close the problem when you give him that room you give him the completion and he almost broke that one well that's something that both taylor and rice do so well the their ability to run after the reception there's craig who is set out as a flanker in motion and montana throws back and the catch is made by taylor and he takes it he was the second or third receiver with carl banks making the second wow that was beautiful he looks to rice he still has time and the boys has there ever been a quarterback that had better pocket awareness than joe montana i mean you're right frank he sees who's coming after him he's eluding them and at the same time he's monitoring his receivers downfield and always finds the open guy i i've never seen anyone better at doing it jones in motion here's craig taking it across the 50 to the 49-yard line and a first down is jones leading the way a critical sequence here for the new york giant defensive team trailing 14-7 and the 49ers once again here's bill belichick their defensive coordinator and boy these guys are feeling a little heat right now they cannot allow the 49ers to continue on down the field and get another touchdown giants in their first 11 games this season had allowed only 20 points in the first period and they allowed 14 tonight and the niners of the first down and craig gets wrapped up but still is able to plunge forward to the 45 so he turns a two-yard gain into a four-yard gain powered and reasoned in on the tackle this has been the year of the pass for the 49ers craig has not had a 100 yard rushing game since the opening game of the season but nevertheless they keep going with it keep showing it keeping your defense honest and they have been living by the past even though their numbers of attempts rushing and passing are barely equal second and six from the 45-yard line fake to craig montana looks right then left finds the wide open right he gets by williams and then perry comes back to make the tackle at the 25-yard line jerry rice on that particular play i'm not so sure that there was a new york giant defensive lineman who'd gotten even one yard past the line of scrimmage i mean joe montana had the luxury of standing in that pocket he it's unfair to even call it a pocket he was just standing in the backfield there wasn't a giant within yards of him look at that two tight ends picked up everybody montana looked right to taylor taylor was covered and all the time as you pointed out to come back to rice well that's uh uh the giants have better put some more pressure on on joe montana than that or they're in big big trouble that's taylor and motion on first down from the 25 here comes craig he swings to the outside gets by banks flag goes down a two-yard pickup and they may have been a hold on the play that's as good a job of working an official for a holding call that you will ever see carl banks was absolutely brilliant working against wesley walls and i mean he just literally forces the official to throw a flag number 89 offense 10 yards first down there's john taylor working downfield to the right of your screen there's walls working against carl banks and carl banks literally just throwing his arms up in the air saying he's got me he's got me and he drew the flag there's another look at it and of course he did have him the right hand of walls clear up on the shoulder pads holding carl banks six-year linebacker against the rookie tight end first and 20. swinging out to craig and he's taken down one on one by williams at the 35-yard line [Applause] those are the plays that so concerned build for ourselves high percentage stuff you throw it out of the flat you get it to craig you get it to wrap them and then if you don't make the tackle they're going to tack on 10 15 yards to it same as jerry rice and john taylor they like to throw the little hits to them they like to throw the little slant and then just let the athlete come out and break the tackle and get the good yardage that time good play by barry williams second and 19 from the 34. and it's craig looking for room through the middle and he gets it to the 31-yard line and uh pepper johnson the demonstrative pepper johnson uh having a i was gonna say a dialogue with craig but that's a monologue that's what his club needs i mean the giants right now need a little fire defensively they're not putting a lot of heat on the passer they're playing a little bit soft in their coverages and they need some spark like that somebody's got to step up and say guys it's time to stiffen and he was the guy who did it against minnesota the last time we had the giants on the monday night running an interception back for a touchdown key play of that game third and 15 halfway through the second quarter san francisco ahead by seven montana a deep retreat and throws underneath and it's raffan who gets taken down at the 27-yard line tackled made by johnson and we're looking at about a 44 or 45 yard field goal attempt here for cofer giants have been using a defense it takes johnny cooks the middle linebacker gary reasons a middle linebacker out they bring in pepper johnson he made the play there and they bring in sheldon white a cornerback and they play him as the other linebacker and so far not scintillating but at that point affected they forced the field goal cofer's longest field goal of the year 47 yards this a 44-yard attempt barry hilton to hold and coper's kick is true and long enough and good so mike copper tacks on three more five points tonight for him and 97 for the season and san francisco leads by 10. [Music] three series three scores enough to do a whole lot better for the 49ers and their offensive team would want to punt for him would you goalie now has 97 points and leads in dejas of houston and treadwell of denver in the scoring race in the nfl leading the league right now with 97 points we missed the 12th week of the season final game as we thrown copper sends it down on one hop to the 10 yard line and this is negat they make it the rookie and he is taken down as he brings it back out to the 37 and i got to say one thing it's it's real tough to look any better than the 49ers have looked tonight on offense it's as if walsh has never left in a way well they are the number one offense in the league and i think for the giants dana they have to stay with what they came with and they've been able to move the football and hope that their defense comes up and get the turnover can make the right play at the right time well the problem right now the giants isn't their offensive team i mean they have really moved the ball effectively i think that they'll do so for the balance of the evening but defensively they have got to figure out some way to pressure montana first and ten sims from the 37. throws and it's picked off by matt millen well you know the minute we talk about matt millen and his role in the passing game he'll get a chance to make a big play and the big play that time involved standing there and letting phil sims throw it right in your chest moat the intended receiver out of the backfield i think it was yeah yeah that ball just hit million he could not avoid catching it well uh moat went hither when sims was expecting him to go yawn i don't know any other way of describing that zeke moet breaks to the inside and phil sims expecting him to break to the outside just launches a perfect pass right to right to matt millen at the very worst just stand there no one could have dropped that marcellus is going to send more hither and yawn when he gets to the bench at the 35-yard line first and ten it's millen's first interception in two years and craig picks up six and that took the ball with him his first as a 49ers and we talked about millen's talent though as a giant now is down in the field millen may uh sign that ball and send it to al davis matt millen not too pleased and there is lawrence taylor down on the ground and any new york giants fan around the country right now has a lump in their throat [Applause] lawrence taylor in obvious pain the way he's rolling around [Applause] [Music] and here's a guy who and we all know how he plays the game but he has been through his career which is now incredibly in its ninth season remarkably durable [Applause] very infrequently injured remarkably productive as well the most dominating football player i've ever seen he's had a lot of problems he's always been able to play with it he had pulled hamstring a year ago that he missed some action with that other than that lawrence taylor now his ninth year has been injury-free so for the giants now down by 10 now faced with the 49ers driving in their territory now of course faced with the prospect of losing at least temporarily lawrence taylor and they are looking at the right knee so it comes at the end of the play on which craig goes to the right picks up about six and the clock is stopped with 6 29 now remaining in the first half of candlestick part dr russell warren is the orthopedic specialist with the giants travels with him and they are looking at the right leg of lawrence taylor and i think this might be severe enough that they feel they are going to need a stretcher to take lawrence off the field some sort of vehicle and that's exactly what they have called for now it's silly for us to grope for words to try to describe what this means to the new york giants bill belichick he's a defensive coordinator things will change dramatically for belichick and he's discussing the changes they'll have to make as the game will go on it's going to be such an emotional loss to the giants this is the leader he's the heart and the soul of it he is the spirit they go wrong he's the one that gets it up the one thing about this injury is that he's he's totally away from the play once taylor lined up on the far side of the offensive formation it's a it's a sweep to the right lawrence taylor to the left side of the offensive formation way away from the play and without taylor they will now be minus two really vital cogs the other on offense to tight end mark bavaro who is on injured reserve with a knee injury the giants are hopeful that he can come back rehabilitate and be ready for the play-offs and now it'll be lawrence taylor who will be taken back to the locker room lawrence taylor so so far away from the play [Music] that we don't even have it in any of our shots i know kenny and craig and everybody in the truck searching for it but we don't have it in any of our shots because he was a good 20 yards away from where the action was it was a sweep to the right he was split to the right side defensively for the giants on the outside a ride that anyone who's ever played this game and has taken as uh as nightmares about now we'll get informed as quickly as we can and give you the word so as player resumes now at the 29-yard line it is second down and four for san francisco they lead by 10. and the giants right now with a nickel defense as montana throws on a slain to the 20-yard line it's john taylor and he has a first down at the 17 as perry williams and pepper johnson come in to make the tackle we would just want to explain a little bit why lawrence taylor is here he is at the top of the formation and you're going to watch him just tied up here we're looking at a sweep that comes all the way down here you can follow lawrence until he moves out of our camera angle but that's why that we can't find him anywhere you can see how far removed he is from what's happening on the field and unfortunate and very rare to get hurt when you're that far away from the action giants have moved johnny cooks into taylor's spot outside and that doesn't matter because brent jones makes the catch for the touchdown 49ers like jones down close rapidly improving tight end jamie williams who was injured early in the season actually in training camp was expected to be the at least a receiving tight end but brent jones has come on split wide to the left just made a move beating terry canard the giant safety and montana was right on the numbers this is the best offensive football team i have seen in a long time it's a machine they've had the ball four times they have three touchdowns and a field goal cofer's extra point is good and with 5 29 remaining in the half the giants get tested with walls involved and a couple of giants as well renee thompson and greg cox sprained knee and strained ankles is the report the initial report from the giant locker room 529 to go on the half it's a 17 point 49er lead the giants are hoping for a little deja vu they're down by 17 right now unfortunately bavaro's not here and now neither is lawrence baylor copper's kick taken at the six yard line this is mark ingram who gets spun around and taken down out of the 26 yard line and the giants with a pretty key drive up coming down by 17 and another scuttle breaking out greg cox a former 49er a giant special team performer and safety plan b guy renewing old acquaintances they've been using him at the linebacker position and on special teams so the giants now who drove 82 yards for a touchdown earlier jim burt is in that nose tackle for san francisco first down from the 26-yard line sims has to dump it off and it's incomplete and the 49ers want a uh a penalty here and bob mcelroy says no speaking of jim burt let's pick up the maternity watch we mentioned he became a new father again bob he has a young son named jim and if colleen his wife is watching congratulations on your new little ashley a little daughter born this morning at 11 28 a.m eastern time and the biggest help of all the wife of his combatant right now bart oates who was there all the time and what an odd situation this is oats against first second down and ten sins to the far side and he has run out of bounds and of course it was bert who provided so much of uh the pregame hype that we saw so much uh written and said this week about bert and he's going to knock parcels down on the far side and we saw him yesterday and he says give me a break with him he's so much fun and i think he was kind of hurt i think he felt that parcells took this seriously never know about parcells he may be using like enemy clippings or something to get his team involved but there's bert he's not chasing his good friend he wasn't exactly closing ground between himself and phil simms [Applause] third and five the 31-yard line with a four-man rush sam gets taken down by the ankle at the 27 by pierce holt and that's his second sack of the night this one is getting out of control well that one's a solo no help from charles haley there this is phil sims just not able to find anyone you label this one a coverage sack your credit to secondary they've just blanketed everyone and pierce holt gets a hand on the ankle and down goes him sean lendetta kicking and backing up is john taylor inside his 20-yard line sprints for the sideline and gets bumped out at the 32 by greg jackson and so the 49ers who have not been stopped yet three touchdowns in a field goal have it out at the uh about the 33. joe montana three super bowl rings the the 49ers unquestionably the team of the 80s they've already clinched the best regular season record for the decade they came very close to going into another super bowl you'll recall in the championship game with washington and 83. a very curious call at the end of the game cost them that game and here they are trying to go to the super bowl for the fourth time in the decade from the 33 roger craig turns it into about a five yard gain is banks and washington converge on the stop johnny cooks out there also stripping the interference so johnny cooks came to the giants last year as a free agent from indianapolis a former number one draft pick for indianapolis where he played outside linebacker and when he came to the giants they moved him to the inside so he's not unfamiliar with the spot he's playing but he also is not lawrence taylor and he would be the first one to tell you he does not provide the speed the quickness and it is a relatively new spot he hasn't been out there since he was with indianapolis craig in motion second and six montana fires there's rice again at the 50 great move to the outside of the 47. they've got a plane so soft the amazing thing about rice he can be whatever you want him to be the deep threat how many bombs has he caught in his career he can also be a possession receiver anything and he does shake off the tackling and you know what else the guy is the guy is remarkably durable the guy's got what is the upper 70s almost 80 games uh without without missing a game and that's i mean that's when you're the complete ball player you're not a guy that plays two and has to sit one out and then comes back and maybe can play for a month and then a little thing keeps you out i mean here's the total package there's the guy that's everything from the 47-yard line it's first and ten and this is craig no game we talked about rice at the outset tonight the fact that he didn't practice much this week with the damage drives he had damaged ribs before last week's game of green bay still caught nine we watched him last night he dropped a whole bunch of passes when the 49ers were out here loosening up but when the lights really come on and the cameras come on he is a primetime player his dick by town might put it the other thing they say about him is that as the game goes on they can send him on fly after fly after pass route after fast food and he gets stronger and as the defensive back perhaps start to wear down a little bit that's when you have to watch him second and 11 for the 48 two and a half minutes to go in the half montana hits rachman and raffan is taken out of bounds at the 41. he's shy of the first by four myron guyton with the tackle could there have been a less likely candidate to develop into a star nfl receiver than tom rathman i mean here's a guy that plays at nebraska i wish he'd take his helmet off that's it leads all nfl running backs we've been talking about that now here's a guy his entire career at nebraska only caught five passes now you talk about an under utilized talent now granted nebraska doesn't fill the air with footballs but i wonder if they knew what kind of a receiving talent they had in tom raphman [Music] third and four from the 42-yard line montana and escapes fumbles and the giants have the football bob mclean says new york ball terry canard comes up with the recovery with 220 to play in the half and that is exactly what the giants needed at this point and said in a moment ago that secondary should deserve this fumble recovery because montana really had no place to put it duckins came in and put the hit on montana and also involved in it greg cox the former 49er we talked about earlier the unprotected free agent that's actually cox with his right hand comes in and strips the ball away from montana first and ten from the 45 looking ahead to giants with all of their timeouts and sims throw is off the hands of lionel manuel and a flag is down at the 42-yard line completed [Music] emmanuel comes up limping personal foul roughing the passer 94 defense going to the head 15 yards first down charles healey just thumped phil sims as he came by major thumping they moved haley all along the line of scrimmage they left on the right side of the left side usually defensively they roll the zone to hayley he's the man that phil sims is keying on to determine what kind of pass coverage what kind of pass rush is going to be first and sand from the 40. this is megan and that little counter play didn't fool anybody he has stopped at the line of scrimmage after the play fake pierce holt gets credit for the tackle at the 40-yard line and that'll take us to the two-minute warning so the giants have ordered their timeouts left it'll be second and ten at the 40 when we come back to san francisco for the first one [Music] it is scheduled to see a lot of action tonight and once again the 49ers take a time out the defensive team of the 49ers george seifert the former defensive coordinator now head coach they like to substitute liberally and they found themselves with the wrong personnel on the field looking at a giant's passing formation and millen and the run defense was still in there so time out 49ers exactly when the giants came up with the four wideouts they were minus eric wright and tim mckay who come in and matt millen was still out on the field although i don't know that you don't leave him out there the guy's got an interception already maybe play him at a little corner no one of course was released by the raiders he said ten teams called for expressed serious interest he considered very seriously going to seattle because his old coach tom flores went up there to become the president of the team but he said that something like an extra hundred and fifty thousand dollars from mr the barbello's calf kill settled that issue will make a difference yep players win games but an organization wins the super bowl jim dropping it picking it up throwing on the run and batted away by tim mckay and boy you saw how important that time out was that the 49ers called because he and wright were the two guys who came in after the timeout sims could have picked up a little earlier on ingram and it would have been an easy six sims under a little pressure after he drops the ball almost to the line of scrimmage and right here ingram is wide open and a great play a diving deflection by mckeyer odessa turner the intended receiver second and 10 126 to go in the half and sin has it knocked away by fagin [Applause] third down [Music] [Applause] [Music] it's an offensive lineman sometimes it really works out better for you if you run your guy past the quarterback there's an example of the giant's front wall doing such an effective job of neutralizing fagan up near the line of scrimmage he's reduced to nothing more than being able to jump up and block the pass that's what he did that time third and ten he played for new york going for the end zone and the official goes down manual is out of bounds and i think you could see the official beginning to signal he was out of bounds before he went down and then he finally makes the call official and that's the the back judge who was intimately involved in that play jim kearney and how do you have to give kearney credit look at the positioning there frankie watch his eyes they are right on the ground watching the feet all the way look at that the catch is worth replaying he's obviously out of bounds great hands on florida manuel who still has not taken a touchdown pass from phil sims i guess that's what you call a delayed call and a call here devotion to duty yeah down but not out meanwhile the giants have to take a time out here and nitmo will come in for what will be close to a 40-yard attempt watching nitmo at practice and it looks like alehashi sheikh when he was in his primary first came up that was setting record with the giants when he pops that ball he gets it up off the foot very quickly it'd be a very difficult thing to block providing you get a good snap out of it and he certainly was getting the distance hitting easily from 50 yards out if chris berman was here he'd be calling him the scandinavian scalawag i would imagine or something like that chris berman is here and he's dead well thanks for blowing it out [Applause] 39-yard attempt hostetler puts it down nick muller's kick is good boy it's ugly but it was there was a side overside i think it's not end over end but whatever they don't have a column for ugly no they just put it up there not at all they just remember he parcels took his earlier three off the board after the penalty and they picked up seven instead and and there it is uh spectacular sight the city of san francisco on this uh beautiful night in late november meanwhile the rams continue to chase the 49ers and look at that night for willie flipper anderson henry ellard was hurt and so anderson picking up the slack last night 15 catches an incredible 336 receiving yards as the rams fallen out in overtime over the same and what a night for jim everett he made some completions last night you could hardly believe [Music] if you just run that many patterns you're going to be exhausted what a night we see the the rams in anaheim against the 49ers two weeks from tonight right now if the 49ers win they'll remain two in front and again if the giants lose this game they'd be only one in front of philadelphia that would mean if the eagles were to win next week the teams would be timed but in effect the eagles will be in the lead in the division because they would have beaten the giants twice after the eagles the gas will face denver kickoff fields at the five this is current swaggler coming up the middle and he takes it to the 29 and the 49ers have one timeout remaining dwayne giles of course denver a winner yesterday they've already moved to that 10-2 mark and the winner of this game will will join denver with the best record in the national football league at 10 and two and boy talk about dan reeves and the denver broncos the denver broncos what a what a turnaround and clearly the most improved team in the league especially defensively i've it's been a long time since i've seen one turn around like that and of course there's an off night for joe montana only 17 of 18. yeah [Applause] got to be looking to steve young here pretty soon how did he blow that one from the 29 yard line he's going deep for rice and a little too deep sheldon white had good coverage and then rice got behind white but the ball a little overthrown sheldon white had great coverage mean he's really their stride for stride with jerry rice but like all great receivers at the last second in that last stride or two before he tries to catch it bryce has that little shifting of gears that allows him to move about a half a yard beyond white but gives sheldon white credit that's that's excellent coverage for a guy locked up one-on-one and not a bad pass just with that kind of coverage he had it just off the fingertips guys moving 40 50 yards in the air guys 17 is nice time to ride the final over second and ten here comes craig on a sweep behind uh mcintyre and then he was taken down by canard now that he 34-yard line and the clock stops with 50 seconds now remaining in the first half [Music] and at the half as usual uh you'll have a chance to vote and we've got some unusual plays for you tonight to say the least yep i mean real unusual with the vote on memorable moments there it is greatest moments i'm not so sure about that you don't want to miss this don't go too far the double d may play a prominent role in our halftime tonight third and seven and craig gets banged down by pepper johnson pepper doesn't know what the score is yeah and you're not supposed to and there's parcells screaming for a time out yep peppers in a signal team meanwhile you've got another little skirmish breaking out steve wallace the tackle and carl banks changing some pre-holiday wishes one of the reasons that parcells wanted that time out he wants a chance for megan to return the football he's got a averaging in double numbers and here we'll go back and pick up another member for a moment that's yesterday in the washington chicago game mark griffin had a sensational day and art monk made that catch for a touchdown as the redskins bomb chicago 38-14 i refuse to stand back and give credit to the other people because we think we are absolutely an atrocious football team at this point right now i doubt we have to play the rest of them but there's there's no question in my mind that we will be fortunate and fortunate to win one more game this is just not a good football team and i fooled myself i thought we were and for the first time in a while some people are beginning to believe that go when he says that here's the punt by helton fielded by megan and megan snakes his way out to the 34 here we go again one of the games the bears has to play is against these 49ers i could understand fifth is thinking and chicago uh plays minnesota next week and what's now a huge game in the central division a division featuring the packers in the pack you know you talk about mike dicker though it's a it's an unusual psychological ploy for a coach to talk like that normally uh coaches are the fountain of eternal optimism and they hear a coach talk like that i i guess the players on the bears know how to take him know what he's trying to do [Music] there's sims knocked down sacked by pierce holt and then larry roberts comes in to help finish him off a big half for pierce holt i guess so he had five and a half sacks coming into the game tonight and that's just grinded out football that's nothing pretty no blitz nothing on everyone straight away and sims no time to even look downfield good move that time against the center part oats and there's holt again making the tackle and boy this guy is uh this guy hates for this half to come to an end he'd rather keep on playing he's making everything happen make it running after clock and so the giants go back to the locker room where they'll check on lawrence taylor if he joins us late he's out injured knee injured ankle carted off the field and these two teams each nine and two have played 30 minutes in san francisco leading by two touchdowns with monday night football ready to return after a commercial a message from the national football league and a word from our abc station to the seven yard line he had all kinds of trouble with it mike wilson down there to make the tackle and the giants will start in a hole as we begin the second half and you take a look at the numbers through the first 30 minutes of play well the numbers needless to say reflect the dominance of the 49ers and their ability to move the ball offensively 227 yards in total offense and half number one and of course that's further reflected in joe montana's numbers who had just about as good a first half as the quarterback can have with the exception of his one fumble almost a perfect half cross in motion from the eight sims on a roll and under some pressure and chased by haley and fires and it is out of bounds no good zeke moa at the receiver and if you speculate as to what the giants have to do they have to do what they came in here trying to do and that is to go up on top and al and i were here in 1986 when the jazz were down 17 to nothing at halftime they came back and sparked by bavaro they're tied in who's missing tonight on the ir as you can see he's well out they were able to come back and win that game 21-17 but this is a different football team than the team of 86. second and ten giants from the eighth fake draw sims over the middle and the catch made at the 20-yard line and that zeke moai for a new york first down tackled by ronnie lott i think they can just stay with that all night as long as they want ronnie lott of course laying way back on into the zone he wasn't covering moat off the line of scrimmage again they had moat tied up with the linebacker and they seemed to be willing to stay with that moat has been open all night long and then the safety men come up to make the spot and of course ronnie lotta big young man out of usc now in his ninth year the traveler's man of the year for these 49ers will work on the field and off new travelers man of the year for the nfl will be announced at the super bowl and ronnie lot a contender four wide receivers and sims fires and it's an errand pass at the 26 yard line michael walter covering ingram on the play second down michael walker he's one of only two 49ers who have started every game on defense this year only charles haley and walter and that really points up what we talked about at the beginning of the telecast tonight they have been able to withstand so many injuries missed five games lot missed five of course they've lost jeff phillip of the season maybe for his career and michael uh carter the great nose tackle's still out tim's on second down and finding the seam is manual and it turns into a big gain to the 47-yard line where chet brooks makes the tackle well this is a very effective job of quarterbacking now by phil sims set some of these up by working inside going to his tight ends and now the crossing pattern working underneath his linole manual and you know that's a type of a that's a type of a reception that when you look at it on the field might have been broken for a much bigger play by someone who has more foot speed than manual not a real fleet receiver first down a little screen out to megan he's into 49er territory he's inside the 30. he's inside the 20 maggots staying in bounds touchdown that's a big time play i didn't see any way that megan was going to get into the end zone he was cut off and boxed off that's a superlative job frank of using the sideline staying inbounds and evading a tackler what a move he put on jeff brooks let's pick it up at the end 49ers anticipating pass giants come with the screen gets a good block brings it into the open now watsy he almost looks like he's playing like he's wide open then he eases off and puts it into another gear eases up and takes it right away from chet brooks brooks had the angle brooks had everything credit william roberts up at the line of scrimmage he's the guy that floated out and made the initial block that sprung maggot we saw megan on opening night on monday night in september in washington a 62-yard reception here a beauty to put new york right back in it and the giants go 92 yards on this drive the block by william robertson again chet brooks has the angle and megan i think surprising brooks with that burst of speed he just eased off a little and then all of a sudden he kicked it into another gear this is what marcel has the young man in there for almost like returning a punt for dave megan who has done so much for the giants and they come rumbling back to make it 24-17 if phil sims says we did it once before we can do it again candlestick park where the 49ers had led by 17 it's now down to seven and the giants to kick off warn nitmo puts it in the air sends it down to the six yard line terence flagler can't turn the corner and he's taken down by renee thompson who's done a tremendous job on special teams for the giants this year let's go back and take a look but watch the block right here here's megan but william roberts the former buckeye is the guy that springs this play just take a look at it he swings out and there is the block right there on johnny jackson and that allows david megat to just take over and from here though it's all megan and chet brooks got nothing but air and i'm sure he wants to see the film to try to figure out how that happened 49ers from the 17. and montana will put it up their first play of the second half is a reception by rathman he gets to the 25 a little short of the first down reasons and johnson tackles you know full well the jazz defense has met on the sidelines with bill belichick and this is a very important maybe even a critical series for the giants defense to somehow shut down this 49er offense they haven't done it yet and this is the time they have to do it second down and one and the 49ers come up in a tight formation they send rice in motion and on a sweep that's prey and freight turns it inside and picks up the first down and he carries howard with him in washington as well [Applause] john washington going for a ride as craig turns the corner and sends it off at the 31-yard line a first down for san francisco this really provides san francisco with an opportunity to do something they'd like to do and that's that's work on their running game joe montana is having such a brilliant year throwing the ball that the running game of the 49ers has been somewhat neglected roger craig's average is down almost a yard for carrie and as you get closer and closer to playoff time it's a it's the opportunity all coaches look for a chance to work on the ground attack from the 31 they're not on the ground they go through the air and it's montana hitting roger craig for about a four yard pick up we're talking about montana before statistically having the best year ever when you look at all the numbers that go into a quarterback's rating one statistic really stands out average yards per pass attempt and he's averaging 9.1 the league average is 7.2 and i agree that's a really meaningful number but i tell you what i like al i like the ratio of touchdowns to interceptions and we're dealing with a guy here that's got 22 touchdowns and only four interceptions that works five and a half to one here's craig after the 39-yard line he got a flag down as there was movement in the line before the inception of the play and bob nakali will tell us that he is against the giants going with four down linemen now with taylor out of the ball game and trying to get the past pressure with the four pigmen up front off side 74 defense five yards second down meanwhile taylor's still in uniform but highly doubtful he could play that's eric howard the nose tackle of a player who really wants to be noticed a guy that wants to move out of the shadow that was cast by the former giant nose tackle for eight years jim bird who's now here with the 49ers a bigger stronger more active version than jim burt but still has room to prove something with a great player second and one pretty much a free play and mr montana exploits it by hitting jones along the near sideline for a first down to the 49-yard line [Music] maybe joel throw a bad pass tonight just to think so maybe he'll get a giant in his face sometimes maybe he'll just you know kind of dangle some hope in front of the giants that it's possible how do you how do you really throw it anymore any more accurately than he's done tonight taylor left right right jones the tight end on the right side he's four five passes and montana throws and he finds weiss at the 39 and he is dropped back at the 40-yard line and all kinds of flags come in myron guyton is the guy well there's no disputing the lateness of the hit and then that's just an obvious sign of frustration unnecessary roughness 28 defense 15 yards automatic first round it means 29. he means 29 and jerry rice is down clearly and down for a while before guyton comes in and that's just not a very smart play get it on the head that's just total frustration the giants in a five defensive back zone defense rice finding the opening montana with all the time in the world gets the ball in there and guy total totally frustrated and comes in late ridiculous play across the team across to your teams yearly ten minutes to go in the third san francisco leading by seven here's craig on first down nothing doing and he's twisted around by john washington give johnny cook some credit there he's the guy that disrupted that play by getting up field taking on the lead blocker and kicking it to the outside john washington comes in and cleans up but there's johnny cooks former indianapolis colt another one draft choice there who really sitting inside here for the giants plays a little outside linebacker plays inside giants need a big play the giants need either a 49er air or someone on their side to come up step to the line and make a big play [Applause] second and ten it's taylor lined up in the backfield number 82 and then they send them in motion single coverage out here on rice and the pass intended for rice and broken up by mark collins a little floater and montana goes down and there's a penalty marker down because gary reason leveled him yeah they're going to call roughing the passer on reasons this is the second personal foul in a row on the giants montana missed two days of practice this week with [Applause] [Music] [Applause] well you heard one of the giants protesting i thought you got one step yeah they're going to say right there i mean that's what draws the flag that gary reasons puts a helmet at joe's chest and then drives him all the way into the ground without attempting to get it out but again you're you know quarterbacks wear pads too and i and you know they've got to take a shot every now and then and i'm not advocating that the eureka mayhem on a quarterback but my gosh here's a guy that rushes in there frank what do you think i mean that's just a tough call well it even looked even as bad as it looked it looked like he tried to pull up on it he was the one that said i get one step and under the rules he does get one step first and ten from the eleven here comes craig on a sweep to the near side and he fights his way to the eight yard line roger craig i mean that's one of those that on the stat sheet it looks like a simple three yard game but he turns no gain into a do a little gain anyway craig brings so many dimensions to these 49ers we know what kind of a receiver is and look at this this could have easily been stopped at the line of scrimmage takes off one tackle takes off collins i guess he shakes off kyle and turns up a no-gainer for a three-yard pickup he just threw collins out of the way that was not much of an effort by mark collins making a tackle second and seven for the first eight for the touchdown montana under pressure the ball is loose and the giants try to pounce on it and go to recover at the 14-yard line and carl breaks it out washington recovered it i talked about somebody having to step to the line and make the big play and number 58 is the guy carl banks coming all the way in from the back side just stayed with it stayed with it and hacked the ball he hacked it intentionally and knocked it out picked up the quarterback joe montana then knocked the ball out here he comes pro bowl linebacker gets away from wrapping montana flushed out of the pocket but look at the swing right arm stripping the ball from montana that's just a superb play by carl banks intentionally knocking the ball loose giants from the 13-yard line on first and ten and megan drops it he started to look up field that was tina turner ready to come up and pop him and he dropped it second down you know it's 44 to go in the third it's no accident that a player makes a play like banks just made right there think back to our opener remember the redskins and the giants and we saw lawrence taylor do exactly the same thing pursuing a play coming up from behind and then the big hatchet job with the right arm and knocks the ball loose i mean that's a that's a supremely intelligent play by a ball player dennis smith twice last week in the washington denver yeah great linebacker thanks and smart to do it to someone like montana who's who's not a roger craig or a raspberry used to carrying the ball and putting it away he just plays a different role than lawrence taylor in the giant scheme of things second and ten and sins to the 14-yard line the catch is made by turner and he's taken out of bounds by walter some seven yards short of the first down 8 37 to go in the period and we can tell you that tomorrow night coach meets his match the women's basketball coach it's round ball versus football when craig's t nelson stars as coach tomorrow after roseanne third and seven new york from the 17-yard line [Applause] with four receivers and now a fifth sent out into the pattern it's dropped by turner the 22 but a flag is down don griffin may have hit him before the ball got there lot and johnny jackson also there and it's against the 49ers and your call is right on al it's going to go against donald trump interference 29 defense push down it almost looks like griffin became disoriented out there wasn't quite sure either when the ball was coming or whatever but you can see he's all over turner and actually tries to tackle it before the ball gets there that's that's just going to draw the flag every time it's almost like he wasn't sure what was going on and when the ball had been thrown first and 10 from the 24 yard line now it's megat on the ground out to the 28-yard line against so much this season the giants as we mentioned otis anderson and they'd be using a lot of the rookie tillman as well but tonight in a new twist it's megan playing a lot on first down remarkable football player i said earlier five seven 180 pounder a rookie fifth round draft pick out of towson state but he played a couple of years at morgan state and he was a quarterback there to begin with he was a all-conference cornerback and then he was a an all-conference tailback at towson state so he can do it all lotus anderson meanwhile has carried the board just twice tonight second and six here's moab making the catch and the first down as tina turner runs him out of bounds and as much as they have used moat tonight they could even use him more because the 49ers still are relying on the outside linebackers that time it was number 58 that they covered moat with and he was wide open and gets the first down tina turner and he is a good pass coverage man but he has good quickness and all that but ordinarily you will not want him lined up with a tight end first half of the 39-yard line [Applause] here's sims hitting steven baker oh and does he get jarred at the 43-yard line hello hello it actually took a ride that wasn't much of a hit he just got on the back of the defender ronnie lot it just took a took a ride like he was a drunk or something no i i know a lot of people would like to do this well it could have been a lot worse knowing ronnie lot now watch he goes up lot gets under him he goes up oh yeah there it is jeff call up i will arrange that anybody'd like to do this that'll get the 900 number for us [Applause] 18-yard pickup baker's first catch of the night from the 42 pressure is on screen is set up mega drops the ball it's a live ball stripped by bert san francisco has it oh and jim burt just makes a little poke at doug riesenberg and phil sims shoves him out of the way don griffin is the man who recovers it jim from the nose tackle position sliding down the line of scrimmage number 64. [Applause] dave megan he wasn't there when this rookie came up what's exactly the same play that the giants ran for a touchdown roberts kicking out but this time bert spoils it all comes out from the inside strips the ball and once again the 49ers make a big play [Applause] best play by an announcer you're voting for it there it is uh oj of course leading but in the most embarrassing moment of omad rashad's career he's trailing theodore 900. abc he's been on the phone the entire half here i think i get the vote for myself and abc facebook that's what you think here's rasman picking up 11 and a first down to the 45-yard line after the 49ers take over following the fumble bert and sims quite a buy play there right at the end of that play as bert play as burt got tangled up with doug reisenberg shoved him away phil sims stuck his nose into it gave birth a shove and it was kind of unfriendly for a moment i think they both kind of laughed and walked away from it i'm not so sure they left that sounds good colleen would like it that way here comes an end around they haven't run this in about two months and jerry rice takes it inside the 30 to the 25 yard line that's a play and a flag goes down they ran that play once in each of the first four games this year and not at all since but it will come back after a 19-yard pickup well they had filed that away and brought it back out tonight but unfortunately for the 49ers it comes back illegal push in the back 84 on the offense 10 yards first down one of the reasons they took that play out was the diminishing returns in week one it worked for 17 against indy then 11 in week two then three then the rams knocked him for an 11-yard loss so they took it out of the playbook for a while and just brought it back again well it worked that time except for brent jones indeed it did this kind of play you put in against a team that is pursuing with the defense meanwhile here is steve young in the game montana bending over it looks like his ribs bothering him on the sideline so joe has to come out at least for a play well montana al was leading the play he threw the block out in front of that player looks like he injured himself doing so so steve young with some very impressive numbers of his own goes right to the air it's a little high for roger craig who's covered by johnny cooks joe montana is actually going to lead the blocking there he is to the right of the screen blocking on carl banks that's not a very good matchup well but it's a darn good block by montana he puts carl banks on the ground i mean that is an unbelievable block by quarterback he said earlier that joe montana missed a couple of days practice this past week we'll look at it again and he just stays right with it now banks rolls over with him and catches montana in the ribs with the knee hey that's a block to be proud of for joe a second and seven it is craig it was almost a 40-yard line almost a bounty block it was here we go again although i would uh i'm sure ed debartolo over in his box is saying to himself that's not why i'm paying this guy big bucks i uh i'm not sure i want number 16 leading reverses and leading sweeps now touched on the fact that they had kind of put that away earlier in the season and not used it one of the reasons probably is that montana he's a competitor he's an athlete every time they run that he is out in front trying to lead it he has thrown through the years some great blocks on similar plays oh it might be time to stop yeah [Applause] i mean 11th here in the league that's enough third down short five from the 40-yard line steve young flushed out he's very very mobile but not mobile enough to get away from pepper johnson well short of the first down and the 49ers will come in with their punting unit boy that's leonard marshall again we talked early about how he's really come on he's the guy that forces young out of the pocket take a look at the top of your screen there's leonard marshall number 70 down in his stance boy look at that quick move to the inside on bubba paris and steve young forced out of the pocket way before that's kind of delegating responsibility leonard marshall points over to pepper johnson and so well i got him on the run you finish him off 49ers now sprint to the line of scrimmage and here comes steve young as they try to trick the giants on fourth down and three they did the giants had their putt return unit in there they sent rathman in motion and that is actually hilton the punter who comes up to the line of scrimmage as they try to draw the giants offside but it doesn't work it is helton on a preset play where you're just trying to get the opposition to jump when you have less than five yards of course first and it doesn't work five yard penalty is not going to hurt anything they'll back them up because they were at the line of scrimmage about the 39 yard line the giants were even saying that the parcels what do you want to do you want to decline it there's montana meanwhile being worked on and parcels decides they will back them up another five montana's missed a couple of games this season with various ailments they had a an injured shoulder rather an injured elbow early in the year there's two and a half games in fact it's the dallas game in the jets game right elbow and then a left knee and now short ribs played in only half of their victory over new england flag goes down as helton kick a fair catch is called for but megan lets it bounce and it does go into the end zone let's see about the penalty marker at the line of scrimmage call made by the line judge ron d'souza motion penalty against san francisco and it will be declining number 40 offense healthiest decline you know what that over giants will get it at the 20-yard line johnny jackson backing up and you'll see him there he is he really kind of moves on the snap of the ball chuck thomas the center picks that ball up and delays a little bit but of no consequence it's declined anyway san francisco al michaels frank gifford and dan dierdorf joe montana who had to come out on the 49ers last series up and walking around as we look down from the goodyear blunt columbia charles russell at the home tonight a sparkly night in the city by the bay where the 49ers lead by seven and the giants have the ball at the 20 and roussan and anderson are in the game back to sims here's only the third carry of the night for anderson who takes it out to the 24 yard line meanwhile let's take a look at montana's block and remember earlier he was buried by gary reasons and that could have created some problems for the ribs as well and then came this and of course he came into the game with sore ribs there he is bottoming the screen the right side now he goes into banks gets banks on the ground but banks kind of rolls over him and montana had to leave the field another angle of it because that's a good block he got his he got his body in there and got through the arms of banks that's my vote for best block by quarterback second down and six for new york from the 24-yard line as sims fires over the middle moak juggles it and it's nearly picked off by oh luck what the giants have been looking for that's what they came into the game trying to do is get moat in the scene of the 49ers deep zone defense and he was right there a little high maybe the one he should have had jim burt that time i don't know if you noticed let's take a look at him and knows that he crawls all the way to phil sims and ends up with a hand on the ankle he finally gets in there and grabs the ankle sims and sims kind of kicked off his hands third and six from the 24. sims has it batted back into his own hands and then throws and the catcher's made but a flag is down as sims had already in effect made the completion exactly and romney locked berries odessa or ronnie lott was the guy yep that's two forward passes and eric wright was that certainly buried odessa turner as lock came in and took care of the quarterback washing down the previous spot fourth down [Applause] ronnie locked right up the seam no one even touching him now phil just did not have the presence he knows you can't do this but he spots odessa turner who was wide open down the field and i guess the temptation was just too much but turner also took a tremendous shot and he is still prostrate at the middle of the field hit by eric wright they continue to work on odessa turner and the giants will fund when we come back as we take one more look at the hit as we come back odessa turner helped to the far side for the giants but went off for basically under his own power and sean landetta to punt [Music] as he boots it from the 15-yard line and it's a low end over intake with don griffin back and he lets it bounce and the giants have to down it at the 42 and we've got another flag down back at the 27-yard line [Applause] and it's against the 49ers it was fourth and six [Applause] at the 24-yard line 58 on the receiving team after the ball is kept all right position foul the receiving team will keep the ball uh post possession big difference right there big difference a major difference if that would have been before the 49ers had possession that would have been an automatic first down for new york as it was it was a very poor punt by landetta and the 49ers are going to take over their own 42-yard line 34-yard kick meanwhile updating the vote i wonder if these people are voting on announcers acumen these are best announcers plays dan said he quite humbly a moment ago i only want to finish a strong second bearing down unstable i i either wanted to win or finish blast [Music] with the juice on top by a mile the penalty assessed as montana comes back into the game the penalty assessed from the spot the giants down the punch so a 10-yard penalty puts it back to the 32-yard line and joe off the play fake sets up the screen roger craig slips one tackle and then is brought down at the 37-yard line from behind by eric howard will be second and five banks also in on the play joe montana tonight has thrown only two incomplete passes so he's in the 90s tonight he is 72 for the season which is unbelievable 22 touchdowns and four interceptors came into the knife what with the 115.5 rating there's the record right there kenny anderson did that in the strike year 1982 70.6 and sammy baugh 44 years ago and four played in eight games that year here's craig on second and six coming to the outside and taken down by collins and johnson at the 40-yard line short of the first by about a yard yard and a half third down upcoming with under two minutes to play in the third period [Music] so montana getting the sign from the 49er bench meanwhile here are the possessions the 49ers the first four possessions resulting in scores and the last four two fumbles two punts describe starting to 32 third down and one and rathman and that was a long one he has to get to the 42-yard line and does not appear to have it he needs a real friendly spot to get this first down and i don't believe he's close i mean he needs an up with people spot good short yardage play by the giants you saw that the 49ers trying to drive the giants off the ball were just totally unsuccessful all the penetration belonged to new york and pepper johnson leading the charge [Music] bill parcells uh with johnson as he awaits his team to regain possession they're down by seven they have scored the only points of the third quarter that's dave meggett standing back at his 18-yard line barry hilton who missed a lot of practice time this week with baxters takes the snap gets the kick away sends megan to the far side at the 20. and the rookie brings it back out to the 34-yard line [Music] and a little contact after the play and a flag is down it seems to be far for the course following returns tonight and this time the penalty is against new york who was at that time illegal block in the back number 99 on the run 10 yards first down steve the aussie throw the giants down by seven a lot of people trying to compare the giants of 89 to 86 parcells won't have any of that in fact if you ask parcells to compare the the 80 1986 it's like saying that compare william goldman to william shakespeare he looks at you like you're crazy from the 24-yard line he just tries to deflect all of the comparisons from the 24-yard line sims has it knocked down by holt and pierce holt involved again big first half big play here [Music] hope having a big night but not as big as al first hold like friezenberg just stands him up dan pointed out a while ago sometimes they're better off he let him beat you a little bit take him take him one way or the other and that time hold that nowhere to go he just went up in the air and blocked it he was something you guys are good frank burns the presence of greatness and i'm not talking about joe montana second and ten from the 24 yard line sims firing the catchers made at the 40-yard line by manuel for a first down with that much time left in the third period and this is the point in time as we probably saw the last play of period number three where if you're a 49er fan you've got to be a little uneasy right now as well as your club has played you're watching the night that joe montana is having and here you go into the fourth quarter only leading by seven points and the giants have the ball and moving end of three abc's monday night football returns after this for abc station good ball game well we need a break [Music] in the catacombs ed devardallo who owns the 49ers and there's a man who took over in the late 70s has watched his team win three super bowls and right now they'd be favored to make it four i'm sure that he has that uneasy feeling i was talking about you'd think the 49ers would have put this one away and the giants won't quit here's carson making the catch in a four-yard gain and topped by matt millen out of the 44-yard line as we begin the fourth quarter matt millen you saw de bartolo a moment ago he was the one that came up with the zeros to get matt millen a pro bowler with the raiders a year ago and turned loose right before the start of the season he became extremely valuable when jim farnhorst injured his right foot and he went down ricky ellison was lost in training camp and millen is a starter and a big play man now for the 49ers well haley and romanowski are trying to figure out which side of the ball to get on second and five sim shoots it out to otis anderson and anderson cannot get around bill romanowski take a look at the numbers now through the first three quarters of play you can see that the giants that time had a had a good third quarter time of possession still considerably in favor of the 49ers but all in all relatively even only 20 yards separating the two and the turnovers have evened out third and four at the 46-yard line crowd exhorting the 49ers defense ingram in motion and a first down as megit makes the catch and takes it to the san francisco 45 tackle by brooks little man giving big plays to the giants tonight makes the screen pass 62 for the touchdown this is exactly what parcells wanted for megan as he begins to expand his playing time the early part of the year up until last week as a matter of fact you'd come in only on third down the sure pass now he's playing on first down and in all situations on the first down he shoots it out to megit and megit swings to the outside inside the 40 and megan close to a first down and has it out of bounds at the 35-yard line well the one thing bill parcells told us was that we need big gains from zeke moat we need a big gain from david megan and the reason i want to get the ball to make it is that he'll make the first guy miss and the first guy here is bill romanowski who just doesn't have the foot speed to catch up to megan and this guy has just burst upon the scene in new york not only as a receiver but his total yardage uh with kickoff returns and punt returns running to look at it look at 170 yards so far in this game for this talented rookie he was averaging 110 a game good enough for 8th in the league coming in [Applause] on first down from the 35 going deep and throwing it a little bit behind ingram covered on the play by eric wright and pollard back to cover on the play and just thrown over the the top of his head and couldn't quite twist around to make the catch frank a lot of times you'll see the quarterback throw it over to the outside because he sees the safety coming over from the inside and that time phil sims saw ronnie lot and that's what forced him to throw the ball away throw it back over the outside shoulder keeping it away from the free safety is moving over from in the middle but that's covered coverage by polish couldn't have been played better second and ten [Applause] sim goes down at the 37 and the flag goes down he gets hit by stubs and roberts and sims is shaken up face mask and sims must be heard he must have let out some sort of a bone or a cry or something because instantly bart oats was waving to the sidelines and imagine what he's thinking five yard face mask 96 defense well that's daniel stubbs who continues his bad streak of of penalties last week in their game he had just about as bad a week as a guy could have a bad game as a guy could have penalty wise and oh no question it looks like the thumb you know it's impossible to speculate but that thumb went clear inside the face mask and also phil sims and i you hope he didn't get it in the eye dan subs number 96 who last week negated an interception return for a touchdown by chet brooks by lining up in the neutral zone dan his right foot was also trapped as he went down and they're looking at the ankle and the knees both of which are already tender for phil simms watch the right knee as roberts comes in face mask of course but if you look the right knee just buckles under the weight of roberts this will give us a little better look than you can see the right knee definitely is caved in a little bit bill was lucky to be able to get his legs up off the turf but there's no doubt that he's in pain at that moment he let out a cry and it was when bart oates instantly back into the sidelines and get some medical assistance in you can see the film phil's reluctant to even take a step and [Music] johnny barnes the trainer in the blue warm up to his trainer for the giants dr russell warren back out on the field again well no one has ever questioned the pain tolerance of number 11 nor the ability of jeff hostetler now you and i you know we exchanged words with hosteller uh reminding him of his game with minnesota and you only play on monday nights and lo and behold how prophetic that was yeah i see you and kubiak he changes things a little bit he can move around back there he'll give you a good effort scrambling well last week we saw the stuffed quarterback gary kubiak have a big night lead denver to a win here comes todd settler on second down [Applause] what do you do new quarterback you're blitzing the hofstetler's changing the play as he reads the blitz and megan's calling out the uh the change as he stays in the block and hospital nearly gets sacked and then is in the grass band control at the 38 yard line of pierce holt that's a horrible rule [Applause] so that's in effect they sack back at the 38-yard line [Applause] it is in an effort to preserve quarterbacks however yeah i know but it's it's grasp and control just ugly [Applause] are you really controlling a guy if he completes the pass here's jeff hostetler coming out pearson and i mean that's a completed pass i mean i'm sorry if that's if that's a good call under the rule then that's an ugly rule and talking about a guy who's back in phil sims returns yeah oh man i mean that's yeah i mean the guy makes a great play hosteller makes a great play getting rid of the ball and it's a sack if parkinson's played under these rules he'd never had a completion no instead of the most in history time out sims back in time out giants 11 54 to go [Music] you talk about collector's items worth nothing wait a minute i'm in all of them you know there's one of you in there i know it that's what i mean we're zero the last messages of halloween indianapolis 1958 his third down and 14 for the giants with sims back in the game at the 39. three three-man rush and it's made at the 20-yard line by ingram in a huge first down and what a catch what a lead by phil simms and boy that's stretching for the ball mark ingram only at 5 10. needed every inch of it there 49ers played that man for man up short with their cornerbacks and they dropped deep in the zone and phil sims splits the zone ingram reads it gets right around in between the deep man and the up man and sam zipped it in great test first and ten giants at the 18 yard line sims throwing for manuel picked off at the one-yard line by chet brooks and a flag down after the play maurice carson grabbed the face mask and it will come out beyond the 14 as well and this time chet brooks gets to keep the interception it's the 49er defense they play man for man on the corner five yard face mask [Applause] [Music] and sims never saw chet brooks no brooks and ronnie lott playing the safety position back there each taking a half of the field sims reads the man for man and the left side of the field belongs to brooks and he just reads sims all the way and steps right in front of the receiver [Applause] good play by chet brooks as dan mentioned he gets to keep it last week daniel subs lined up offside and that negated a 94-yard interception return and was the pivotal play in the game won by green bay because they cashed it in cash catches made out of the 30-yard line by mike wilson he's kind of a forgotten man he's in his ninth year but when you have rice and taylor and of course in years past people like solomon and ronaldo nehemiah is here as well mike wilson just keeps squading along [Applause] going to think the giants were that close to tying this game up but again the 49ers stiffened and came up with another big play defensively now it's a gut job for the giants defense to get it back 10 30 to go ratsman [Applause] and he picks up close to five and we've got another flag as well this one's thrown by the umpire which is normally holding and that's what it is [Music] [Applause] [Music] did you ever get called for for holding by anybody other than the gunfire yeah you get it from the guys working the sidelines you'll get it from a side judge and head linesman offense 10 yards first down that's jesse cipolo the center [Music] i should have said often do you you ha well you can not often uh 90 of those he'll only call that the guys on the sidelines will only call the tackle to that side uh predominantly it's the umpire who makes probably 80 of the calls the referee is responsible for looking at the right tackle and he'll he'll throw it every now and then [Applause] [Music] first and twenty to the 21-yard line montana throwing in a little bit behind the tight end brent jones one of his rare incompletions tonight he was covered on the play by mark collins one of the few bad tosses we've seen on the part of montana and had he led jones jones could have picked up the first down he was that open next week the giants of course go home to face philadelphia you talk about a short week they get back in the wee hours tomorrow morning go far so saying yesterday he may give them until thursday off well a short week against the team that played on thanksgiving i mean a short week against the team that's had the longest of weeks 10 days to get ready second and 20. montana over the middle that's wilson again he loses the ball and three giants are there and collins has it at the 30-yard line and finally we get an indication from an official that it does belong to new york and i think carl banks is the giant that came in and stripped the ball and it's collins who is at the bottom of that file who has the football and new york will have it at the 30-yard line montana with a lot of time could have gone up on the second extremely long yardage and you're right dan it was banks who again hammered that big right hand in and stripped the ball from mike wilson that the 49ers have gone into a bit of a shell as opposed to their offense we watched in the first half well you can't say carl banks isn't doing everything he can do tonight for the giants and lawrence taylor's absent fostering two fumbles with that big right hand [Applause] cross goes in motion from the 30-yard line tim throws over the middle otis anderson takes it down to the 22 tackled by holt it'll be second and two 9 40 to play 49ers ahead by seven at one point they led 24-7 24-17 regardless of who wins or who loses this game you have to admire the tenacity of bill farcells and his giants team i mean they have suffered setback after setback and really have been facing an awesome 49er offense tonight but i mean they are right here second and one and it's a long one and it's closed as anderson takes the ball to the 20-yard line he got it to the strike that's good enough [Music] quiet right now relatively quiet again the 49ers unbeaten on the road 6-0 know at stanford they had to play against stanford right after the earthquake until they got candlestick ready for action again and only two and two here [Applause] ingram is right with a safety net jeff brooks covering it [Applause] throwing throwing it out of the end zone intended for mark ingram second down this extremely young and in some ways inexperienced offensive line of the new york giants is playing just an outstanding game tonight reisenberg and moore and oates and robertson elliot by and large have done an effective job of controlling the 49ers up front frank i mean it's a group that's that's really developed and grown as the season has gone along and either they're they're playing well tonight you go across the line you look at them number one they were drafted number one number two all pro from the us as the afc old afl changing their role tonight through pass blocking here comes sims 43rd pass of the night and the catch is made by manuel at the 10-yard line and uh very close to a first down pollard covering on the play sims is up and over 300 yards for the evening this looks like this is going to take a measurement so an official's time here 8 20 on the clock you do go across that line dan you were talking about as we see manually and the yardage and he was pressured by pilot who gave him good coverage and took him back but they'll mark the progress it's going to be very close but it's just going to be second down if he doesn't make it that's almost a situation where we almost hope you don't make it exactly yes if you're a free win that's right end zone with it now you got to get it in from about as far away as you can be on first and goal that's one of those where you're not all that upset if you're only a foot short of the first half little piece people come out now for the giants megan ingram manuel and the big folks come in the two tight ends they sent baker split to the left they put ingram in motion and give the ball to otis anderson and anderson fights his way down for the seven yard line jeff brooks comes up to make the hit otis jerome anderson what a job he has done for the new york giants this year has gone over 9 000 yards in his career here in the national football league the former number one draft choice of the then st louis cardinals and the possibility of getting a thousand yards this year thanks a little damn with jill morris in the last three years and joe morrison's hurt this year he really took up the slap second and goal quick drop by sims and he throws and it batted away on a great play by don griffin intended for baker and don griffin really now among the elite quarterbacks in the league proving it week after week in his fourth year at a middle tennessee stadium well these 49er corners play the receiver then when they sense that the receiver is giving them an indication the ball is in the air they turn to play the ball and there it is put it in the training film and the textbook that is exactly how it's supposed to be done notice the left hand feeling the receiver knowing exactly where manuel is where baker is rather and then coming back and making the play phil simpson he might have a touchdown thought he had it third and goal baker left ingram in motion from the right side since flush throws on the run and throws it behind an incomplete intended for cross and brooks is saying it should be offensive interference he's not he's one of the rare times you'll see the defensive back in a situation like that where he played his case both the tight ends were in the pattern but moat was knocked off by the linebacker lacrosse tries to reach back inside and again he loses his footing we've seen a lot of that tonight look at that chunk assad that came up meanwhile the giants are going for it they will not attempt the field goal which will put them within four there's the divot it's fourth and goal turner in the game to the left ingram to the right sims for turner [Applause] touchdown over griffin who came right back with it i mean the play that griffin made a few moments ago was a brilliant play to knock the ball away from baker you can't make that all night long they come back and they get man for man with odessa turner that's exactly what they want turner goes six foot three good athlete against a six-foot don don griffin and we get the touchdown for the giants well i don't know that a quarterback could throw this ball any better than phil sims drops this one over the corner look at that throw by phil sims and bjorn nitmo who has put the excitement back in just every kick for the giants faces a big one and comes through with 7.06 to play and i spoke earlier about that uneasy feeling if you're following the 49ers if they're your team lo and behold they find themselves tied 706 left in the fourth quarter and frank that's just that's a perfect throw and a great pattern by the six foot three turner griffin didn't even look back at the ball he knew he was beat to the outside and we've got a tied football game with seven minutes remaining in new york or in san francisco or in the middle lands to be precise or here his nipple kicks off hypno from that up high into the three yard line flagler [Applause] and you know we sung the phrases of the 49ers so often early in this game but here are the giants they lose lawrence taylor they're down by 17 points they're on their way to maybe being down by more and right back in it they stayed in there as we talked about earlier they were down 17 points in 1986 they came back to win that 21-17 i'm sure that at halftime for ourselves who remind me a lot of the young giants who weren't here that they could do it hasn't that been the trademark though of what we've been seeing all season long a team that's having to overcome some sort of a handicap does i mean whether it's kubiak or or frank reich or or whomever the hero turns out to be we've seen it all year first and 10 from the 18 montana had to throw it away after uh initially his intended receiver was covered throwing it out of bounds at second down and 10 brent jones nearest to the area covered by mark collins there are a lot of philadelphia eagles and fans are looking on tonight with the victory the giants could come in with a two-game lead next week to play them and then the giants will face denver after that home for dallas home for the raiders while philadelphia has the giants and then they have dallas new orleans home for phoenix second and ten [Applause] montana buying time off the fake has a lot of room to run and joe montana is steps out of bounds at the 35 after picking up a first down and that is something he has done so very often this season montana scrambling and running and averaging five yards of rush coming into the game tonight almost 200 yards rushing coming in tonight 179 i believe it was at a five-yard average he has now run for a first down in each of the last 10 games she has played and cerebral he he runs so judiciously i mean he knows that he comes out he's not going to run unless he can pick up the first down get good yardage out of there he'll dump it off or he'll find a receiver first and 10 from the 35. this is craig this of course is a time when the 49ers would love to really get their running game in gear and take a lot of time off that clock which is now down to 6 30 to play there is no new york giant trying harder both to make a play or to cheer his team on right now than pepper johnson again at the end of that play you've got to look at him trying to exhort his team on gary reasons there the other inside linebacker johnny cooks having to play now on the outside in the spot vacated by lawrence taylor craig who was lined up wide in motion and montana rolling and throwing and does rice make the cash oh boy but of course he does why even ask well it was rice getting himself locked with mark collins and mark collins had to respect the deep threat of rice he played played him very close and it was just a great effort on the part of rice to use the sideline montana reads it with him that's not bad position and by collins that's just beautiful beautiful and of course how many quarterbacks can throw and on the run as well as montana not many first and ten from the 46. here's rasman who finds a nice little hole but it closes in a hurry he gets to the 49 tackle by banks you'd be hard-pressed to find an offensive team that that works this type of situation here we are five minutes and change left in the fourth quarter a tie ball game you'd be hard-pressed to come up with an offensive team that that operates with more confidence than the 49ers do you know that's that stems from joe montana it also stems from the fact that they've done it so often before i mean all the way back to the drive in the super bowl last year i mean this is just another day at the office for this offensive team a pressure situation they're as cool as can be most of the time they come through but they didn't last week against green bay at the end second down and seven montana throws for rice and he makes a catch and he's spun out of bounds at the 32-yard line he is amazing okay where do you go though when it is pressure you go to a man who's on his way to canton ohio jerry rice two key interception poker first downs of the drive continues and now rice is over 100 yards remember what bill parcells told us about jerry rice about his uh he thinks one of his finest attributes is his stamina the longer the game goes on the stronger he becomes he's even running faster than maybe he did in the first quarter and maybe that's why he's getting some separation now between himself and some of the giant defenders seven tattoos tonight for rice here's craig and he runs right into gary reasons and the clock is now down to the five minute mark as much as the 49ers would like to run the football i think they've almost conceded they can't but if you're going to throw the football you've got to keep that defense honest by running it occasionally here's reasons reading it playing it well craig tries to break it back against the grain and right into the shoulder pads of reason well he adhered to the number one rule of an inside linebacker don't over pursue play it inside out that's exactly what he did second at 11 from the 33-yard line and montana going deep for rice and this time rice can't one-handed step on collins good coverage that time though all things considered he had a step on him but it had to be a perfect throw for that to be a completion mark collins over rice how could you play cornerback against the 49ers and not look up at the clock after every play say isn't this thing over yet i mean how many more times do i have to try to stay with this guy i mean i can't believe that if you're a cornerback you don't stare at that huddle hoping that jerry rice breaks to the other side of the field you wouldn't be human if you didn't think that even neon dion will run into rice next week yes maybe yeah now sheldon white top of your screen on jerry rice but he'll get help from the inside and we'll leave him out there alone third down and 11. and montana comes back the other way and nobody remotely in the area and you better say that again yeah well mike barber who was just activated ran into the end zone and montana thought he was running an out pattern and that's the problem you have when you've got a guy playing in his first game barbara the rookie out of marshall i guess inactivated this past week well maybe it was montana's fault good luck getting anyone to believe that meanwhile a 51-yard attempt coming up right now mike coper as long as the season is 47. these are also the kanye blocks flag is down it is no good it had the distance but was wide to the left and the line judge will make the call against the giants defense lined up in the neutral zone will that be a first down however didn't get his number he said i think it might be renee thompson he's the guy to this side this is thompson right here number 21 and it appears that his hand is farther out here than anyone else at least on this side renee thompson number 21 so gopher gets another shot and a big difference well 37 yards and 51. this one will be spotted at about the 36 yard line it better be a 46 yard attempt if the last one was a 51. give or take a half a yard here this is actually going to the books as a 45 yard to the line of scrimmage or where they'll put it down is just outside the 35. puts it down and this time the kick is truer and good not only the difference in the distance but psychologically particularly off the natural surface well last week the 49ers were victimized by lining up in the neutral zone this week it works in their favor it's the new york giants that make the mistake and give their opponents another chance what goes round comes around and mike coper getting a chance to do it again leaves no doubt plenty long and plenty straight for 12 to play san francisco by michael's frank gifford and dan dierdorff and this game has very much lived up to the hype and everybody's expectations 27 to 24 san francisco 4 12 to go looking ahead the giants have two of their timeouts remaining and mike coper with a deep kick a yard in the end zone it's ingram and he comes out to about the 22-yard line and so the giants will begin the drive from that spot well here's where the giants really have to rely upon phil sims to do exactly what he's been doing a majority of the time tonight working the short to intermediate passing game not really going for the big play with four minutes and two timeouts left the giants have plenty of time to go down the field you can see the good night 326 yards there's time to be patient for the giants [Applause] from the 22-yard line sims begins by throwing an ounce pattern that's out of bounds intended for manual [Applause] you know the funny thing it's worth repeating again with each team having a two-game lead at the moment the loser has only a one-game lead but both teams are in similar situations the giants where they will lose tonight and lose to philadelphia next week tied with the eagles but really behind them head to head he's a little gloss twice 49ers in the same boat because they'd be a game in front of the rams but if the rams were to beat them in two weeks the rams would have won both head-to-head meetings and in essence be in first place second and ten and sims has to step up and gets it picked off by eric wright oh wow phil simms will look at that on film and kick himself time and time again frank for not running with the ball [Applause] in any other situation probably at any other time the phil sims has gone out of this game with a bad ankle he came in with a bad ankle you're exactly right though this could be the year on the line here and an errant throw right into the arms of eric wright well he's trying to get the ball to david megan now watch phil he's going to break to his left he sees megan and he launches the ball and megan i guess phil sims is upset with megan for not stopping turning back facing the quarterback and giving him a target they could continue to run downfield and really wasn't in a position to help sim phil's mad at maggot matted himself not that easy to do from the 17-yard line this is roger craig you know it's kind of funny so many of the 49ers the household names as cooks and mcintyre get into it for the moment but eric wright is one of those who has been here for all of the super bowl championships that's the 18th career interception for eric wright and about as big as they come well you look back at that 81 draft for the 49ers and think that number one was ronnie lott and the second round choice was eric wright that's pretty productive trying to strengthen the secondary and [Applause] all the pain on phil's face he knew he had thrown that one away well now the onus is squarely on the shoulders of this defensive team and let's please keep the 49ers to three there's rafflin swinging to the outside takes it down to the 13. well we have a lot of isolates on coaches and here's one on the owner huh a whole lot of hugging going on replay that i'm smooshing and busting as well [Music] 49ers with third and seven and the clock picking down again the giants can stop the clock twice since keeping warm on the far side and they have a two minute warning hope you can believe that joe montana will take that 30-second clock right down to the minimum third and seven in montana is able to get it off to raffany as the first down to the three-yard line how did he ever get it off with banks blitzing and wouldn't it be carl bank first thing that comes to my mind last year randall cunningham carl banks making the play on cunningham having to get up saying how in the world did he complete this pass and here he is in exactly the same situation with joe montana down goes montana and he leaves the field he was shaken up he is left before and it could be that he just taking advantage of the two minute warning which he is but he was holding his ribs he knelt down on one knee as he came to the sidelines and what a performance he is putting on tonight and carl banks is saying you have to be kidding me first and goal [Music] two minutes to go and the 49ers have a first and goal at the three yard line as they try to swap this one away the giants can stop the clock twice but what they really have to do is stop the 49ers curious and they give it to raphman and now we'll see if new york wants to take a timeout they really in no man's land here the giants are and they they have to stop the clock parcel is now looking in the face of having to fly back to new york and again they get there in the wee hours yesterday he was uncertain what he would do he was toying with the idea of having them not coming until thursday which really gives them two full days to prepare for philadelphia because you kind of do a walk through on saturday [Music] night all the way along that philadelphia played on thanksgiving day they of course returned that night they've been back in philadelphia since friday they've had a long rest and the giants are going to have over 100 hours different sometimes plus the trip back to new york you know the situation at hand all hasn't changed for new york defensively they've got to keep san francisco out of the end zone they've got to force a field goal situation to where they're only trailing by six points and they will get the ball back granted with no timeouts and not a whole lot of time but it's still critical it just you just can't let them in the end zone how often have you seen montana come on a rollout out of this situation second and goal here's rice in motion and rathman takes it to the one-yard line and now the giants have to spend their final timeout with 147. and we can tell you that next week we go up north got two teams going in different directions in really different directions buffalo coming off that big win against cincinnati yesterday kelly and you'll see andre reed and thurman thomas against the seattle seahawks who have just about hit rock bottom [Music] it will be at the kingdom meanwhile we can tell you about the final vote and there it is oj wins it as we expected and deirdre comes in for the show money solid second well the only uh if you saw that clip at halftime the only thing uh of the historic imports about that was that was against the miami dolphins back in 1972 their undefeated season so i'm in some ways a part of history 13 years eight pro bowls whatever it was that was that's all we could find there was better things out there but uh if i can undefend him dan made 30 calls debbie 116 christian 104. [Applause] all right not sure about that third and goal from the two and here's craig trying to vault into the end zone there's no signal yet and the giant saying get up get up as if the 49ers are going to help them get up and they won't they'll take that clock right down to the end it is short and it's fourth down and the 49ers with montana looking over toward the bench saying to seaford do you want a timeout and georgia said no way pal no you don't want to tie it out but you want to kick a field goal well i mean you know why why run the risk of not getting in and being able to be tied by a field goal now the giants so the 49ers are saying call that timeout and they call it and the giants are saying they called it after the play clock had expired and let's see what mackel we say bad fire drill on the sidelines of the 49ers they weren't quite sure what they wanted to do first they're saying no then what they were saying is let the play clock run all the way down well there's no flag on the field san francisco before the play clock ran out yeah i mean that's the back judge's responsibility to uh to go ahead and and look at that clock and no flag on the field means that uh he granted them the timeout before the play play clock expires let's uh let's play quarterback here what do you do i mean you're george seifert i mean i kicked the field goal i kicked the field goal touchdown to win that's right to make a touchdown the other spot of course on the part of seaford defensive coordinator all of his career is we can leave him down here if we don't get the touchdown if we get the touchdown from the foot out this game is history you know you leave the chance that a field goal could tie you [Applause] on another plane there's a five and a half points spread in this game which has a few people interested at the moment as well fourth fourth and goal and they're going for it rice in motion and rathman walls in for the touchdown when it works it's a good call [Applause] and the 49ers lay claim to the best team in football there will be some argument in denver but the 49ers and their followers are saying we're the ones and they did sag in the third quarter through much of the fourth quarter and like a good championship team they got it back together when they had to have it that's that's tremendous defense by the new york giants there's no question rathman crossed the plane with the football but he didn't cross it by more than six inches that's that's excellent goal line defense by the giants beating him in the air driving him back he just got it a couple inches farther than the giants wanted gopher to tack on the extra point and that is good that is rapping's first rushing touchdown of the season there he is well in bill parcells overall scheme of things he said all along it's not all that important we'd like to win it but what we have to do we have to go back and we have to be philadelphia we've got to be dallas well you know what his team did tonight frank that he's got to be pleased with is that they fought back they were on the verge of getting uh being pushed right out into san francisco bay losing lawrence taylor early and they uh without you right without lt and then with some heroics from guys like megat and phil sims and an offensive line that hung in there they really and a defensive played extremely well in the second half the giants showed some showed some real moxie there it is eagles versus the giants sunday in the meadowlands uh the eagles won it or the eagles play thanksgiving day giants tonight there it is steve hurt they're putting all of the facts and figures into uh the old updated univac system into a blender 101 hour difference in preparation yeah 101 dalmatians there is lawrence taylor on the sidelines it was scary for a moment they took him off in the cart the big question for halftime and uh he was walking around and no x-rays so it must not be all that serious and the big question now is will he be ready next week that's what everybody in new york wants to know and i think in philadelphia as well again that's short time for preparation it'll make a difference steve how many hours does he have to get ready over to kick off again the giants would marry a timeout at this point and down by 10. and looking a red eye in the face going back to the east coast is england closer to the 17-yard line [Applause] 49ers next week atlanta then we see them in anaheim against everett and flipper anderson and rams two weeks from tonight a long night scrap your way back into a football game where it looked like you were out 17 points down it looked like you had an opportunity to win it and the 49ers put together the winning points sims nobody open he gets sacked it's a fumble and the 49ers have it larry roberts after kevin fagan had created the fumble larry roberts recovers and the 49ers will run the clock out [Applause] really doesn't matter all that much 10 points down under a minute to play still not the way phil sims would like to end the game but indicative of the pressure that he's faced [Applause] pierce holt with a big night tonight those are good numbers for phil simms with the exception of that last

Channel: Sports !

Views: 6,654

Keywords:

Id: zdnM0m0wUgw

Length: 148min 25sec (8905 seconds)

Published: Fri May 21 2021